Banana-na-na-na-na-na-na Cupcakes (Batman-Inspired Banana Cupcakes)

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Smart Balance.

I’ve been wanting to make these cupcakes for a while. Like, almost a year. I love bananas and I love cheesy names, so I naturally had to make a “Banana-na-na-na-na-na-na Batman” cupcake. So when Smart Balance wanted me to try their new blended butter sticks in the place of recipes that normally use butter, I thought “this is my chance!”

I threw on the Bat Signal and got to work.

See, I’m lactose intolerant (as are many of my family and friends) and yet I still use butter when baking and make buttercream frosting by the boatloads. I just assumed there wasn’t a tasty option. I swapped my butter for Smart Balance sticks in the cupcake and the buttercream frosting, and was pleasantly surprised! The cupcakes turned out fluffy and delicious, and doesn’t taste any different than butter would make it. The buttercream frosting turned out as well! The only caveat is that Smart Balance sticks have salt in them, so if you use it for frosting, it’ll turn out a bit more salty than usual. But it would be perfect for a salted caramel buttercream!

If you’re looking for a less fattening, less lactose-y alternative to butter, I’d definitely recommend the Smart Balance sticks. It’s a 1-1 substitution for butter in your recipe, and I doubt you’ll notice a difference in taste/usability. The sticks are a butter/canola oil blend with no trans fats, and a blend of other fats that helps absorb good cholesterol and block the bad kinds. Kinda like your own personal Batman. If trans fats and bad cholesterol were villains and Smart Balance was really rich and had cool weapons and spent a lot of time brooding… ok, maybe it’s not like Batman. Maybe I really just want to make this analogy work because I like the name of these cupcakes more than I probably should.

On to the recipe!

Banana(nananananana) Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 stick Smart Balance Blended Butter Stick (or 1 stick of salted butter)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 ripe bananas)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place 12 cupcake wrappers into a cupcake tin.

Mix flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until well mixed and fluffy. Add mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla to the butter and sugar. Mix together.

Add the mixed dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir until combined (be careful not to overmix!).

Spoon batter into the 12 cupcake cups evenly. (The batter will be thick–that’s fine!)

Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick goes in and out of a cupcake cleanly.

Let cool and enjoy!

These cupcakes are delicious on their own (like a banana bread-muffin-cupcake hybrid), but if you’re a frosting lover and/or want to make them more “Batman”-y, read on!

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks Smart Balance Blended Butter Sticks (or 2 sticks unsalted butter)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 TBS vanilla
• 2 TBS milk
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions:

Cream together the butter and powdered sugar. Add in vanilla and milk, mix until fluffy with an even consistency. If it’s too dry, add more milk 1 TBS at a time. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar.

Once it’s to your desired consistency, add in cinnamon and mix. Then add the yellow food coloring, a few drops at a time, until it’s the desired color. I used about 15 drops to get the bright yellow for my cupcakes. 

Frost your cupcakes!

Chocolate Batman Toppers

Finish your cupcakes off with these fun (and delicious) toppers!

Directions:

Find a Batman symbol online and paste it multiple times to create a template sheet. Print the sheet out. 

Place the sheet on a baking sheet and place waxed paper over it.

Melt some chocolate chips in a bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds, mix. Microwave for 10 more seconds, mix.

Place melted chocolate into a frosting sleeve, and using a thin tip, trace the shapes on the wax paper. Fill in the shape.

Place tray of finished chocolate outlines into the fridge to cool and harden.

Carefully peel off the chocolate symbols and place (flat side up) onto the top of the cupcake.

Voila! a delicious banana cupcake ala Batman.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve substituted butter while baking, and how it worked out for you. Have you tried Smart Balance before? 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Smart Balance.