BANANA Icing

[-Daniel-]

I really want to make some peanut butter and banana cupcakes - with a smooth peanut butter filling, a buttercream frosting with banana flavour and some caramel on top. (a bit like banoffee in a cupcake).

Does anyone have experience making banana flavoured icing? Or similar icings I could maybe use a base recipe?

 

[ChesterV]

You have to be careful on some flavorings, especially banana. Some flavorings are really disgusting, as banana is a hard flavor to get right.

Most banana flavors are super sweet and taste like fake, plastic bananas to me. I have had a couple that tasted ok, but they were still fake tasting.

You might want to think about switching......make a banana cupcake with mashed bananas and peanut butter frosting.

If you want banana frosting, then I would use mashed bananas, not banana flavoring. Unless you happen to find a really good flavoring you like.

Or

You could make a peanut butter cupcake, with caramel frosting, and put a banana pudding filling in it.



If you make the banana buttercream, put it in an airtight container, put some plastic wrap directly on the frosting in the container, then close it airtight. Put in the fridge overnight.

Take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to use it, and lightly stir it up before using.
Letting it sit overnight will help the banana permeate into the frosting better.

 

[Apocalypso]

I've been trying to figure out how to make a more intensely flavored banana cake without resorting to flavor extracts. I did find a video online where a woman made concentrated banana liquid, and I'm going to try this next time. She took very ripe (black skin) bananas, peeled them, cooked the bananas in a covered bowl in a microwave oven for five minutes. Then she strained it through a fine mesh sieve to get all the liquid out, and concentrated the liquid on the stove over very low heat. Even with that, it'd be too much liquid to work into a buttercream, which requires very little water. I agree with Chester, I would think you'd want to elevate the banana flavor in the cake, and the peanut butter lends itself better to a frosting because of its fat content. You could put dehydrated banana slices on top to carry through the banana theme?

 

[-Daniel-]

I love both of these suggestions, thank you guys - especially the dehydrated bananas on top.

My worry with peanut butter icing, is that I think it would be too dry and sickly. (I need a big cup of tea every bite of a peanut butter sandwich). I might try with a regular vanilla icing on top, bit of peanut butter in the middle, and the hydrated banana suggestion.

I might get to give it a go this week- I'll post results

 

[Apocalypso]

You would want to use a buttercream recipe featuring peanut butter, not just add powdered sugar to the peanut butter. This one has some additional butter and milk to loosen it up. You'll want to whip it with a mixer until it's aerated and light. You'll get the peanut butter taste though. http://www.twosisterscrafting.com/best-peanut-butter-buttercream-frosting/ In addition to decorating with the dried bananas, you could sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top. It would certainly advertise the flavors.

 

[Apocalypso]

By the way, it's all your fault that I loaded up on bananas! I plan to make a very banana-y cake at the end of the week I guess. (I heard that bananas are actually a loss leader at the supermarket, they are so cheap.) By the way, the last time I made a banana sheet cake, I poked holes with a skewer and dabbed with simple syrup, and I swear that seemed to intensify the banana flavor. I liked this recipe, pretty simple. https://www.spendwithpennies.com/banana-cake/ I will note 60 minutes seemed, and was, way too long to bake. I think it took closer to 40.

 

[-Daniel-]

By the way, it's all your fault that I loaded up on bananas!

Hahaha, I hope they go to good use.

My plan is to make a banana and peanut butter cake on friday... I still haven't chosen base recipes to use but I'm thinking:
- 3 banana sponges
- Filling of peanut butter buttercream (the recipe you posted above)
- A very thin layer of nutella on each sponge
- Dehydrated bananes (maybe fresh bananas) on top with some nuts sprinkled over

I was considering that all of the flavours and textures might be too heavy, so I'm gonna taste everything bit by bit to make sure it's not too sickly to eat.

I'm thinking of something similar in look to this:

 

[Norcalbaker59]

That cake looks yummy. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Apocalypso]

If you put fresh banana slices on top, I think you'll want to dip them in lemon juice to keep them from browning.

My bananas aren't really speckled enough yet. It may be Sunday before they're sweet enough. I may try the microwaving of some of them to get more concentrated flavor out of them.

 

[-Daniel-]

Mine are still very yellow, I'm hoping they'll be ready for saturday. If not I think I'll be able to buy some ripe ones at a market nearby.

Thanks for the lemon juice tip - I didn't know about this and was planning on cutting up and placing the bananas just outside the restaurant before I serve the cake ! haha

 

[-Daniel-]

So I made the cake! It was delicious- I though there was a risk of the flavours being too powerful, but the sponge was lovely and moist so it balanced out very well. I got good feedback from people at the party I brought it to. I also put a thin layer of nutella on each sponge.

The banana cake recipe was tricky, I did in in two gos (I have a very small oven) and as the second sponge was larger it took almost an hour to fully bake. I need to practice my piping and when I next make the icing I'll have to make sure it comes out smoother (more milk I think).

It's my first time using silicone molds for a tiered cake, something I won't do again as the sponges were slightly different sizes.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Good going Daniel! What did you use in the peanut butter icing? I have a friend who loooves peanut butter. I might try my hand at a peanut butter cupcake for the holidays.

 

[-Daniel-]

This link is the recipe for the icing and this link is the recipe for the banana cake.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

This link is the recipe for the icing and this link is the recipe for the banana cake.

Thank you Daniel. All this talk about peanut butter and bananas has me craving a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich now.

 

[-Daniel-]

Hahaha I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so that's why I decided to try to make it in cake form! Lovely with a cup of tea

 

[Apocalypso]

I finally baked my banana cake today. I had so many bananas, so I tried the trick I'd seen in a video of microwaving some of them in a covered bowl, mashing, squeezing the liquid out over a strainer, then concentrating the liquid, and added that back to the 1 1/3 cups of mashed banana. I also took the leftover simple syrup I had in the fridge, and mashed two bananas in it, cooked it gently for a bit, and strained it. I'm using that banana flavored simple syrup on the cake, will see how it works out. I made cupcakes and two 6" layers, and have eaten a few of the cupcakes plain. Am chilling them, and will frost tomorrow.