Banana Cupcakes

My husband loves banana flavored baked goods and when given the choice between chocolate or fruit flavored cupcakes, he was quick to ask for a banana cupcake. For Christmas he bought me the book 500 Cupcakes by  Fergal Connolly and it had a nice recipe for banana cupcakes.

Now, I have to admit I really only like bananas in their natural form. I was never a fan of banana bread or banana cakes, but I was happy to give these a go. I altered the mixing process after watching Alton Brown explain the science behind cake baking. I've included my method below in the instructions instead of the original recipe version.

The batter includes quite a lot of butter and in addition to your typical cake ingredients, it also incorporates a bit of nutmeg and of course bananas. I found the batter to be quite tasty. In fact, I was blissfully excited because it only had a faint flavor of banana and a wonderful nutmeg spiciness. I took the mixer beater and was in heaven. After baking these golden beauties though, I was slightly saddened at how the banana flavor intensified while in the oven. My husband though couldn't stop shoving them in his mouth, so I'm figuring they must be a winner. The recipe suggests topping these with a simple cream cheese icing. Since these have fresh fruit in them, I'm storing them in the refrigerator.

Banana Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
4 eggs
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup (about 2 large mashed ripe bananas)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans. Cream together the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Sift together the flour and nutmeg. Lightly beat the eggs into a bowl. Slowly add part of the flour mixture to the sugar and butter and then alternate with the eggs until all of the flour and eggs are incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes.