Bananas and Honey

So last Thursday I decided I was going to experiment and do some baking. I planned my day around it. I looked up recipes and compared to others. I checked my pantry to make sure I had what I needed and prepared to bake.

First off, I've been dying to make a banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting. I took a simple white cake recipe and added in 3 mashed bananas that are over taking my freezer. (Banana bread is a common occurrence in my house when I have buttermilk.) 25 minutes at 350, and they came out fantastic. It was the perfect density, it was moist, and it was delicious. I winged some peanut butter frosting and I had a fantastic cupcake. Since these were only taste testers, they are very pretty looking, but in the end, all that matters is how it tastes.

Then, I have been wanting to make a honey vanilla cupcake... which didn't come out as perfect as I wanted, but I didn't think it through as I threw this one together. I did the same white cake recipe from the banana one, but then added 1/4 c. honey to the batter and another splash of vanilla. I didn't think that the batter would raise a little more than the banana so I filled it 2/3 full. Well, it did, so they didn't look as good. Then I made a cream cheese frosting and mixed in honey hoping to pull more of a honey taste from the whole thing, but the powdered sugar was a bit too much, and it was too sweet. Then I thought if I added something bitter it would offset the sweetness over all and balance it out. I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top and it actually worked. I would like to tweek the recipe a little more, but all in all it was a success.

So I took them to work to share my success, and the few people that ate them ( since I'm picky who I share with) seemed to enjoy them, and that's really why I like baking. I like to see people happy and enjoy food.