Banana Split Cupcake
Cupcake Hero is BACK! This is one of the first blogging events I ever participated in. After a 9-month or so hiatus, CB has brought it back for all of us cupcake fans out there. This month’s ingredient is banana, which was a shocking selection since CB does NOT like banana. I struggled all month to think of a creative use of banana in a cupcake. Finally, on a restless night, I came up with this idea.
As you know, a classic Banana Split has a split banana, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream, topped with pineapple, strawberry, and chocolate. Then the whole thing is topped with chopped nuts, whipped cream, and of course a cherry.
These cupcakes are so freaking cute! I can’t wait to make them again. They taste just like a banana split with the added bonus of having some cake in it! I opted to leave the nuts and whipped cream out, but you could definitely add those if you wanted to.
First I started with some Martha Stewart yellow buttermilk cupcakes. They are my current go-to white cupcake. Although the recipe makes a TON of cupcakes! Then I used my round cookie cutter to cut out the center of the cupcake.
Next I added a slice of banana.
On top of that I added some mushed up strawberries. You could also use strawberry ice cream topping, but I just took some frozen strawberries, thawed them out, put them in a ziplock bag and mushed them by hand.
Then I topped the strawberry with another banana slice. At this point I realized I wouldn’t need the top of the cupcake that I had cut out. So I ate it. Tasty!
For the frosting, I used the pineapple cream cheese frosting that I’ve made tons of times, except I bumped up the amount of pineapple in it. Then I got it really cold by putting it in the freezer for about an hour so that I could scoop it with my cookie scoop to make it look like ice cream.
Next I drizzled some pourable chocolate ganache over the top of the frosting.
Lastly I topped with a cherry.
I wanted to do a shot of the inside of the cupcake. It’s quite messy in there, but that is definitely the way a banana split looks after you take the first bite.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Oh these look so yummy! Love the crackly looking top.
They look soooo good! Thanks for the tip about the sweetness factor…I love having a little bite of something completely decadent!
AH…these look heavenly….mmm…thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wow, those look great! I love those
I’m not sure it is possible to be “too sweet” but these look very good!
These looks so good! Can’t wait to try!
I’m not crazy about marshmallows, but these brownies look amazing!!
“nice and thick”… wow, you aren’t kidding. that was a bold move switching the pan though. glad it worked out in the end.
MMMMMMM those sound awesome!!
oh my word! those look delicious!
I can’t stop looking at your picture. I think that means I need to make these brownies. I’m not sure if I should thank you for shake my fist at you 😛
Blaspemy!! Nothing is TOO sweet 🙂
I love these! Might give em a go when a occasion comes up 😀
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These look awesome! I would love to have one of these sitting in my kitchen right now 🙂
These look AMAZING! I feel like I need to go to the gym just looking at them. 🙂
These look delicious! I love anything with marshmallows!
I wish I could reach through the computer and grab these! They look awesome!!
I make something similar but cheat and use a boxed brownie mix. The frosting I use doesn’t have marshmallows in it which helps with the sweet factor.
That’s a great idea baking these in a smaller pan. I would prefer the brownie part a bit thicker.
~ingrid
Um…I guess I didn’t let my icing cool enough and it melted the marshmallow completely…it looked like Mt. Vesuvius erupted on my counter ha ha! I wish I could post a picture! They still tasted yummy though =)
I made these, but the chocolate topping turned out not great, not dissolved and gritty. – I think you mean “icing sugar” don’t you, when you say sugar for the frosting?
beantownbaker — April 18th, 2013 @ 11:28 am
I used granulated sugar for the frosting. When it is cooking on the stove, it should completely dissolve the sugar.