We've gone bananas!

Banana nut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I know, I know. Its been eons since my last post! All I can say is that I've been busy with life. I've changed jobs, ran my first half marathon, and also built a house!

Right next to planning our wedding, I think that building a house was probably one of the most stressful things I've ever done. But it has been completely worth it though. We really do have our dream kitchen and I have been baking up a storm ever since we moved in.

Our new kitchen!

A few weekends ago our sweet little niece Ava came over and we made banana cupcakes. I had only tried to make banana cake once before and it turned out awful. Little did I know how ripe your bananas need to be to make a good banana cake. Like they need to be on the edge of disgusting. Gabe offered to toss them out at least three times before they were ready.

I used this recipe but made cupcakes instead of a sheet cake - and the batter makes a LOT of cupcakes, about 28 or so. I just added some walnuts to the batter and whipped up a batch of my go-to cream cheese frosting, but added the zest of one lemon for a little extra zing. It baked a ton faster for me than what the recipe said. I baked them at 275° and they were done after about 30 minutes in my convection oven.

My niece Ava, such a huge helper in the kitchen!

Banana Cake w/ Walnuts (original recipe is here)
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, really ripe
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 275°. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into lined cupcake pans and bake in a preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1lb box of confectioners sugar (a little under 4 1/2 c sifted)
1-8oz block of cream cheese (softened)
1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
1t pure madagascar vanilla
zest from 1 lemon

In a large bowl blend butter, cream cheese, lemon zest and vanilla together. Add in confectioners sugar in batches until completely blended. Frost cupcakes and enjoy! Note: I was short on frosting since this recipe made so many cupcakes, and I like to put quite a bit of frosting on my cupcakes. Next time I make these (and there definitely will be a next time), I will update this with how much is actually needed.