I am so ready for fall, but unfortunately mother nature is holding off on the best season of the year. Everyone’s familiar with the feeling of ‘cabin fever’ that you get in the wintertime, but I always get cabin fever around this time of the year. We do minimal traveling in the the summer aside from quick trips to visit family, so by the time fall starts to roll in, I am ready for some adventure.
Unlike most, Summer is my LEAST favorite season of the year. I am not a fan of the heat and my skin is paler than snow which means a few hours in the sun and I am burnt to a crisp. While I love all of the sunlight and daytime hours we get, I refuse to leave the comfort of my home or porch until the sun starts to set and the cool(er) air sets in for the evening.
For this reason, we always plan our vacations for the fall – except for that one time that we decided to brave Canada in the middle of the winter. In a few short weeks, I’ll be taking off for Wisconsin to see my favorite football team play and a few weeks after that, heading off to Nashville for my bachelorette! *cue the pedal bikes and angel wing murals*
With so much travel on my radar, I can’t help but get excited thinking about my next big adventures to come. This means I’m starting to get into full on vacation mode, and these banana cream pie cupcakes are the perfect way to get that feeling going. While banana cream pie may make you think of a classic, summer dessert, these cupcakes contain the classic spice of a traditional banana bread that help give it a tropical fall feel.
If you’re looking to expand on your dessert recipe collection, this is the perfect way to put a fun twist on your average after-dinner treat. They’re simple to make, but deliver such a punch of flavor that will have everyone at the dinner party asking you to dish out the recipe!
If you didn’t know, traditional southern banana pudding pie recipes don’t actually have banana pudding – they use fresh bananas, vanilla pudding, Nilla wafers and meringue. So – while these cupcakes give you a very southern banana feel, I would recommend swapping out the banana pudding for vanilla if you want to tone down the banana in the recipe.
Now, to answer some of your favorite cupcake questions:
How do I keep my cupcakes from getting oily?
The *biggest* trick to making sure that your banana cupcakes stay moist, but not over-oily is to use a combination of butter and oil. Using too much oil will cause them to become greasy on the outside, but balancing it out with some butter will help keep them fluffy and moist.
Should I use store-bought or homemade banana pudding?
You can use either! I actually made my very own homemade banana pudding from scratch to start, but found that it oiled too quickly to work well in the cupcake. I ended up using a simple box of Jell-O Banana Flavored Pudding for this recipe. The flavor is not as organic, but doesn’t over weigh the cupcake too much. If you want to try your own hand at homemade, I highly recommend this recipe from 12tomatoes.
How do you put COOKIES in a BUTTERCREAM?
With a food processor, of course! I use this trick for Oreo buttercream, Nilla wafers, chocolate chip cookies, whatever you can think of. Put your favorite crispy cookies in a food processor for a few seconds to help grind them into a fine powder. Then, you simply swap out the equivalent of powdered sugar for cookie crumbs to give it an extra rich flavor.
Pro Tip: Save some extras to dip your cupcake in for a super easy and beautiful decoration idea!
NOW! Onto the recipe.
Banana Pudding Recipe
Traditional banana cupcakes filled with banana pudding and topped with Nilla wafer buttercream.
Ingredients
Banana Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3 bananas overripe
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 15 oz banana pudding
Nilla Wafer Buttercream
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
- 5 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup Nilla Wafers crushed (around 1/2 box)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 pinch salt
- 1-3 tbsp heavy cream as needed
Instructions
Banana Cupcakes
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Line 15 cupcake tins with your favor liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together your flower, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat together your softened butter, brown sugar and white sugar until creamed together. Add in the bananas, eggs and vanilla until combined.
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Alternate adding in the flour mixture and the buttermilk until the ingredients are just combined.
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Divide the batter evenly between 15 muffin pans (around 1/3 cup each) so that each is full about 3/4 of the way.
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Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are set and the edges are a light golden brown color. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Nilla Wafer Buttercream
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
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Slowly add in 3 cups of the powdered sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl well after each addition.
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Add in the salt, vanilla and Nilla wafer crumbs.
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Slowly combine the rest of the powdered sugar into the buttercream. Add in the heavy cream as necessary to keep the frosting smooth.
Assembling the Cupcakes
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Using a knife or other tool, remove the centers of the cupcakes from cooled banana cupcakes. Set aside to save.
Use a small piping bag to add about 1 tablespoon of banana pudding to each cupcake.
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(If desired) Place the removed tops of the cupcake back on the filling. This will help prevent the frosting from sinking as the cupcakes soak up the pudding.
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Using a large piping bag, frost your cupcakes. To create the rounded top, simply use a round tip and hold the frosting close and steady to the top of the cupcake.
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(If desired) Roll the frosting in crush Nilla Wafers for a coated top and extra flavor. Enjoy!