I’ve been craving banana flavored desserts lately which led to my trying this recipe from Go Bananas by Susan Quick. I’ve had this book for at least 6 or 7 years, and have never made one recipe from it. There are actually many many books in my cookbook collection I’ve never actually used, but I’ve decided it is time to try to make use of them.

Overall, the cupcakes were good, but I would add less sugar if I made them again, and use a dark chocolate ganache to frost them. The sweetened coconut really put the sugar rush over the top, but gave this a great chewy texture, especially the browned tops. Unfortunately… All my cups runneth over due to overfilling. Doh! So I had a bit of a mess on my hands. But its all good, I just cut off the excess cake and frosted them with a spatula instead of fancy piping. This helped to cover the not-so-pretty edges. One thing that’s important when you cook is to be flexible. Sometimes its easy to fix things that seem nearly impossible to fix. Or… in this case, putting a little lipstick on a pig… :P

Coconut -Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c ripe banana, mashed
1/4 c buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
1 (7 oz) package sweetened, shredded coconut (poured in a bowl and fluffed)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 1/2 c muffin tins with paper baking cups. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Mix the banana, buttermilk, vanilla, and almond extract together and set aside.

2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running on its lowest setting, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in halves, alternating with the buttermilk mixture until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in 1 1/3 c of the fluffed coconut until incorporated.

4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each to 1/4 inch below the top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost and top with the remaining coconut.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 c confectioners sugar, sifted

1. Beat together the cream cheese, butter vanilla and almond extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

Makes about 18 cupcakes