Hooray that it’s nearly summertime! It’s my favorite time of year, mainly because Portland gets sunny and so picturesque. I just want to be outside 24/7 soaking it all up! Since ice cream is such an iconic summer treat, I wanted to use it as inspiration for these Banana Split Cupcakes. There’s no actual ice cream involved, just tons of cuteness and flavors that are so perfect together.
These Banana Split Cupcakes start with the perfect banana cupcake recipe, enhanced with a little cinnamon to really bring out the flavor. The secret to the perfect banana flavor is using over-ripe (aka brown spotted) bananas, so if you ever find yourself in a situation where your bananas are too ripe to eat, it’s always a good excuse to bake with them! If your bananas are not as ripe, the flavor won’t come through as well, so make sure you wait until the peel starts browning for maximum taste.
Next, I topped the banana cupcakes with a scoop of cold vanilla buttercream and it’s amazing how much it looks like ice cream! If you don’t have an ice cream scoop for this part, a spoon will totally do the trick. Just scoop out a bit of buttercream and top the cupcake, then use a spoon to shape it until it looks like ice cream.
To finish the look, I drizzled a little chocolate ganache, added some sprinkles, and topped these beauties with a maraschino cherry. I’m a little obsessed with how they look! For the sprinkles, you can use any rainbow jimmies, but I used the jimmies from the Rainbow Road mix by SprinklePop. It’s no secret that I love their sprinkles, and if you’re in the need of the perfect sprinkle mix for your cake projects, don’t forget to use my code SUGARANDSPARROW15 for 15% off your order.
Banana Split Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Banana Cupcakes
- 1 1/4 Cup (173g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 Cup (177ml) mashed banana (about 2 large)
- 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 Cup (94g) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup (103g) white granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 Cup (79ml) full-fat buttermilk, room temperature
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
- pinch of salt
Chocolate Ganache
- 1/2 Cup (92g) semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 Cup (79ml) heavy whipping cream
Additional Garnishes
- rainbow sprinkles
- maraschino cherries
Instructions
Make The Banana Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare a muffin pan by lining with cupcake tins. Measure the flour by spooning into your measuring cup and leveling it, then whisk it together with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon and set aside.
- Place the bananas in the bowl of your stand mixer and mash them with a paddle attachment on medium for about 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Cream the butter on high for 1 minute. Add the white and brown sugars and cream on high for another 2 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla and beat for 1 full minute, then scrape down the bowl and paddle. With the mixer still on low, add the dry ingredients until just combined, then add the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Give it a few stirs with your spatula to ensure that everything is nice and mixed up without overmixing. The batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into prepared cupcake tins ⅔ of the way full, then bake for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for five minutes before removing and continuing to cool on a wire rack or flat surface.
Make The Vanilla Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one. Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on medium-low for another two minutes until fully incorporated.
- Place the buttercream into an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Make The Chocolate Ganache
- Place chocolate chips into a heat resistant bowl (glass or metal). In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm heavy whipping cream until it just starts to boil. I always look for small bubbles forming around the edge and a soft boil starting in the middle. When you see that it’s just starting to boil, pour it into your bowl of chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds, then whisk it together until it's uniform in consistency and there are no bits of chocolate left on your whisk.
- Cool ganache at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until the ganache itself is room temperature.
Assembly
- Once the Banana Cupcakes have cooled completely, add a scoop of cold Vanilla Buttercream on top of each one and shape it with a spoon until it resembles a scoop of real ice cream. Drizzle the buttercream with Chocolate Ganache (make sure it's room temperature, not hotter or colder than that), add the rainbow sprinkles, and place a maraschino cherry on top.
Notes
Did you make this cupcake recipe? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tag me on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking!
Made these banana split cupcakes and they were absolutely delicious…very moist
Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Warm Regards,
Kathee
Hi, I love your recipes and how easy they are to read. Going to make the banana split cupcakes. I need 2 dozen. Can I just double the recipe or are there certain ingredients that shouldn’t be doubled? I read somewhere that doubling a cake recipe isn’t good.
Thank you
Kathee
Hi Kathee! I’m so happy you’ve been loving my recipes! This recipe doubles beautifully. Enjoy!
I love your chai cake, chocolate cake, salted caramel, and buttercreams. Thought I’d give this a try for a cookout tomorrow. I doubled the recipe to make 2 dozen. Had lots of batter…enough for almost a dozen mini cupcakes on top of the 24 regular size. I’m not sure how they turned out though. When the timer went off, half of them were done, but the other half were still gooey in the middle. I took the ones that came off the toothpick clean out and out the rest back in. Fingers crossed…
Hi Olivia! It sounds like the ones that were done first were in a hotter spot in your oven. Is there a chance that the ones that weren’t done were set on a lower rack? Let me know how the rest of the baking went!
I just made these cupcakes for my son’s first birthday. I used the Nutella buttercream from the pretzel and Nutella cake recipe. It was a hit with the birthday boy and the guests. Thank you for the recipes and tutorials.
Yay, Shelby! I’m so happy to hear that and the addition of the nutella buttercream sounds incredible. I’m going to have to try that!
Hi Whitney! Your recipies are the best 🙂
Can this one be used for a cake? If so, should I double it if I wanna make three 6 inch pans?
Thank You!!!
Thanks so much Ana! Happy you’ve been loving the recipes 🙂 I’m not sure about how this cupcake recipe will turn out as a cake, but if you’re wanting to make a banana cake I do have this recipe: https://sugarandsparrow.com/banana-nutella-birthday-cake/