This cupcake recipe brings together my love of chocolate and peanut butter with one of the staple foods in our home, bananas.
We live in a sub tropical climate and have an over abundance of bananas. Some days the harvest is so bountiful that we are all kept quite busy drying them, freezing them, making banana smoothies, baking banana bread and most recently, creating the most amazing banana and raspberry icy poles.
I read once that Elvis Presley was an enormous fan of the combination of banana and peanut butter. I have come across a few cupcake recipes that pay homage to the king of rock and decided to make up my own delicious version of these flavoursome Chunky Monkey cupcakes. They have quickly become a favourite and I hope you enjoy them. x
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon coffee diluted in 1 tablespoon boiling water and added to 1 cup water
- 1 cup (or 250g tub) sour cream
- 3 medium/ large overripe bananas mashed well and set aside
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 cup castor sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup pure cocoa
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecan nuts
- natural crunchy peanut butter - extra
- 100g dark chocolate extra
- Pre heat oven to 180 Celsius
- Line two muffin trays with cupcake papers
- In a medium bowl, hand whisk eggs, oil and vanilla.
- Add sour cream and whisk to combine
- Put dissolved coffee into 1 cup water. Add to mix.
- Add mashed banana and mix well with whisk.
- Sift flour, bi carb, baking powder , cocoa and sugars into large bowl.
- Add chopped walnuts
- Carefully pour the wet mix into dry mixture and whisk well until combined.
- Place spoonfuls of mixture into cupcake papers, until each is 2/3 full.
- Put 1 teaspoon of peanut butter onto each cupcake and swirl gently into the mixture, making sure you can still see the peanut butter.
- Bake in moderate oven for 18 minutes or until firm to touch.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Pipe peanut butter frosting onto cupcake.
- 125g butter at room temp
- 125g cream cheese
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Approx 4 cups icing mixture
- Pure cream
- 50g grated chocolate
- In an electric mixer on medium speed, using a paddle attachment, mix butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese and beat another minute.
- Add vanilla and peanut butter. Beat well to combine.
- Turn mixer down to low and carefully add icing mixture.
- Add dashes of cream alternately with the icing mixture until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Fold in finely grated chocolate.
- Pipe onto cupcakes using a large hole tip.
