Cocoa Banana Cupcakes

SweetySJD's Note:

This is one I've been meaning to try for a long time. Time does not include cooling time.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 18 cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 ¼ cups nonfat milk
• 1 cup banana , mashed
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FROSTING

• 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
• 3 tablespoons nonfat milk
• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate , melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1⁄3; cup baking cocoa

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, banana, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Coat muffin cups with nonstick spray. Fill 3/4 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
3. Beat cream cheese, milk, chocolate, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Combine powdered sugar and cocoa; gradually beat into cream cheese mixture.
5. Frost cupcakes when cool.

Reviews

[annarepublic]

I followed the recipe exactly and probably wouldn't use the recipe again. I used it because I was drawn to everyone's comments about it being so moist. However, the texture just wasn't the texture I was going for; it was more like a muffin than an airy, light cupcake. So although it was moist, it wasn't cake-moist, it was more muffin moist. The 1 cup smashed banana also wasn't enough to punch the cupcake with a banana taste, at least not the taste I was looking for from a "cocoa banana" titled cupcake. The cupcake was a border line banana bread with a faint banana taste. I thought the icing would heal the cupcake or at least congregate w/ the cupcake to make an overall good taste, instead, the icing was quite ordinary-tasting and didn't bring anything special to cake. Perhaps that was my fault because I cut the ingredients in half because the icing recipe would have yielded much too much for the amount of cupcakes. Overall the cupcake was just okay. It was ordinary, nothing fancy or anything to call home about. Just cocoa-tasting and bland. I hope this feedback helps. See my photo if you'd like. They look quite pretty. I had to dress it up a bit to make up for the taste using toasted coconut flakes I had left over from a different cupcake recipe.

[pedspeech]

Very moist and tasty, as well as easy to prepare. I subbed almond milk (because I had it on hand) and omitted the icing. I figure these are healthy enough to go in my son's lunch box without the icing to make a mess! Great use for overripe bananas.

[Mama Dia]

Yummy! I added an extra 1/4 cup of sugar, as suggested. They turned out so good! Thanks for the recipe.