Thanks to her majesty Gwen Stefani I will forever spell out bananas by her singing it to me.

While spending my days on Pinterest (what else is new) I came across a banana split cupcake. Now I've never been a fan of banana splits but I've been going through a strange banana phase. I can't seem to get enough of them. I figured this was the perfect excuse to buy a few more bananas. I think this batch has been my favorite so far!

Now this batch has a few elements to it and I've broken down the ingredients for each one:

Cupcakes:

  • Box of vanilla cake mix
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup water

Banana custard filling:

  • 1 ½ bananas
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup corn starch
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp sea salt

Chocolate dipping sauce:

  • 6-8 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
  • 2 cups butter cream frosting

Other ingredients:

  • rainbow nonpareils (optional)
  • maraschino cherries (optional)
  • yellow cupcake liners

In a medium to large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water and melted butter. Mix well and add cupcake pans. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes. I found mine were done between 19-20 minutes.

While cupcakes are baking, in a food processor or similar appliance, combine bananas, milk, heavy cream and vanilla. Blend until you have a smooth consistency. Slowly add in the sugar, corn starch and salt and mix well. As far as the salt, the original recipe called for kosher salt, which I didn't have. The sea salt worked fine in this recipe, so use whatever you have in the pantry.

Add the banana mixture to a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until it starts to low boil. Once it begins to boil, continue to cook and whisk constantly for 5-7 minutes until custard thickens. Custard should stick to the back of the spoon after 5 minutes. If it hasn't reached that point, keep whisking for another minute or two.

Once your cupcakes have cooled, using the back of a decorator tip or a small paring knife, cut a small well in the middle of your cupcake. Once your filling has cooled slightly, add about 2 tbsp to each cupcake, or until the well in completely filled and level with the cupcake.

Using a butter knife, quickly frost your cupcakes. You need a mounded top of frosting. This will be covered so it doesn't need to be pretty, just consistent. Place cupcakes in the freezer for about 5 minutes for the icing to harden. 

In a small sauce pan combine the chocolate chips and about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Too err on the side of caution, add 1/4 cup at first and slowing incorporate the rest of the cream. You want a smooth but still slightly thick sauce. It will thicken as it cools.

Remove the sauce from the heat. Only work with 3-4 cupcakes at a time because the icing will not take long to soften once out of the freezer and can melt under the hot chocolate sauce. Gently lower your cupcake upside down into the sauce until it is level with the cupcake liner. Slowly, raise the cupcake straight up to allow any excess chocolate to drip off. Once you flip the cupcake upright, you may need to angle it to catch any final drops. Now add your rainbow nonpareils completely around the edge. The more the merrier with these! Immediately place the cupcakes back into the freezer for the chocolate to set.

You're still going to want to work with 3-4 cupcakes at a time on this to keep the chocolate from softening. Using a star decorator tip add a small swirl of butter cream. Try to fill the void space inside of the nonpareils. Top with a cherry and throw them back into the freezer for 5-10 minutes. They can then be refrigerated until you are ready to serve them.

Learn from my unfortunate lesson, add the cherry to the top of the icing swirl before you stick them back in the freezer, they tend to fall off if you don't.

As always, Happy Baking!