Banana Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream

The first cupcakes I decided to try from February 2009's issue of Martha Stewart Living were the banana cupcakes with caramel buttercream.

And they are really yummy!  The cupcakes: they ended up more muffin-like in texture than I expected; they are soft and moist; they did not rise much while baking; they have an extreme banana taste; they don't need frosting on them, they taste amazing.  The frosting: was a little bit daunting, seeing as how there are so many steps, but was actually quite easy as I went along; is actually a caramel Swiss meringue buttercream; is best prepared with a stand mixer; tastes beautiful.

Just a tip for the buttercream... the directions say to make the caramel first.  I had read on the comments section of the recipe that the caramel becomes hard by the time you add it to the buttercream, which is the very last step.  Of course you want the caramel to be cool, but you also don't want to hard bits of caramel in your frosting.  What I did was stir the caramel occasionally as I went through the steps and kept it near, but not on, the burner I had cooked it on, to keep it a little bit runnier.  It was quite cool by the time I added it to the buttercream, but chunks of caramel still formed in the buttercream.  This was basically solved by just beating with the mixer at a speed higher and beating for a little bit longer, although there were still a few caramel chunks.  Personally, I don't mind them, however - this caramel is simply dreamy!

And one other tip - the more caramel buttercream you put on the cupcakes, the better!  The banana and caramel combination is a lovely taste.

Recipes at marthastewart.com - banana cupcakes and caramel buttercream.