Recipe: Bananas Foster Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

It can be said that these cupcakes are for and from the love of classic bananas foster, classic Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, and, of course, cupcakes. With the pluses of cinnamon and rum. Let's all be completely charmed by this creation of an amazing blogger whose talents in baking, desserts and party decorations, photography, and blogging have made all her fans so happy (and even after a meal, hungry) when visiting her blog.

Bananas Foster Cupcakes
with Swiss Meringue Cinnamon Rum Buttercream
Recipe & Photos: The Curvy Carrot (Shanon Lacy); used under a CC BY 3.0 license

INGREDIENTS
for the actual Bananas Foster
3/4 cups (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 firm but ripe bananas, sliced into 1/4-inch thick cross-section slices
2 tablespoons spiced rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the rest of the cupcakes
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon spiced rum
3/4 cup sour cream

for the Cinnamon Rum Swiss Meringue Buttercream
5 large egg whites
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 sticks (yes, I know, I know….) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons spiced rum
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Special equipment: a candy thermometer



DIRECTIONS
for the Bananas Foster
Over medium heat in a large sauté pan, combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, stirring frequently.

Once the brown sugar is completely dissolved, add the sliced bananas and cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes, making sure to evenly coat the bananas with the butter "sauce".

Add the rum and vanilla to the pan.

Turn off the heat (especially if you have a gas flame), and very carefully, using a long match, light the rum near the outer edge of your pan.

Shake the pan and flame very gently from side to side. The flame should only last about 10 seconds, at the most.

Once the flame is out, stir the mixture to evenly coat the bananas, and set aside.

for the cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line your cupcake pan with the desired liners.

In your standing mixer using the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, mixing well until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and rum to the wet ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Very carefully (it will still be hot) and with the mixer off, add the Bananas Foster mixture to the standing mixer bowl. Resume mixing at low speed until mixed well.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream in thirds, mixing alternatively with each other. Mix the batter until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pan.

Bake the cupcakes until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes total, rotating the pans halfway during the baking process.

Cool the cupcakes completely on a wire rack before frosting.

for the Cinnamon Rum Swiss Meringue Buttercream
In a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, lightly whisk the egg whites and granulated sugar until well-combined. Using your candy thermometer, heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until the temperature registers 140 degrees (this took me about 20 minutes or so.)

Once hot, pour the mixture into your standing mixer (make sure your mixing bowl is room temperature) bowl and, using the whisk attachment, whisk until the whites have doubled in volume, about 5 minutes or so. The mixture should be thick and creamy in consistency, and it should not move around the bowl once the whisk stops moving.

Remove the whisk attachment and attach the paddle.

Add half of the butter pieces, and, stopping and starting your mixer in 1-2 second pulses, pulse the mixture until the butter pieces are all evenly coated with the meringue.

Add the remaining half of the butter pieces and pulsate the mixer several more times.

Starting with the lowest mixing speed, mix the meringue for about 10 seconds, increasing the speed of your mixer consecutively, at each speed for about 10 seconds, until you reach a medium-high speed.

Continue mixing at a medium-high speed until the butter is completely melted and the mixture is light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add the rum and cinnamon and mix at medium-high speed for another minute or so.

Refrigerate the frosting for about 10 minutes to firm up a little before piping. ***Leftover frosting can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Pipe as desired (I used my go-to Wilton 1M tip) onto the cupcakes.

Makes approximately 32 cupcakes.



Cupcakes adapted from this, originally from this, and frosting adapted from this via this.

This post is linked up with: chick & crafty party; foodie friday; frugal friday; get your craft on tuesday; just something i whipped up; seasonal sundays; strut your stuff saturday; sugar & spice; sundae scoop; sunday showcase party; table top tuesday; tablescape thursday; tasty tuesday parade of foods; weekend wrap up party; whatever goes wednesday; works for me wednesday; wow us wednesdays.