Healthy Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These cupcakes look and taste fancy, just like what you’d buy from a bakery, but they’re much easier to make than you’d expect! The frosting can be made up to three days in advance if stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container, and the unfrosted cupcakes will keep for at least two days if stored in an airtight container on the counter (or longer, if refrigerated instead). Once frosted, the cupcakes are best if eaten within 24 hours.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (260g) mashed banana (about 2 large ripe bananas – see Notes!)
- 1 ½ tsp liquid stevia
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (210mL) unsweetened cashew milk
- cream cheese frosting, for serving (see Notes!)
Instructions
- To prepare the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and coat the liners with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the coconut oil, vanilla, and banana. Mix in the liquid stevia and 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners. Bake at 350°F for 17-20 minutes or until the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, top with cream cheese frosting just before serving.
Notes
For the gluten-free flour, use the following blend: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, ½ cup (60g) brown rice flour, and 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (I like this one from Bob's Red Mill) should work as well, if measured like this.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
For the best results, use bananas with more brown spots than yellow color. The ones that are almost completely brown or black are perfect! They're sweeter and have a stronger flavor than pure yellow bananas, and they'll yield cupcakes with a more tender and moist texture as well.
It's very important to measure the mashed banana with measuring cups or grams! Not all “large” bananas are the exact same size.
I highly recommend using the liquid stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients (you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine!), and I buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. If you prefer not to use stevia in the cupcakes, substitute ½ cup (120mL) of agave, honey, or pure maple syrup for the liquid stevia. Decrease the milk to 2 tablespoons, or slightly more if the batter seems too dry. (The batter should be fairly thick, similar to muffin batter.)
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
For pipe-able cream cheese frosting, use this recipe of mine. For a spreadable cream cheese frosting, use this recipe of mine.
{gluten-free, egg free, dairy free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, lower sugar}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.