Banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting are a fun take on the classic peanut-butter-and-banana combo. You can’t go wrong with a dessert combining those flavors!
These cupcakes are bananas! B-A-N-A. . .I’ll stop. I heard Hollaback Girl on the radio last week and just had to go there. But I’ll move on.
As with many of my recipes, these banana cupcakes were an excuse to buy just one ingredient, so I could eat the leftovers.
Can you guess which one? Not the salted peanuts on top. As much as I love salted peanuts I still maintain self-control when they’re in the house.
It’s the dried bananas I decorated with that I just can’t resist. Zeeeeero self-control to be had when I bring them into my kitchen. Absolutely none. I love their sweet-but-slightly-salty crunch and eat them by the handful.
And my handful is equivalent to the average person’s bucketful. But calling it a handful lets me pretend I’m using good portion control. Denial. It’s a central feature in my life. I wouldn’t be able to bake as much as I do if I were a person more grounded in reality.
So anywho, banana cupcakes! What does that conjure up in your mind? Before the first time I made a banana cake I was worried it would be weird. Like banana bread that’s shaped like a cupcake but is really more quick bread than light and fluffy cake. I assure you that these are anything BUT quick bread.
They bear no resemblance at all to (delicious, delicious) banana bread. They’re just what you’d want from a cupcake: soft, moist, and decadent. Not dense in any way. And they’re so simple to make! No more complicated than your average muffin. I love when life works out like that!
The only difference between this and lots of cakes out there is these bake at a really low temperature; 275 degrees is not a typo. The lower temperature ensures they don’t get too brown on the outside before they’re done inside.
But the best part of a banana cupcake? You can practice living in denial like I do and say banana cupcakes are really almost healthy because, hi, they contain fruit.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 medium bananas)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 to 6 tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half
- Dried bananas and roasted salted peanuts for decorating, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners and set pan aside.
- Mix the mashed banana with the lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside.
- Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in another small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. With mixer set to low, beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in banana mixture until just combined.
- Divide batter between prepared pans and bake 26 to 30 minutes, until cake springs back when touched lightly with your fingertip. Cool cupcakes completely in pan for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Beat in salt and 3 tablespoons milk. Beat frosting for 4 minutes with mixer on high. Adjust to desired consistency by adding milk if too thick or more powdered sugar if too thin.
- Frost cupcakes as desired and top with salted peanuts and/or dried bananas.
Have a wonderful Friday (and weekend)! I hope it’s full of baked goods in some form!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 medium bananas)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 to 6 tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half
- Dried bananas and roasted salted peanuts for decorating, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners and set pan aside.
- Mix the mashed banana with the lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside.
- Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in another small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. With mixer set to low, beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in banana mixture until just combined.
- Divide batter between prepared pans and bake 26 to 30 minutes, until cake springs back when touched lightly with your fingertip. Cool cupcakes completely in pan for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Beat in salt and 3 tablespoons milk. Beat frosting for 4 minutes with mixer on high. Adjust to desired consistency by adding milk if too thick or more powdered sugar if too thin.
- Frost cupcakes as desired and top with salted peanuts and/or dried bananas.
Cupcakes adapted from Allrecipes.com.
I totally agree with you – Banana cupcakes are healthy and when you add peanut butter frosting, it makes them healthier. I would eat these for breakfast. Cannot resist this combination!!
Thank you! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who really appreciates the healthy things in life :).
These cupcakes look perfect! Peanut butter and banana are the ultimate combo! What a perfect treat to kick off the weekend!
Thank you so much, Kelly! Agreed. Peanut butter and banana are pretty hard to beat :)!
My mom always kept dried bananas for snacking. Which says a lot, she also kept the 24 packs of candy bars (milk chocolate & almond) from the big box store in the pantry too. She would adore these cupcakes! What a winning combination of flavors!
Your mom is a woman after my own heart :). Peanut butter and chocolate are a pretty perfect pair! Thank you!
Oh Yum! For some reason I hate bananas, but love things like banana bread and muffins and put them in my smoothie! makes no sense! these look great!
Haha! My dad is the same way with tomatoes–he hates them fresh but loves tomato sauce, tomato juice (!), etc. If you like banana bread you’ll definitely like these cupcakes :). Thank you Georgie!
i love banana cake (and banana bread), but i’m really craving that peanut butter frosting right now. i usually go with chunky pb, but it doesn’t look as great as creamy in frosting, so using creamy in the frosting + chopped peanuts on top sounds delicious and looks pretty (:
Thank you so much Heather! The frosting is pretty hard to beat. Chunky pb is my favorite but yep, not so pretty in frosting 🙂
OMG I must have these in my life, over half of my blog is banana recipes I adore banana anything. The other half is PB recipes….lol so I know I will love these cupcakes.
Great minds think alike! Is there anything better in life than peanut butter? Except, maybe, bananas :). Thank you, Emma!
These look incredible! Obsessed with PB and banana 🙂
Thank you so much! PB and banana are pretty obsession-worthy!
Your food photography is to die for and this recipe looks so yummy! Can’t wait to follow along with your blog and Pinterest 🙂
Thank you so much, Marisa! I struggle with the photography portion so that really means a lot 🙂