Roasted Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

I love bananas.  I don't eat them on a regular basis, but I just LOVE to bake with them.  The other day at the grocery store I scored a huge bag of about 12 "ripe" bananas for a whopping $0.99!!!  SCORE!!!


I had plans of making some delicious banana nut muffins just like OtisSpukmeyer's. 


Fast foward a few days to yesterday.  I got home from work, opened the door and the banana smell hit me in the face.  Oops, looks like they've sat a bit too long.  My first thought was to make the muffins or some bread loaves (my second banana baking favorite).  I totally changed my mind when I opened my cabinet full of cookbooks and saw Martha's Cupcake book and knew there just had to be something Banana in there.

As soon as I read through the recipe I thought to myself "Oh Martha, you've really done it this time!"

Martha Stewart’s Roasted Banana Cupcakes

yield: ~16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Batter

• 3 ripe bananas, plus 1 to 2 more for garnish
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sour cream1/2 teaspoon
• baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used more like 1/2 teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes (the peels will darken).
3. While bananas are roasting, sift together together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Remove bananas from oven and let cool. Peel carefully into a medium-size bowl and mash.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
6. With an electric mixer on medium–high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (~5 minutes). Add egg yolks slowly, beating until each is incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
7. Add roasted bananas, beat to combine.
8. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, beating until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
9. In another bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks.
10. Fold 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites in two batches.
11. Divide batter evenly among lined cups. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
12. Cool cupcakes completely on wire racks before frosting.

Frosting:

1. Using an electric mixer, beat all ingredients until smooth. Feel free to add some extra honey or cinnamon to taste.
2. Garnish with slices of banana (roasted or raw)

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, they are a lot of work.  Its true, they take quite a while.  But the roasted banana flavor makes them totally worth it!  One great thing about this recipe is that they can be frozen (unfrosted) up to 2 months or stored up to 3 days at room temperature. That is only if they last that long.  I know mine didn't!