Author Notes
This is a cupcake that I make from time to time to put in my daughter's lunchboxes. The banana cake on its own is very good, moist and fruity. But add the dark chocolate and it becomes a real treat. Bananas and dark chocolate kind of cry out for each other - the sometimes overwhelming sweetness of the fruit needs the tempering effect of dark chocolate. Don't let the word ganache scare you - it's just a fancy French way of saying unbelievably easy and delicious frosting. The cake is adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible. I like to make the frosting in the microwave because it's my favorite method of melting chocolate. —Lucy Mercer
Ingredients
- Banana Cupcakes
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2
large ripe bananas, mashed, to yield 1 cup
-
1/2 cup
sour cream
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1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
2
large eggs, at room temperature
-
10 tablespoons
unsalted butter, at room temperature
-
3/4 cup
sugar
-
2 cups
all-purpose flour
-
1 teaspoon
baking powder
-
3/4 teaspoon
baking soda
-
1/2 teaspoon
salt
- Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache
-
12 ounces
semi-sweet chocolate, broken up
-
1 2/3 cups
sour cream
Directions
- Banana Cupcakes
-
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins with nonstick spray and/or cupcake liners. In a bowl, stir together bananas, sour cream and vanilla.
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In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until creamy and light-colored. Add eggs and mix for one minute. Scrape down sides of bowl, then mix for one additional minute.
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In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add one third of dry ingredients to batter, mixing until combined, then add half of the banana sour cream mixture, mixing and scraping again. Add half the remaining dry ingredients, mix and scrape. Add remaining banana sour cream, mix and scrape, and finish with the last of the dry ingredients.
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Fill muffn cups 1/2 full. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Begin checking at 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when the centers bounce back when pressed with the tips of your fingers. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. When cool, frost with sour cream ganache.
- Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache
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Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and zap at 50 percent power for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat for 30 second intervals until completely melted. When thoroughly melted, gradually whisk in sour cream. Frost cupcakes and store leftovers in fridge.
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