Sunday Sampler

We had a fish fry last night at our church building and I signed up to bring dessert.  Of course, I wanted to try a new cupcake recipe...Banana Split Cupcakes by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.  They were a hit!  We had one left! 
I made a few changes to the recipe and the next time I make them I will probably adjust a few things again but they were delicious.  You can check out the original recipe HERE.  I am going to share my version of the recipe. 

Banana Split Cupcakes

Adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Cake:

1 box French vanilla cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

4 eggs

3/4 cup water

2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tin with liners.

Combine all ingredients and beat for about a minute.  Scrape bowl then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cupcake top springs back with touched.  Cool completely. 

Filling:

7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

1 jar pineapple ice cream topping

Combine marshmallow creme and 1/2 jar of pineapple topping in mixer.  Beat until just combined.  Set aside.

Frosting:

2 sticks butter, softened

2/3 cup shortening

1 1/2 - 32 oz. bags powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

dash salt

1 cup pureed strawberries, fresh or frozen with no sugar

In mixer, combine butter and shortening.  Beat on medium speed until smooth and light in color.  Add vanilla and salt.  Slowly add powdered sugar and strawberries alternately.  Mix very well, scraping sides periodically.  (This makes a LOT of frosting but I frosted the cupcakes with tall swirls like ice cream cones.  I did 24 cupcakes and had about a cup of frosting left.)

Building Cupcakes:

Chocolate Sauce

Rainbow Sprinkles

  Chopped Peanuts

Maraschino Cherries with Stems

With a sharp knife, cut 1 inch holes in the top of each cupcake.  Fill with marshmallow mixture.  It will soak into cake leaving the holes empty again.  Fill with remaining pineapple ice cream topping.  Pipe or spread frosting on cupcakes (I piped using a large round tip) adding chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and nuts as you go.  Top with cherry. 

**I made my chocolate syrup and it was a little too thin.  Fudge ice cream topping would probably work the best. 

**Also, I didn't use nuts on mine because I was unsure of allergies at a public event.  J can't have nuts either but I would add them to mine if we were eating them at home. 

Wow...long recipe!  They are time consuming but so, so good!  They would be super cute for birthday parties too. 

I didn't cook too much last week for dinner.  We had things like sandwiches and scrambled eggs because I have been in spring cleaning mode.  Well, that sounds better than I just didn't feel like cooking last week. 

I'll do better this week and will have a new recipe to share next Sunday.  Have a great week and happy cooking!