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I think it's time I make a special tag for bananas and lemons.

Not too long ago, I posted a banana-nut cake to 'celebrate'/'mourn' my last days of being a bum. I suppose, I can't help doing the banana-nut combo as a go-to cake recipe whenever an unexpected special thing arises. For instance, I met my lovely thesis mate, Miho-chan, yesterday. It's been quite a while since we saw each other. The last time was in our graduation, my how time flies!

So for old time's sake, I met her with my ever-present tupperware of wonder and gave her a sweet treat to munch on after going through so much Japanese food for lunch :D We left both happy, with a promise of baking together in their well-equipped kitchen again. I will definitely look forward to that! :D

For lack of imagination, I christened these cupcakes as 'Meeting Miho Cupcakes' because they were created for that occasion. On ordinary days when my brain's working to come up with other names, I suppose I could alternatively call them Very Naughty Nutty Banana Cupcakes or something like that. Even if it's not Miho, I'm sure whoever it is you're going to make this for and go to a date/meeting with will surely love and appreciate the sweet gesture. (^_^)d

Meeting Miho Cupcakes

I used leftover cream cheese frosting from when I made a classmate's birthday cake a week ago. I think I had half a cup of leftover cream cheese frosting. But for those who'd be making a batch of frosting just for the cupcakes, I'll include how I did mine from scratch. For the cake, you could use box mix when you don't have the time. I won't judge /wink, wink/. When I make the cake from scratch, my go-to recipe was the one I used when I made my Banana Streusel Tea Cake way back in December (I think). That was the time when I was reviewing for JLPT and we had this get-together after the review class.


Cupcakes are supposed to be these cute, colorful things. But, my cupcake's size borders on muffin proportions. Perhaps, I should stop calling them 'cupcakes' and start labeling them as 'ramekin cakes' because I usually use my big ramekins to nestle the paper cups while baking them in my oven toaster.

I'll stop the babbling here and present you with my recipe~

Ingredients

Banana-Nut Cake 

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup caster sugar

4 tbsp roasted peanuts

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg, lightly beaten

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Cream Cheese Frosting 

225 g. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Peanut Topping

1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/3 cup white sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Making the Banana-Nut Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease you chosen baking container

or loaf tin with butter or oil. Coat base and sides with four, then shake off the excess. Skip the greasing-the-baking-container part if you're using paper cups or silicone cupcake mold.

2. In a dry and clean bowl, sift together flour and cornstarch twice. Sift in baking powder and set aside. 

3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until the texture is light and creamy.

4. Add the mashed bananas and beat until combined. 

5. Gradually add the egg while beating thoroughly after each addition. 

Add the vanilla then beat again until combined.

6. Alternate adding the sifted flour and milk into the batter. Use a metal spoon for this stage. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Add the ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Mix well again.

7. Add the peanuts. Stir again until peanuts are well-distributed into the batter.

8. Pour the batter into the paper-cup-lined cupcake mold and smooth the surface with a back of a spoon or a spatula.

9. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

10. Let the cupcakes sit in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. When they reach room temperature, put them in the fridge to chill.

* If using cake mix, use according to box instructions, then cover the tin with aluminum foil. Bake for 200 deg. C in your oven toaster for 30 minutes.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until smooth.

2. Add the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Whip until smooth and well-blended.

3. Set aside and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Making the Salted Caramel Peanut Topping

1. Pour the white sugar onto the center of the pan and cook under medium heat. Keep a careful eye on the sugar and wait for it to liquefy and change color. Carefully prod sugar granules from the sides of the pan to the center with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

2. When most of the sugar liquefies and turns a light amber color, pour on the nuts. Sprinkle salt and add the ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg.

3. Quickly mixed the peanuts into the caramel and pour them onto a plate lined with baking paper. Let cool until it solidifies into peanut brittle.

To Assemble the Meeting Miho Cupcakes

1. Bring out the cupcakes and cream cheese frosting from the fridge.

2. You could just spread the frosting on the cupcakes. If you have a piping bag, use a star-shaped tip with 1.5 inch opening to pipe the frosting onto the cupcake. I just used a teaspoon to add the frosting on the cupcakes.

3. Break the peanut brittle apart with a small mallet (the sort used in tenderizing meat) or a mortar and pestle.  Sprinkle the caramel peanut chunks on top of the frosted cupcakes.


Too bad I can't anything sweet right now because of my sore throat and colds :(
But if I'm my normal healthy self, I'd be having this for afternoon tea with a lovely steaming pot of white tea steeped with orange peel. Posting tiramisu in the near future, please look forward to it~