Strawberry Banana Cupcakes
I have a delicious cupcake recipe for you today, but first I want to share something that happened to me. I think it will be an encouragement to all bloggers out there.
I think most bloggers probably wonder, at one point or another, if anyone really reads what they are writing or gets anything from it. It's easy to compare your blog to others with much larger followings. Today, I happened to be on a site I frequently visit to get cupcake ideas and network with other cupcake enthusiasts. I noticed someone asking for a cannoli cupcake recipe. I was about to share mine, when I looked at the previous links for recipes that were posted. One of them was for my recipe and blog!! It made my day to know someone I've never even met, had tested out and enjoyed something I posted!
So thanks to all you readers for continuing to look at my page and test out my recipes. And to any bloggers out there - keep on posting! You never know who is reading and getting ideas, advice, or inspiration from your posts! To me, it doesn't matter if 100 people see our blogs or 10,000. As long as someone enjoys or learns something from what we write, I consider it worth the effort!
For you readers, I've just added a couple new features. Along the top, I have a banner which contains links to new pages I've created. Check out my "Recipe Index" and "Decor Tutorial" tabs for a complete list of all items on my blog. This way you can easily find the recipe or tutorial you are looking for.
I also started a Twitter account for updates. I will be sharing my ideas there, as well as on my Facebook and Pinterest sites. I'd love for you to check out these sites as well! I try to always follow back anyone that's following me, especially if you are a blogger.
Ok, now to the real reason you are reading. Here's the cupcake recipe of the day!
I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go with the recipe. I knew I loved strawberry cupcakes, and I also enjoyed the banana split cupcakes that combined the two flavors, among others. But, I really wanted to try something different. I'd made banana split cupcakes and banana peanut butter muffins, but never banana cupcakes. So I decided it was time to experiment!
I was in the grocery searching around for ideas and found banana extract, I did not know they made that! I wanted to use real bananas too, but would use the banana extract in place of vanilla extract in my recipe.
I also decided to use strawberry ice cream with real strawberry chunks to flavor the buttercream. Fresh strawberries would be preferred, but since they are out of season, the ones in the store were really pricey and didn't look great. So, I just improvised and used the ice cream. These were just an experiment anyway. I could have used a little stronger strawberry taste, but it had a rich, creamy flavor I enjoyed!
Banana cupcake ingredients:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp banana extract
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup mashed banana (approx 2-3 bananas)
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Mix sugar and flour into cake mix on large mixing bowl.
- Add in banana extract, eggs, sour cream, oil, and mashed bananas.
- Beat on low for 30 sec.
- Beat on medium for 1-2 minutes, until no lumps appear.
- Line cupcake pan with liners.
- Fill liners 3/4 full.
- Bake 18-22 minutes and then let cool.
Strawberry buttercream ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 1/2 cup Crisco
- 8-10 tsp of pulverized strawberries or strawberry ice cream
- 1 lb Powdered sugar
Strawberry buttercream directions:
- Beat butter, Crisco, and 10 tsps of strawberry in large mixing bowl.
- Beat in powdered sugar, adding around 1/2 lb at a time.
- Fold in small chunks of strawberry until you achieve the desired flavor.
- Once cupcakes are cooled, pipe buttercream onto cupcake using piping bag and Wilton 1M tip.
Enjoy!!!
