Banana Cupcakes

Forget a loaf. We’ve gone bananas for these tender and tasty vegan banana cupcakes! To ensure the best banana flavour, be sure to use very ripe bananas. 

Makes 18 cupcakes 

Ingredients

Cooking spray, for greasing pans
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cake and pastry flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
2 very ripe bananas, mushed until there are hardly any lumps
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ tablespoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon banana extract
1½ cups boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Take the 2 muffin pans and place cupcake liners in 18 of the cups. Spray the inside of the liners with cooking spray.

2. To the large bowl, add the all-purpose flour, cake and pastry flour, white sugar, baking
soda and salt. Using the whisk, whisk until the mixture is lump-free.

3. Add the very ripe bananas, vegetable oil and vanilla and banana extracts. Using the electric mixer, beat on low speed until everything is combined.

4. Slowly and carefully add the boiling water to the bowl.

5. Gently whisk until everything is combined.

6. Using the spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

7. Using the big spoon, scoop the batter into the spouted measuring cup. Pour the batter
into each cupcake liner, filling them 2/3 of the way up.

8. Bake the cupcakes, 1 muffin pan at a time, until a toothpick stuck in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, 16–18 minutes.

9. Using the oven mitts, carefully remove the muffin pans from the oven and place them on the cooling racks. Let the cupcakes cool completely before removing them from the pans. Save for later? Store the cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

Excerpted from Baking Wonderland by Jean Parker and Rachel Smith. Copyright © 2023 Jean Parker and Rachel Smith. Photographs by Reena Newman. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.