.banana cream pie cupcakes.

I have a problem. I can't stop coming up with new projects for me. LOL My husband retires from the Navy in October and I've been thinking if we move back to the Seattle area (where I'm from), my sisters and I could open a cupcake shop.

Cupcakes are all the rage right now! Martha Stewart even had a big cupcake week last week where she had people submit their cupcake photos for a contest. Martha even shared her favorite cupcake bake shops. I've had a bakery. I could surely have a huge successful CUPCAKE bake shop in the suburbs of Seattle, right? And to make it a family affair with my sisters? Perfect!

My husband told me NO WAY. :( :( And my younger sister, Marcia told me she wants to open a scrapbook store, not a cupcake store. I think I could convince her...or maybe we could do both!? *lightbulb moment!!*

The other night when we were watching a movie, I came up with yummy cupcake flavors. I have a list of about 50. This was one that is on the list. Banana cream cupcakes. Mmmm...

The cupcakes are a basic butter cake. Here's the recipe.


In a mixing bowl, cream together 1 cup (2 sticks) butter and 2 cups sugar.


Add 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Keep mixing on high until the batter becomes really light and fluffy. It will almost look like frosting it's so fluffy. Slowly add 1 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a bowl, sift together 3 cups flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Spoon into the butter mixture while the mixer is on low speed.


The finished product will be light and airy. It will look nothing like a cake mix batter. This will give you a wonderful buttery dense cake.


Spoon into paper lined muffin pans. This will make 2 dozen cupcakes. Since we won't eat that many, I split the recipe in half to make only one dozen. Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Dump from the pan and put on cooling rack.

While the cupcakes cool, make a box of banana pudding. Sure I could've made pastry cream myself, but I decided to give myself a break. Maybe when I have that cupcake shop, I might make my own pastry cream.



Slice up a banana and add to chilled pudding. Put the pudding in the fridge and hold until you need it.


Take a paring knife and carefully cut the cupcake top. Remove the top.



Spoon some of the banana pudding into the cupcake.


Pull off the cone part of the top and put the top back on.


Put some graham crackers in a ziploc and smash (or use pre-crushed graham crackers)







Make whipped cream.

Put 1 cup COLD whipping cream in the mixing bowl. Begin whipping on medium speed. If you put it on super HIGH, you'll have cream all over your cabinets and self.















When ribbons begin to form in the cream, add 1/4 cup sugar slowly.

Kick up the speed to HIGH.

When the cream is nice and stiff, add 1 tsp vanilla.


You want a nice stiff whip because we will be piping this onto the cupcakes and you don't want it to just slide right off. Put the whipped cream in a piping bag with a large star tip.








Pipe in a circular fashion making a nice peak. Sprinkle the top lightly with some of those crushed graham crackers and put a slice of banana on top.

Eat immediately (like I have to tell you that ;) ). If you make these ahead of time, keep them in the fridge before serving.

I really think these will do well in my cupcake shop. :D :D

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_34fxnx32d9

.marcia's banana bread.

I love banana bread. It's a great way to use up bananas that are past their prime and it's a great way for me to feel justified by eating carbs. "Hey it's got fruit in it!"

This is a recipe my sister Marcia contributed to our family cookbook. She said she got the recipe when she was on her mission in St. Louis, Missouri and the lady she got it from was the best cook she knows. (ouch! I thought I was, sister?) Oh. She said the best cook she knew on her MISSION. Whew. Close one there. She almost made it to my black list.

This is Marcia with Perry. Aren't they cute together? Perry loves her Marci.

Anyway... I used this recipe at the bakery and sold TONS of banana bread. My good friends, Anne and Julie, told me whenever I made some, to call them and they'd come buy a loaf or two. Now *that's* devotion.

You want to mash some bananas first. The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups mashed banana which equates to about 3 or 4 bananas.

If you have overripe bananas but don't have the time to make the bread, peel and mash and put in a ziploc then in the freezer. All you'll have to do is thaw, drain of any liquid, and put in your batter.

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

In another bowl, put:

2/3 c. oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 c. buttermilk

Mix the wet ingredients together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a fork until combined. Do not overmix. Add the banana and fold in.

Add 1 cup chopped walnuts. Fold in.

Marcia personally doesn't like walnuts in her fruit bread, but she said this was pretty darn tasty. Well DUH! It's your recipe! Of course it's pretty darn tasty! Man I'm going to miss her when she leaves on Wednesday. :(

Spray a loaf pan with PAM and dump your batter in. You really only want to have the batter go up 3/4 of the way. If it's too full, you're going to have spillage in your oven and the potential for burned bread on your element and possible fire. Been there. Done that. You don't want to deal with that kind of mess. LOL So if you want, divide the batter into two loaf pans. *just* to be safe.

Bake in a preheated 425* oven for 15 minutes then turn the temp down to 350* and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The high heat forces the batter to push upward and bake in a peak-like fashion. Then you turn it down to let it bake through without burning.

Personal preference here, but serve warm with lots of butter.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_28fhwzzxjs