blueberry banana cream cupcakes

This recipe is a tribute to my mother’s fabulous cooking. Since me and my brothers were little kids, my mom has made the same Blueberry Banana Cream Pie on holidays and special occasions. She inherited the recipe from my Great Aunt Nell, and it is ALWAYS a hit. I mean, it is. An amazing. Pie.

So, when my big brother had his birthday last weekend, I found myself wondering what you make for a guy who isn’t even crazy about sweets. Then I remembered how much we all loved that pie. Then I remembered how much I like making cupcakes. Then I decided to make this.

These, to me, taste like childhood. The actual cake part is a recipe I adapted from Melissa at Schweet 'N Savory. It’s a really moist cake with a great, sweet banana flavor. They are filled with a blueberry filling (I made mine but you could substitute blueberry pie filling) and topped with cream cheese frosting. They’re not gluten free or dairy free or healthy by any excuse, like my usual recipes. But I have one word: yum.

Banana Cupcake

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cups soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together by hand. Add the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just combined. (You may see some lumps, which is okay, but don’t over-mix!) Divide the mixture into the muffin pan (an ice cream scoop makes this much easier.) Bake until a little golden-brown on top—mine took about 27 minutes.

Blueberry Filling

3 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs arrowroot power (cornstarch would work too)
2 tbs lemon juice

While the muffins are cooking, put together the filling. Add the blueberries and 1/2 up of the water to a medium saucepan. Let it come to a boil, mixing often. Once the blueberries start to melt and break down, combine the rest of the water with the arrowroot powder to make a paste. Add the arrowroot paste to the blueberries, stirring continuously. The filling will start to thicken very soon, keep stirring. Once it has achieved the consistency of that jarred pie filling stuff, take it off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice once it’s cooled off a little.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz package cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbs cup soy milk
2 tbs lemon juice

Beat all the ingredients together with an electric mixer, until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more milk.

TO ASSEMBLE!
Make sure all the components have cooled off—you don’t want any melting to happen here. Cut a little cone of cake out of the top of each cupcakes, and fill it with a tablespoon of the blueberries, like so:

Then, replace the top back onto the cupcake—like a hat. You may have to remove a little bit of the bottom of the “hat” to make everything fit nicely. Carefully frost the cupcakes with the chilled cream cheese frosting. I garnished mine with a banana slice and a blueberry. Ta-daa!

(I apologize for the mediocre quality of these pictures…it was night time and I had no natural light.