Very Banana Cupcakes - doctored white cake mix and bananas baked into a delicious, moist, and airy cupcake, and topped with a dollop of vanilla buttercream; your favorite VERY banana cupcakes!
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I originally posted these oh-so-delicious Very Banana Cupcakes back in July 2013. In fact, Very Banana Cupcakes was my very first Sarah’s Bake Studio blog post! They quickly became a fan favorite both on Pinterest and the blog, as well as a Best Recipe of 2013! All I can say to that is, Woohoo!!
These Very Banana Cupcakes are a crowd pleaser and a must-add to your recipe box, and thus I decided I just HAD to redo the photos of this recipe. The originals just weren’t doing it justice.
Your favorite Very Banana Cupcakes with new photos but the same FABULOUS recipe!
This post was originally shared on July 2, 2013, and has since been updated.
I love cupcakes! My dream is to own a cupcakery {see Meet Sarah}, so it seems only fitting that my first blog post is a cupcake post.
I first made these Very Banana Cupcakes for my sister's birthday. She requested carrot, banana, or chocolate cupcakes, and due to poor planning, I was very limited on ingredients. Fortunately, I did have white boxed cake mix and bananas and figured I'd make it work.
This Very Banana Cupcake is ridiculously moist and is quite banana-y. This recipe is 100% better than a typical banana boxed cake mix because it uses bananas NOT banana flavoring. It also uses very few ingredients, which when you are in a bind is the icing on the cupcake. Plus it is super light and airy {I am not a fan of dense cake}. Oh, and it is seriously moist and banana-y! Did I mention that?
The Very Banana Cupcakes are made up of a short list of ingredients: white boxed cake mix, bananas, water, vegetable oil, eggs, baking soda, and baking powder. You literally put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl {minus the bananas} and mix it up. Then you blend in the bananas and viola, Very Banana Cupcake batter. The cupcakes take about 12-15 minutes to bake {be careful not to over-bake}.
For the frosting, I used my favorite Vanilla Buttercream recipe, which is part butter, part vegetable shortening buttercream. I am partial to this type of buttercream because I find that it has a good consistency and texture for decorating. I also enjoy the buttercream-sugary flavor and smooth texture.
To achieve a smooth, non-gritty texture, powdered sugar should be pure cane sugar powdered sugar. If it doesn't say, "pure cane sugar" on the package, it is beet sugar.
To frost the cupcakes I used my nifty Cake Boss Baking Icing Spatula and decorated them with white chocolate hearts using Ghirardelli White Chocolate Melting Wafers and a Heart Chocolate Mold.
If you love bananas and cake, you'll love these Very Banana Cupcakes!!
Very Banana Cupcakes
Ingredients
Banana Cupcakes
- 1 white boxed cake mix
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 small-medium ripe bananas
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 lbs powdered sugar ¹
- ½ tablespoon clear vanilla extract ²
- ½ tablespoon butter vanilla ³
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For Banana Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, mix together boxed cake mix, water, oil, eggs, baking soda, and baking powder on medium speed, about 2 minutes. Mixture should be combined and smooth. Add bananas; mix until combined.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners, no more than â…” full. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Check cupcakes around 13 minutes to avoid over-baking. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cupcake, if it comes out clean it is done. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow cupcakes to cool in cupcake pan for 4 minutes; transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Cupcakes should be cooled completely before frosting.
For Buttercream Frosting
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream butter and shortening until creamy and smooth. Add vanilla and butter extracts; mix until combined.
- Turn mixer on lowest speed and slowly add 1 lb of powdered sugar; mix until creamy. Scrape down bowl as necessary. Adding the powdered sugar gets dusty - place a damp towel over the top of the mixer to shield flying powdered sugar dust.
- Continue to slowly add remaining powdered sugar; blend until completely combined.
- Once all powdered sugar has been mixed in, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time and mix. Continue to add and mix until desired consistency is achieved. Eat & Enjoy!
Gina says
I bake them and my teenager does not like banana anything but this ones he loved. I made a few changes.
After I cooked them and got cold I Inserted raspberry jam
inside each cup cake in the middle. Than after frosting
I added real rasberries on top of each cupcake
And was to die for. Thanks for the recipe.
Sarah says
Gina, that's what I love to hear! I love your tweaks; sounds delicious!
Elsa | the whinery says
I love that these cupcakes use a mix but are heavy on banana. They look absolutely delicious, and you frosted them so beautifully! Yum!
Sarah says
Thank you Elsa! I was trying a new way of frosting for me. I am glad it was a crowd pleaser.
Linda Warren says
What a great idea to save time and still get that homemade real banana flavor! I am definitely going to remember this little trick. Love your new photos too!
Sarah says
It's definitely a time saver and totally delicious!! This is a go-to cupcake recipe for me! Thank you for commenting and your kind words!
Diane Homan says
These look soooo good! I am a huge fan of doctored cake mixes and this is a combo I haven't seen yet. Love the originality!
Sarah says
Thank you Diane! I like doctored cake mix recipes too!
Kari says
Beautiful cupcakes! They are so perfectly iced!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Sarah says
Thank you Kari! I was trying a new way of icing! 🙂
Priscilla says
How do u make banana frosting
Sarah says
Hi Priscilla - I have not made banana frosting. I frost my banana cupcakes with Vanilla American Buttercream, Chocolate American Buttercream, or Cinnamon Buttercream.
If you have your heart set on Banana Buttercream I would suggest using the above American Buttercream recipe and either substituting the extract for banana extract or adding a mashed banana to the above recipe. I have not actually tried adding banana to the buttercream, but I've seen it done in other recipes.
I hope that helps! Thanks for checking out the blog!
Andrea says
Huh, I never knew that about powdered sugar. Thanks for the tip!