By the time it came around to frosting and decorating the last two batches of cupcakes for my sister's shower, I had about 30 minutes to make the frostings, decorate the cupcakes, take a shower and get be in the car ready to go. In hindsight, having everyone over for breakfast that morning might not have been the smartest idea when I obviously had other things to do. Thankfully, mom came to the rescue and picked up my gift from the store. Thank goodness Zuka Baby has online shopping and in-store pick up!

Roasted Banana Cupcakes from: Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes 16
3 ripe bananas
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sour cream
1 t pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line standard muffin tin paper liners. Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. The peels will darken. Meanwhile, sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Remove from oven and allow to cool before peeling. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
   
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add roasted bananas, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream. Beat until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
   
3. In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites to soft peaks; fold one-third whites into batter to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites in two batches.
   
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months in airtight containers.

In the book, Martha suggests a Honey-Cinnamon Frosting to pair with these cupcakes. I wasn't so impressed by the idea, so I decided to go with a chocolate frosting that I thought would contrast nicely with the roasted banana. Had I been able to stick to my original plan using this Dark Chocolate Frosting, I think it would have been perfect. Unfortunately, time was not my ally and I ended up using the extra Chocolate Swiss Buttercream I used on the Chocolate Fudge Cake cupcakes. Although it was a perfect for those, and my new favorite frosting, it lacked the umph needed for these Banana Cupcakes.

Rum Cupcakes adapted from: All Cakes Considered

Ingredients
Makes 16-18 or so...of course now I can't remember how many exactly it made, but somewhere around there sounds right.
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons rum or rum extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tin paper liners.
   
2. In a large bowl, dry whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
   
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.Add the rum and beat to incorporate.
   
4. With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk in two or three additions, starting with the flour. Beat until all ingredients are well incorporated.
   
5. Pour batter evenly among cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake,until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Butter Rum Glaze
Ingredients
Makes...enough and a little extra
3 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon rum extract or light rum
1/3 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add the butter, rum and sugar. Stir until incorporated and smooth and remove from heat. Brush glaze on top of cooled cupcakes.

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting
Ingredients
Makes 2 cups 
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
4 tsp. cold water
1 c. heavy whipping cream (at least 24 hours old and very cold)
1/4 c. confectioners' sugar

Instructions

1. Combine gelatin and cold water in small saucepan. Let stand until thick.
   
2. Place over low heat, stirring constantly just until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
   
3. Whip cream and sugar until slightly thickened. While beating slowly, gradually add gelatin to whipped cream mixture. Whip at high speed until stiff.

I piped the whipped cream and slapped a cherry on top and voila! Rum Cake cupcakes. Now, while everyone else at the party couldn't stop raving over these little babies, I thought the rum extract was a little too potent. Using real rum would have made these ten times better in my book. Also, I found them a little too dry and even the batter seemed a little too thick. In the future, I'd probably up the buttermilk to maybe 2/3 of a cup.

Also, me and my alcoholic ways (according to my mother of course!) didn't realize that getting these maraschino cherries with the nice long stems was anything difficult or at least when my mother-in-law asked where I got them, my only response was, "the grocery store." I didn't think anything of it until my next visit to the store, I decided to check out the canned fruit section and did not find any cherries with stems. Apparently mine were from the alcoholic mixers section, where they had "Maraschino Cherries: with stems." Go figure...the only reason I had bought them was to make a nice Old Fashioned, so naturally I had picked them up from this section.

~Happy Baking!