Banana Cupcakes | Cookies & Cups

I can’t get over the flavor in these soft and fluffy banana cupcakes! They’re made with freshly mashed bananas and a hint of tangy buttermilk, topped with swirls of creamy peanut butter frosting and chocolate. 

If you love the flavor combination in these banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, try my peanut butter banana bread, too! And for another easy cupcake recipe, try these strawberry cupcakes.

Why I Love This Banana Cupcakes Recipe

I’ve never met a cupcake that I didn’t like, but I’m not sure I’ve met a cupcake I LOVE more than these ridiculously delicious banana cupcakes! I flavor these buttery banana cupcakes with fresh ripe bananas and a splash of buttermilk, and they taste just like my favorite homemade buttermilk banana bread. The texture is much softer, however, like banana cake, topped with big swirls of peanut butter frosting. Here’s why I love them:

• Big banana flavor. Real bananas fill these cupcakes with sweetness, while buttermilk adds a little tang. The ingredients are simple but there’s plenty of flavor to go around.
• The best texture. These banana cupcakes are super moist and so delicious! Fluffy, and tender… they’re impossible to resist. I sneak one (or two) even before I add the frosting!
• Quick to make. When I have limited time for baking, there’s no easier cupcake recipe. The batter is ready in minutes and the cupcakes bake just as quickly.
• Deliciously decorated. I couldn’t resist frosting my banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and finishing them off with Reese’s peanut butter cups and chocolate. The combination is NEXT LEVEL. Decorate them any way you like for birthdays, parties, or just because.

Cupcake Ingredients

I’ve included a few ingredient notes for these banana cupcakes here. You’ll find a printable recipe card below the post with a full list and recipe details.

• Shortening – Shortening is my secret to a flaky and tender crumb in these banana cupcakes. It makes the texture lighter and cake-like, and less like a muffin or banana bread.
• Sugar – I use granulated sugar but light brown sugar also works.
• Eggs and Vanilla – Let the eggs come to room temperature and be sure to use real vanilla extract.
• Bananas – You’ll want to use fresh, ripe bananas. As with most baking recipes, it’s best if the bananas are a bit overripe, as they’ll have more flavor. These cupcakes are my excuse to use up any brown, spotty bananas in the house!
• Buttermilk – Buttermilk is another important ingredient that makes these banana cupcakes extra moist and tender, with plenty of flavor. I recommend bringing the buttermilk to room temperature. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make a homemade buttermilk substitute with whole milk and vinegar (or lemon juice). 
• Flour – All-purpose is the best choice for these cupcakes.
• Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt – Check the dates on your leavening ingredients to make sure they’re as fresh as possible. If your baking soda and baking powder are expired, the cupcakes won’t rise.

For the Frosting

• Butter – Brought to room temperature.
• Creamy Peanut Butter – Make sure it’s the shelf-stable kind. Natural peanut butter (the kind you’ll need to stir) contains too much oil and tends to separate.
• Powdered Sugar – Sifted to break up any lumps.
• Milk – This can be whole milk, 2% milk, or any milk you have in the fridge. For an even creamier frosting, use heavy cream or half-and-half.

How to Make Banana Cupcakes

These banana cupcakes are very quick and simple to make. It’s a 3-step process! Follow along below and scroll to the recipe card for printable instructions.

• Mix the cupcake batter. Start by creaming the sugar and shortening together, then beat in the eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and bananas. Lastly, slowly mix in the flour, leavening, and salt.
• Fill the pan. Scoop the batter out into lined muffin pans. I usually fill each liner about ⅔ of the way full, so the cupcakes have room to rise without overflowing.
• Bake. Bake these banana cupcakes at 350ºF for 15-20 minutes until they’re set. Afterward, let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Easy Peanut Butter Frosting

This might be the greatest frosting to ever grace my kitchen. It’s a variation of classic vanilla buttercream flavored with creamy peanut butter. When I say it melts in your mouth, I’m not kidding! It’s super creamy, fluffy, and pipable. Here’s how to make it:

• Cream butter and peanut butter together. Add the butter and peanut butter to a bowl and give that a good whip on medium speed until it’s nice and smooth.
• Add powdered sugar and milk. Next, gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then the milk, until you reach a pipeable consistency. You may need to add a little more of one or the other to thin out or thicken the frosting as needed.
• Whip. Beat the peanut butter frosting thoroughly until it’s light and fluffy. Afterward, fill a piping bag. I use an open-star piping tip to create the buttercream swirls you see in the photos.

• Pipe a frosting swirl. Starting in the center of the cupcake, pipe the frosting and then slowly move the piping tip outward and upward to create a swirl (see photos). Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes. 

These cupcakes would also be delicious frosted with Swiss meringue frosting, homemade cream cheese frosting, or heritage frosting if you feel like changing it up.

Tips for Success

• Ripen bananas quickly. If you only have underripe bananas on hand but have a hankering for banana cupcakes (understandable), an easy way to ripen them quickly is to place the bananas on a baking sheet and bake them at 300ºF for about 20 minutes, until the peels are blackened. Let the bananas cool off fully before you peel and mash them.
• Use room temperature ingredients. Any fridge-cold ingredients like eggs and buttermilk should be taken out 30 minutes or so ahead of time so that they can come to room temperature. This way, they’ll mix more easily into the batter.
• Don’t overmeasure. Overmeasuring ingredients like flour will lead to dense, dry cupcakes. If you don’t have a kitchen scale to accurately measure, use the spoon and sweep method: spoon the flour from the bag into the measuring cup and sweep the excess away to level it off. Never scoop directly from the bag!
• Avoid overmixing the batter. Overmixing is the leading cause of dense, tough banana cupcakes. Only mix the flour into the batter until it’s just combined.
• Bake in batches. Depending on how many muffin pans you have, and the size of your oven, it’s better to bake in batches than risk overcrowding. If you only have one pan, just cool the baked cupcakes for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack, and reusing the pan for the next batch.

How to Decorate These Banana Cupcakes

There’s no wrong way to decorate a cupcake! I garnish my frosted banana cupcakes with chopped Reese’s cups and a drizzle of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup. These are some other ideas:

• Sprinkles. If you’re making these as birthday cupcakes, they need sprinkles! Use rainbow sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, or colorful sanding sugar to add a little brightness and extra sparkle.
• Chocolate chips. Top these cupcakes with semi-sweet, dark, or white chocolate chips. You can also use peanut butter chips or butterscotch morsels. For another easy variation, mix mini chocolate chips right into the cupcake batter to make chocolate chip banana cupcakes.
• Caramel sauce. Drizzle over homemade caramel sauce instead of chocolate syrup.
• Coconut. For a tropical twist, frost these banana cupcakes with vanilla buttercream or cream cheese frosting and dust the tops with toasted shredded coconut.
• Fruit. Top each cupcake with a fresh banana slice before serving (like my bananas foster cupcakes), or add a maraschino cherry.
• Halloween. Give your banana cupcakes the spooky treatment and turn them into skeleton cupcakes or cauldron cupcakes for Halloween.

Make-Ahead

These cupcakes are great to bake ahead of time, and you can cover and refrigerate them until the following day when you’re ready to frost them. 

I also like to make the peanut butter frosting a day ahead since it stores well in the fridge. I’ll keep it refrigerated airtight and bring it back to room temperature before I use it. I recommend giving the frosting a quick whip, too, before you fill your piping bag.

How to Store

• Refrigerate. The frosted cupcakes are fine to stay at room temperature for a few hours, but after that, I recommend keeping them in the fridge. Store them in an airtight container, like a cake carrier or similar, so that they don’t get squished. They’ll last for 2-3 days in the fridge.
• Freeze. The unfrosted cupcakes freeze great! Let the cupcakes cool completely, and then store them in a freezer-safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 2 months and thaw the cupcakes in the fridge before frosting.

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