Burning the midnight oil to bring you this week’s British favourite. The reason being is that my rather lovely friend took me along to a screen printing workshop for a little birthday treat tonight. If you want to have a cheeky stalk there’s a *few* pictures on Instagram.

Back to this week though, and the question of a another cupcake and a few bananas. Of course, it’s about time the classic banoffee pie made an appearance in this little series. There’re few things that pair better than banana and caramel in my opinion, so it took quite a lot of focus not to just make the toffee filling and skip off to the garden with a bowl of banana to suffocate in sauce. I mean, if you’re going to eat fruit, do it right.

So, without further ado, here go the banoffee pie cupcakes.

You will need

For the cakes:

140g/5 oz self raising flour

140g/5 oz caster sugar

140g/5 oz unsalted butter/margarine

2 eggs

2 ripe-over ripe bananas

1 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

200g/7 oz sweetened condensed milk (half a tin)

100g/3.5 oz soft brown sugar

100g/3.5 oz unsalted butter (used salted if you prefer salted caramel to a more dulce de leche/toffee flavour)

50ml/1.75 fl oz double cream

For the frosting/icing

350g/12.5 oz icing sugar

250g/9 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)

150ml/5 fl oz double cream

Vanilla essence/paste/pod

(makes 12)

Step one

Using an electric whisk if you have one, a wooden spoon if not, beat together the butter/margarine and caster sugar until light and fluffy. I use Stork margarine for sponge as it’s pretty cheap and does the trick well.

Step two

Chop up the banana. You can mash it if you want but the whisk kinda does the work for you so why bother? The riper the bananas the more intense the flavour.

Add the eggs and banana to the mix and whisk until combined.

Step three

Whisk in the flour and baking powder, stir it in a little first with the beaters to prevent a mushroom cloud of flour hitting you in the face.

Step four

Distribute the mixture evenly between 12 cupcake/muffin cases. Usually about two rounded dessert spoons in each is a nice amount.

Step five

Bake on gas mark 4/350F/180C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch.

Step six

While the cakes are in the oven, make the filling by combining all the ingredients in a small/medium saucepan.

Gently melt the mixture on a low heat and then turn it up to medium. Boil slowly for 7-10 minutes stirring the whole time. See those flecks in my mix? Took my eyes off the prize.

Allow to cool completely before use.

Step seven

Combine the icing ingredients by gently stirring the icing sugar and butter together before putting the whisk on the lowest setting. Add the cream and the vanilla once they’ve started to combine. The double cream will thicken it nicely and add a lightness to the texture.

It’s really yummy but probably not the best for piping consistency, so I wouldn’t dream up fancy decoration with this one. That’s pretty consistent with a banoffee pie anyway, when was the last time you saw a pretty one of those? Yeah. Exactly.

Step eight

If you’ve been following this series so far then you know the drill by now. Cut a hole in the cupcake with a small sharp knife and discard the middle bit, keeping only the lid. Fill with the toffee sauce and replace the cake lid. Spread the icing on top and grate over a little chocolate for an authentic look.

 

 

Bon(offee) apetit!