Banana Cupcakes

Both recipes from this weekend's baking fest are from the exclusively food website. I use this recipe for banana cake on a regular basis (in both regular cake and cupcake form), and it is always a hit. This recipe is a great way to use up old bananas and left over buttermilk, and it is dead easy to make.

Banana Cupcakes/Cake
125g salted butter, softened
330g (1 1/2 cups) sugar
280g (1 very slightly rounded cup) very ripe, mashed banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence)
2 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
100ml (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) buttermilk
225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees fan-forced).

Line cupcake trays with cases (amount will vary depending on the size of your tray). If baking in cake form, grease the side and base of a 22cm diameter (inside top measurement) round cake pan, and like the bottom with non-stick baking paper.

Place butter, sugar, banana, vanilla and eggs in a food processor.

Process for about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of processor. Add buttermilk and pulse to combine.

Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Add flour mixture to food processor and process until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan or cupcake cases.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown (50-60 minutes for a cake, or until a skewer or knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean)

Leave cupcakes/cake to cool on a wire rack.

Spread or pipe cooled cupcakes/cake with cream cheese icing. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Icing
90g cream cheese, softened
45g butter, softened
210g (1 2/3 cups) icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and beat to combine. Pipe or Spread icing over cooled cake.