MangiaMore: BANANA cupcakes with brown butter and chocolate frosting

RER 8.30.13

It is about that time to wish foodie ventures a very happy birthday! foodie ventures is one year old (well one year and a few days) and very happy to celebrate a successful and fulfilling first year (see what I did there?). Thank you for all the support here and on twitter, facebook, and tumblr and I hope foodie ventures will keep going strong and grow with every birthday! Maybe this MangiaMore is perfect for celebrating... birthdays mean cake!

 

RER 8.29.13

I am seriously beginning to think that my family has a problem. And it’s bananas… no but really, it’s  bananas, literally. Honestly, we eat bananas here, whether it is on our cereal or yogurt, solo as a snack, frozen in a smoothie or a milkshake, we use them.

 

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

But for some reason, I feel like we have been losing them more than using them, perhaps. We lose them to the freezer or to pancakes or to chocolate chip banana oatmeal cookies or jacked- up banana bread or even banana cake with chocolate frosting. These “lost” bananas are not entirely lost, obviously, because these mushy brown overripe eyesores transform into delightful treats— a use when they seem unusable and all hope is lost.

 

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

Once again, it was time to use decaying bananas that were purchased in not the most stellar condition. We were hoodwinked and bamboozled into buying these less than quality bananas. We had to buy by the bag, and each bag contained various stages of disappointment, some more ripe and less manageable than others and sometimes, an oddball of absolute despair. Faster than usual, this bag of not quite happy bananas was jammed into the fridge and written off as “unusable.” Which meant... banana cupcakes with browned butter and chocolate frosting.

 

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

We did not rely on the recipe we had already used for many brown bananas past for the cake part. A little search and discussion later we landed on this recipe from everydaycook.com. Instead of lemon juice we opted for a little dark rum, taking a cue from the jacked-up banana bread we have made before. 

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

And as much as I wanted to try the delicious browned butter  frosting, my sister really wanted classic chocolate. So we went half and half. In the The browned butter frosting was a little salty, very sweet and almost butterscotchy and caramelly. It went well with the moist banana cupcake, but in the end, the chocolate and banana combination might have been my favorite. Less sweet, with stronger flavors.

 

RER 8.29.13

RER 8.29.13

Next on the agenda is how to learn how to pipe frosting onto cupcakes for a more finished and pretty cupcake. This is also to prepare for the upcoming Halloween CupcakeWars! Remember last year’s cupcake feud with the candy corn cupcake with pumpkin cake and salted caramel frosting, the dead velvet topped with a slate grey cream cheese frosting, and the blood red pudding filled graveyard cupcakes?! Any suggestions for this year’s competition? Let me know your ideas and stay tuned to see what cupcakes are in the running! There may even be a vote, so make them good!

RER

8.30.13

RER 8.29.13