Banoffee Cupcakes

It was my 1 year' anniversary at my workplace and I made some cupcakes to celebrate this. I made some banoffee cupcakes and raspberry and lemon cupcakes from my new book from Peggy Porschen. I have to say I struggled to get 12 cupcakes from the amount she described so I increased the measurements slightly. I also found the icing ever so slightly too sweet, so I added less icing sugar. BUT even with the sweet frosting it was more than delicious.

Banoffee Cupcakes

For the decoration

50g sugar florist paste(different colours)/marzipan

pink or white pearls

1 banana

For the frosting
120 g full-fat cream cheese
100 g unsalted butter, softened
220 g icing sugar, shifted
1 banana mashed 

For the sponge

120 g unsalted butter

120 g caster sugar

pinch of salt

seeds of 1 vanilla pod

2 large eggs

120 g self-raising flour

40 g plain chocolate (minimum 53% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

For the sugar syrup

70 ml water

70 g caster sugar

scraped vanilla pods

For the filling

100 g soft caramel 

Make the decoration at least a day ahead.

Kneed the sugarpaste or the marzipan with a small amount of paste food colour, if using, until smooth and pilable. Roll out the paste to a thickness off approximately 2mm.

Place the blossom cutter on the paste and press firmly. Lift off the cutter and release the blossom. Cut a few at a time. Lightly dust the blossom veiner with icing sugar and one by one place each blossom shape in the venier and press. Carefully bend the venier outwards to release the shaped blossoms and place in a well of palette or on a foam pad. Leave to set for at least a few hours or preferably overnight. 

Once dry, you can add shades of colour to your blossoms by brushing with a tiny amount of petal dust using a fine artist's bush. With a brush place a small amount of edible glue in the middle and place a pearl in the middle with a tweezer.

I also made some banana decoration. I sliced one banana then covered the surface with sugar. With a blowtorch caramelise the surface...and that is it:)

To make the frosting

Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl  and beat until smooth and creamy. Place the butter and icing sugar in a separate bowl. Cream together until very pale and fluffy.

Add the cream cheese, a little at the time, to the butter mixture and mix at medium-high speed until the frosting is combined. Add the banana purée and chill until set.

To make the cupcakes

Place the butter, salt and vanilla seeds in a mixing bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.

Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl and add slowly to the butter mixture while whisking quickly. If the mixture starts to separate or curdle, stop adding the egg and beat in  2-3 tablespoons of flour. This will rebind the butter.

Once all the egg has been incorporated into the butter mixture, shift in the remaining flour and stir until the batter is just combined. This will ensure the sponges stay light and fluffy. Fold the chopped chocolate through the batter using a rubber spatula.

 Using a piping bag or a tablespoon, carefully place the batter into the cupcake cases until two-thirds full only. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the inserted wooden skewer comes out clean.

To make the sugar syrup
While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the sugar syrup for soaking. Place the water, sugar and vanilla pod into the saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until all the sugar dissolved then set aside to cool down slightly. Discard the vanilla pod.

Once the cupcakes are baked, let them rest for about 10 minutes outside the oven. Using a pastry brush, soak the tops of the cupcakes with sugar syrup while they are still warm: this allows the syrup to be absorbed faster.

Leave the cupcakes to cool down completely then using a melon baller, scoop out the tops of each cupcake.

To add the filling, decorate
Using a fork, crush the ripe banana and then mix it together with the caramel cream. Place the banoffee mixture into a plastic piping bag and use to fill the scooped-out holes of the cupcakes.

Fill the chilled frosting in a plastic piping bag fitted with a large pain round nozzle and pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake.

To finish, place a sugar blossom or a slice of caramelised banana on the top of the frosting for each cupcake.