Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

Chocolate banana cupcakes–no stand mixer required!–are a delicious chocolate cupcake filled with banana curd and topped with creamy chocolate buttercream. Chocolate and bananas have never been so good together!

If last year was the year of the cheesecake cake here on IBK, then this year must be the year of the fruit curd.  I kinda can’t get enough…

So far I’ve made lemon curd for cupcakes, and mango curd for coconut cake. And now I present you with banana curd!

Does that sound weird? I promise it doesn’t taste weird. It tastes like, wait for it, BANANAS! And what goes better with bananas than chocolate? (Except maybe peanut butter.  But today every.single.day I want chocolate.)

These chocolate banana cupcakes are my addition to the second summer #CupcakeMondays blog party, where some cupcake-loving bloggers are getting together to post a new cupcake recipe and use the Cupcake Mondays hashtag over on Insta.

Be sure to join in the fun by posting your own cupcake pics and tagging them #CupcakeMondays! And scroll down to the end of this post to see the delicious cupcake recipes my friends posted today.

Why you’ll love these chocolate banana cupcakes:

• Soft chocolate cupcakes and creamy chocolate buttercream make them a dream for chocoholics
• You don’t need a stand mixer to make them!
• You’ll probably have a little banana curd left over and it makes a delicious topping for toast and oatmeal

How to make banana curd

Start with ripe bananas. They don’t have to be as ripe as you’d want them for banana bread, i.e. almost black, but don’t use green bananas either. Mash the bananas a bit, then combine them with sugar, lemon juice, and eggs in a food processor and puree until liquid.

Pour the liquid into a medium saucepan and add unsalted butter, then cook until thick. It will take 8 to 10 minutes to thicken properly and you’ll know it’s done when you can run your finger through it (like in the second pic above).

Pour the banana curd through a fine mesh sieve and press plastic wrap directly onto the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, or up to three days. And that’s it!

Note: The banana curd is a little gray once it’s chilled. I added a tiny bit of yellow gel food coloring once the curd was fully chilled so it looked more banana-y but that’s optional.

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes, step by step

The chocolate cupcakes couldn’t be simpler to make and they turn out super soft and chocolate-y.

This recipe calls for coffee, which makes the chocolate flavor more intense. You can substitute boiling water but I strongly recommend the coffee. You can use decaf if you’re sensitive to caffeine.

First, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then half of the coffee (which you’ll mix with cocoa powder).

Beat in another third of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the coffee, then the remaining dry ingredients. When that’s all beaten together, the batter will look like does in that last pic—very smooth with no lumps of flour remaining.

Take care not to over-mix or your cupcakes won’t be as soft.

Fill your muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before filling and frosting!

Once the cupcakes are cool, use a sharp paring knife to cut a hold 1 inch across and 1 inch deep in each of the cupcakes and spoon the chilled curd into the hole. Replace the cake you removed from the hold to keep the filling in and you’re ready to frost them.

Baker’s tip: The cupcakes are really soft (which is one reason they’re SO GOOD). But if you have trouble cutting the holes for the filling, refrigerate them for an hour or so and they’ll firm up enough to cut them easily.

To frost these chocolate banana cupcakes (and most cupcakes I make) I used a large open star tip—I love how the swirl of frosting sort of resembles soft serve ice cream. But you can certainly just spread the frosting on top.

Chocolate banana cupcakes are DELICIOUS any way you dress them up!

More delicious cupcake recipes!

As promised, here are more delicious cupcake recipes! To continue the #CUPCAKEMONDAYS party, click through the links to see some amazing cupcake recipes from my blogger friends.  And don’t forget to check out hashtag on Instagram. You’re in for a serious treat!

Brown Sugar Toffee Cupcakes from Kelly Lynn’s Sweets and Treats

Piñata Cupcakes from A Table Full of Joy 

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes from Love in My Oven 

Mojito Cupcakes from Nourish and Fete

Did you make these chocolate banana cupcakes? Hooray! Let me know what you think with a comment and a rating below. And post a pic on Instagram too! Tag @theitsybitsykitchen so I can see! And like IBK on Facebook and follow on Pinterest for more delicious recipes.

5 from 14 votes

Print

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

Prep Time

50 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

1 hr 5 mins

 

Chocolate banana cupcakes are rich and chocolate and filled with homemade banana filling. They're absolutely delicious!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 20

Author: Kelsie

Ingredients

Banana curd filling

• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana about 3 large bananas
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into several chunks

Chocolate cupcakes

• 1 cup very hot coffee or boiling water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate frosting

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 6 to 8 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste

Instructions

Banana curd filling

1. Combine all the banana curd ingredients EXCEPT butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until fully combined. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan set over medium heat and add the butter.
2. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon—do not boil. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a mixing bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto the top of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. (You may need to use a spatula to press the curd through the sieve.)
4. Cool curd to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled (about 2 hours). Can be made up to 3 days ahead.

Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 20 to 22 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.
2. Whisk the coffee (or wateand cocoa powder in a small mixing bowl. Cool to room temperature.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together into a second mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer set to high speed. Continue beating on high until mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed—this will take about 5 minutes.
5. Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
6. Divide batter among the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
7. Cool cupcakes completely in pan for 20 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Frosting

1. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until very smooth. Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, the cocoa powder, 6 tablespoons milk, and salt and beat to combine.
2. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then turn mixer to medium and beat for a minute or two, until frosting is smooth. Add additional powdered sugar if frosting is too thin and additional milk if frosting is too thick.

Assembly

1. Use a small paring knife to cut a hole about 1 inch across and 1 inch deep in each cupcake. Reserve the cake you cut out of the holes.
2. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons of banana curd into each cupcake. Trim the cake you removed from the holes so it will fit over the filling as a sort of plug, then replace the plug in the hole.
3. Spread or pipe the chocolate frosting over each cupcake, then top slice of banana if desired. Serve.

Recipe Notes

Uneaten cupcakes can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer, tightly wrapped, for up to 2 months.

Banana curd adapted from Big Book of Cupcakes

Cupcakes adapted from Tampa Treasures