Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes with Avocado Buttercream.
Raise your hand if you think I’m weird.
Or… don’t. I’ve already seen enough hands. I’m beginning to develop a complex.
So here’s the deal. Like bananas? Like avocados? These cupcakes were made for you. Yes, you! I had you in mind all along. We have so much in common, FYI. It’s like we share a brain.
Someone I don’t share a brain with? Hmm… that would be my husband. This is made all the more evident considering he can calculate down to the penny just how much a pair of shoes that are 30% off + and extra 10% off will cost, while I sometimes try to count the 47 (48? 50?) states on my fingers and round my $78 grocery bill down to $50.
Pretty banana cupcakes with silky frosting that resembles Slimer? So cute, so sweet, so soft and fluffy? Mr. How Sweet’s worst nightmare. Only one way I could make it worse: adding coconut. I didn’t do that, by the way. I’m not mean.
So don’t feel bad if you want to slap me silly. If you’re looking at me like I have a third eye. If you think my taste buds have gone off the deep end. No. Don’t fret. It is scary yet adventurous in an oh-so-awesome way. Trust. You must have trust.
Trust is important in this mutual relationship of ours. I make (sometimes weird) things and you say “that looks so good!” or “that looks… interesting…” or “what were you thinking?!” Even when we both know that it is weird, that I am weird. Fortunately for you, looks can be deceiving. So make these weirdo cupcakes and please your tongue. Take a big chewy bite and experience the softest, smoothest cupcake with the freshest taste you can imagine. They will rock your (weird) world. I don’t lie.
Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes
makes 12-20 cupcakes, depending on your scoop
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Combine dry flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. In a bowl, whisk egg and add brown sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add sour cream and melted butter and mix. Stir in dry ingredients, then add mashed bananas and mix until batter comes together. The batter will be thick. Using an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop batter in liners. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely.
Avocado Buttercream
2 ripe avocados
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
Cream avocado and butter together until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and add vanilla. More sugar can be added if you’d like the frosting thicker. Frosting can be store in the fridge for up to 3 days. I recommend refrigerating the cupcakes.
Less weirdness coming tomorrow. That’s a (delicious) promise.
223 Comments on “Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes with Avocado Buttercream.”
I’m intrigued because I love avocado and have been meaning to try avocado frosting. However, I don’t like bananas. Go figure. I’m curious if I could just omit them or would I need to add something else to balance out the lack of volume the bananas provided?
Jason Mraz posted something last week about mashing bananas and avocados together and I was totally grossed out, but I guess the combination is more popular than I thought! Have you had it before or tasted it somewhere? I do love both fruits, so maybe I will try it! Thanks, Jessica.
I have had an avocado frosting on my mind ever since I made my avo scones. Love the idea with banana cupcakes. Love the green too :)
I’d eat ’em!
This is sooooo funny! There is this programme in Italy on ‘Realtime TV’ where people compete to be the best host there is. In one episode the couples host the judges in their homes and cook a 3 course dinner and then based on food, manners and the table setting one couple wins. From yesterday the programme moved to NY, meaning that Italians living in NY participate to the programme and they have been filming there.
This lady made YOUR muffins last night!!! I SWEAR she did!!!!!! and already last night my drewl was slowly but steadily out of my mouth…. thank you Jessica for making my day with this recipe!!!
And now you can proudly say ‘my recipe was on Italian TV!!!!!
I’m not a huge fan of avocado, but for some reason, I’m dying to make this.
haha awesome! They look like they should be in a Dr. Seuss book!
I must be weird too because I think these are just fantastic. I LOVE the avocado buttercream.
Avocado on my cupcake….it sounds like a Smith’s song…and like a Smith’s song, it’s crazy enough that I just might LOVE it. Weird. :)
They look so pretty!!!!
This recipe is fascinating!
As though you needed any more comments. :)
I just made these cupcakes and am wiping the crumbs off of my mouth. Unbelievably good recipe. I will admit that I chickened out and used a pineapple buttercream icing instead of the avocado.
Thanks for that one!
Pineapple buttercream sounds insanely delicious!
Does the buttercream turn brown at all?
Hasn’t yet! I still have a container of it in my fridge. Not sure if it would turn if it was at room temp.
Thanks! I might make these tomorrow. Sounds great.
You are exactly right!! “Weird” was my first thought… but not in a bad way. Avocados are so creamy I can imagine they make an excellent buttercream. Do you taste them much in the recipe though? The idea of tasting avocado with something sweet kinda freaks me out :)
-Carissa
There is just a hint of avocado!
I’ve been to a Laotian restaurant where you can get avocado smoothies. THEY ARE DELICIOUS. I can see how mixing sweet things with avocado would be frightening, but don’t fret. SO good.
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At first I thought….ewww…but avacado’s a fruit, right? Such a neat idea that I’m going to have to try! Thanks!
I just made these- DELICIOUS!!!
***I MADE THIS DELICIOUSNESS!!!***
I found this combo so intriguing, I just had to try it! The frosting is on point,
and goes splendidly with the banana cupcakes. Im new to your blog, and kind of new to the kitchen (especially when it comes to baking!) My batch only made 12… I used all your measurements, and a 1/4 cup to pour out the batter. Do you have any thoughts for why my batch was half of what you suggested?
P.S. I did the calorie count, and please dont remove me from your subscribers for posting it, but the calorie count per cupcake is aprox 235-250. –Not bad, I was just curious :)
—
Byrd
I have these in the oven now and the batter amount worked out perfectly for twelve cupcakes…of STANDARD size. The photographs above seem to portray miniature sized cupcakes. I believe this to be the reason why we’ve both ended up with only twelve cupcakes. The recipe doesn’t emphasize size of cupcake tin.
Nope – they are standard sized cupcakes, not minis. I used the ice cream scooper which is close to my 1/4 cup but probably not exact, which would explain the difference in quantity.
I use and used the same type of scoop to distribute batter, still ended up with only twelve, hmmm…
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I just bought the ingredients for these.
Going to make them in an hour; shall let you know how they turn out.
They turned out pretty yummy.
The avocado buttercream is nothing to fear! It is so mildly flavored, its sweetness is what one tastes most. It has grown on me quite a bit.
I kept mine in the fridge, due to the frosting. It’s kind of goopy to work with, and it keeps its green color. The cake was very tender pre-refrigeration, but has since become a bit tough due to it.
I would indeed recommend this, especially to those of us willing to try something more exotic than the traditional, boring vanilla.
Glad you liked them!
I just made these for a dinner….the cupcakes are nice an moist…the frosting was way to sweet for me so I added 1/2 a cup of butter, way more salt, some cream cheese & lime to cut the sweetness. That left me w/ a ton of frosting so I will be making a banana cake soon to use up the frosting!
ohohoh, can you elaborate more on your alterations? I would love to try that version out, sounds great!
I made these and followed the directs exactly. I didn’t think the frosting was too sweet, it was actually a little heavy on the avocado flavor for me. But paired with the cupcakes, and some shredded coconut I added, it was an amazingly addictive combo!!! Here’s how mine turned out:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/aeospot/2011-05-22_13-28-11_865-1.jpg
And I just saw a previous comment on altering the frosting that sounds great! I would live to try that as well!!!
Thanks for the recipe!
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So, I JUST made these cupcakes. They are currently cooling. I just hope the avocado buttercream lasts until the cupcake are cool enough to ice!! These are wonderful. When I saw your post a week or so ago, I said “bananas. avocado. cupcake. Get in my belly!”
Thank you for experimenting and posting such wonderful ideas.
I LOVE the idea of Avocado buttercream.
Going to have to make these asap.
made these today. I was really nervous about the avocado buttercream, especially because it took me buying 5 avocados to finally get two that were actually edible. Anyways.. they turned out great! Everyone ( we have an American, A Dutchie, and Aussie in the house at the moment) loves them!
I’m going to feature these on my blog! (with credit to you, of course!) Making them right now. We’ll see how they turn out!!! Thanks for your wonderful ideas :)
I made these recently for a party and have never received so many compliments and recipe requests! I typically eat avocados with a spoon, so this was right up my alley. The frosting was not too sweet for my tastes, and while there was a hint of the avocado, I really thought it almost tasted melon-y. Absolutely perfect! What would your suggestions be for a brown sugar mango concoction? I LOVE mango and avocado together, but am clueless when it comes to making alterations on my own. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Ooooooooooooooh if you ever find something out about mango and brown sugar TELL MEE<3
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I just made these because I had ripe bananas and avocados and they are SO.GOOD. Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I will be making it over and over again :)
I thought they were great! I took them to a family function and my brother said “this tastes like a vegetable” then gave it to my mom to finish up.
http://daisy-head-mayzie.blogspot.com/2011/05/banana-cupcakes-with-avacado-frosting.html
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These are in the oven right now…and if the batter was any indication of how good they are YUUUUMMMM!!!! Except, I am going to make your peanut butter frosting. I can’t wait until they are done!
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Hello!, i just made the frosting recipe with avocado cupcakes… They turned out great!!! I’m not a fan of avocados and in Puerto Rico we never use them for something sweet, so this was a very delicious suprise!!!! Thank you for putting so many great recipes. I will be doing a lot of them :) thank you again!!!
my girlfriend just made these, they are so awesome!!! I can eat an avocado with just salt and pepper, ive always used them in savory seafood dishes but never sweets this is grand. avocado bacon ice cream!
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These were the simply the best. I should have tripled the batch for my daughter’s first birthday party. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
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While recently on holiday (and saving my cash for shopping), for lunch I was having peanut butter, avocado and jam sandwiches. This doesn’t seem weird at all! It’s genius!
I just made these are they are INCREDIBLE!!! Thanks so much for sharing. So wonderful.
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My frosting got REALLY runny even though I added two more cups of sugar? How come?
The cupcakes and the frosting was SOOOO good! I was surprised! Even had a friend taste them to make sure I wasn’t just on a sugar-high. They are loved!
Was your butter at room temp or melted? It could just depend on the ripeness of the avocados, but mine was still pretty runny too.
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My mom’s birthday is Halloween, and the green frosting is very Halloween-ey and festive. PLUS, I have 3 large ripe bananas that I just stuck in my freezer the other day, and avocados are currently $1 a piece. Everything else is in my pantry. SCORE. Thank you for this – I know she’ll love them!
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how does the avocado not turn brown?
No idea, maybe something with the sugar? But it definitely won’t turn brown!