Banana Split Cupcakes

The inspiration for this post is a bit convoluted. I was originally looking for some way to incorporate wet walnuts into a recipe for my dad. My dad is a huge fan of wet walnuts and he just had surgery so I wanted to make him a little pick-me-up treat. Wet walnuts are usually a topping on ice cream so I thought it would be fun to make a spin on a banana split in cupcake form. Later, I found out that Banana Splits do not traditionally even have wet walnuts as a topping. Oh well!

I used a banana cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart and filled each cupcake with homemade whipped cream. I then topped 1/3 of the cupcakes with vanilla frosting, 1/3 with strawberry frosting, and 1/3 with chocolate frosting. I topped them all off with sprinkles, wet walnuts, and maraschino cherries!

These are sugar overload so despite the photos showing all 3 types, stick to one cupcake at a time 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

Banana Cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes):

• 1 ½ cups cake flour
• ¾ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter (1 stick) melted
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Whipped Cream Filling

•  1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
•  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
•  1 tablespoon granulated sugar

 

Frosting

• 1 ½ cups butter, softened
•  6 cups powdered sugar, plus more if needed
•  6 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more if needed
•  ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
•  Pinch salt
•  ¼ cup strawberry jam
•  ¼ cup cocoa powder

 

Wet Walnuts

•  1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Toppings

•  Maraschino cherries
•  Wet walnuts
•  Rainbow sprinkles

The wet walnuts can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge. Combine the maple syrup, agave, and walnuts in a small bowl. Cover and reserve until ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a  large bowl, mixing to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla extract. (Note: I used a potato masher to mash the bananas. You can use a fork as well. It can be kind of chunky, that’s fine)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. These brown up so don’t be alarmed. They will be the color of banana bread. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

While waiting for the cupcakes to cool, make your frosting. You can also make the frosting ahead of time and refrigerate. If you do this, bring to room temperature before decorating the cupcakes.

 

Add the butter to a large bowl and blend on high until light and fluffy.

Add 6 cups powdered sugar, 6 tablespoons heavy cream, and 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract. Carefully mix until combined. You can adjust the thickness by adding more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting and adding more cream for a thinner frosting.

This is the base frosting for all of your frostings. Split the frosting evenly among three bowls. You can set one bowl aside (that will be your vanilla frosting). Take another one of the bowls and add the strawberry jam, mixing to combine. This may make your frosting too thin, so you might need to add some more powdered sugar to get it back to the right consistency.

Take the remaining bowl and add the cocoa powder, mixing to combine. The cocoa powder may make the frosting too dry, so add heavy cream a teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Set all three bowls aside.

To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and sugar to a bowl. Whip on medium until peaks form, about 5 minutes.

Now it’s time to assemble the cupcakes! Using a cupcake corer or a paring knife, core the center of each cupcake, reserving the tops.

Add the whipped cream to a plastic ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners. Pipe some of the whipped cream into the center of each cupcake.

Add the tops of the cupcakes back to cover the whipped cream. Add the frostings to three separate ziplock bags. Cut off one of the bottom corners of each bag. Pipe the vanilla frosting on to 4 cupcakes, pipe the strawberry frosting on to another 4 of the cupcakes, and pipe the chocolate frosting on to the remaining 4 cupcakes.

Top each cupcake with the sprinkles and some of the wet walnuts. Finish with a maraschino cherry.

Aren’t these fun?

I love the bit of whipped cream in the center. What’s a banana split without whipped cream?

You could also buy whipped cream as well as the frostings from the store if you’d like, although fresh ingredients really do taste better in my opinions.

My dad was happy to be my taste tester. I think he was mostly excited for the wet walnuts but he enjoyed the banana cupcake, frosting, and maraschino cherry as well!