For simple reasons as “grab & go snack”, banana is that one fruit that I feel the need to always have at home. But my house has also witnessed plenty of bananas going stale. Unhappy with that fact, and also because of coming across this quote “If you don’t like where you are, move! You are not a tree”, I was motivated to make that change.

So I now have a bunch of recipes at hand to whip up the minute I see my bananas piling up, and turning brown on the outside. Over-ripe bananas always make the best cakes, muffins, butter cream icing, banana flavoured caramel and what not. And in this one recipe only, I will have covered all of the above mentioned.

Why let even one banana go to waste when you can turn it into something really fancy enough to tempt children as well as impress guests.

If you are also tired of letting food go to waste, jump right in …..

Ingredients (banana muffin) :-

1 ½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
¼ cup melted butter
2 eggs whole
2 large ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients being the all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda & baking powder. Stir to combine.
In a separate large bowl, mash the bananas using a potato masher or a fork.
Add brown and white sugar to the banana.
Also add, vanilla extract and melted butter. Using a hand blender or a stand mixture, mix the ingredients until well combined.
Add one egg at a time while continuously mixing.
Pour in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl. (Do not pour in all at once. Pour a bit mix then pour and mix. Repeat until all done). Blend until you have a smooth and runny consistency.
Using a spatula remove all ingredients stuck to the sides of the bowl.
After that one last mix, scoop out the batter into muffin cups already laid out in your muffin tray.
Bake these in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about 18-20 minutes.
Use a toothpick to stick in the center of the muffin; if the toothpick comes out dry, your muffins are ready.

You can stop here..it already tastes good especially when you serve these warm along side a scoop of your favourite ice-cream.

Or you can go further and make it a bit more fancy following these steps.

Ingredients (for banana caramel sauce & butter cream):-

2 cups caster sugar
1 cup water
2 large ripe bananas
180ml fresh cream
200gms unsalted butter (room temperature)
330gms icing sugar

Method:

Place water and sugar on the stove. Leave it on medium high heat. Allow this to cook on without stirring at all. This should take about 20minutes or more. You will know it is done once the colour turns light brown.
15 minutes after the sugar has been on the stove puree the bananas and set aside. (The reason I suggest to puree just a few minutes before the caramel is done is to avoid the bananas from turning black).
Once you have the right colour to your caramel. Take the pan off the heat and put the banana puree in. Using a whisk, continuously stir the mixture until all the bubbly foam that sizzled up settles down.
Set the pan back on the heat. Keep stirring. The colour will deepen into a darker brown.
Once again, remove the pan off the stove and slowly pour in the fresh cream as you continue to stir.
Set the banana caramel aside and allow it to cool down.
Bring out the muffins and using a straw (or an apple corer), scoop out the center of the muffins.
Pour the now cooled down caramel into a ketchup bottle or if comfortable use a piping bag and fill the center with that lovely caramel to the very top.

For the butter cream icing

Beat the butter for 5 minutes using a hand mixture or a stand mixture.
Sift the icing sugar into the butter, while mixing continuously.
Add about 3 tbsp of the caramel that you prepared above into this bowl. (Make sure that the caramel is now at room temperature or your butter cream icing will break).
Pipe these on top of the muffins that you have prepared.

Voila you have yourself a delicious banana toffee cupcake!

Enjoy!!