Banana Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups mashed very ripe bananas
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 recipe easy vanilla pastry cream, recipe follows
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 2 boxes instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions

Set your oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a small mixing bowl, then put it aside. In another small bowl, stir the mashed bananas with the lemon juice and set that aside too. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture looks pale and fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then add the mashed bananas and mix until everything is blended. Add the flour mixture in additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter into greased muffin cups or paper muffin cups. Bake for 22-24 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Take the pan out of the oven and let the muffins sit in the muffin pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire cooling rack for 30 minutes. Pipe the vanilla pastry cream over the tops and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Just before serving, tuck the banana slices on top.