This recipe was inspired by a recent copy of Baking Heaven magazine. This is a new publication to me but I was pleasantly surprised to find it full to the brim with delicious recipes to try. What I specifically enjoyed was that it is about 80% recipes, all with beautiful photographs accompanying them, split into different categories - cakes, cupcakes, biscuits, savoury, etc. There are some original recipes, blogger recipes and those taken from bakers and books. There are also a few articles sprinkled in, which will all be of interest to a baker. I loved reading about Amie Milton from the Whipped Cake Co, and her gorgeous buttercream drip cakes. You should look up her business, you will have serious baker envy, she’s so talented!
The recipe that caught my eye, particularly as I had three very sad looking bananas in my fruit bowl, was for Banana Cupcakes with Praline Cream from the book Bake to Impress. Now, I ended up with a quite different recipe but the elements of bananas, nuts and chocolate are still there.
These muffins are moist from the banana, have crunch from the toasted pecans and are decadently sticky thanks to the condensed milk filling. I wanted to recreate that caramel flavour found in a classic banoffee pie but without the fuss of making a full caramel, so some experimentation was in order. I had condensed milk in the cupboard and knew that, once baked, it would become deeper in flavour and offer a sweet surprise in each bite. I’m delighted to report that it worked and as a result you can have these tasty little muffins ready to eat in under an hour.
Chocolate Banoffee Muffins
makes 12 muffins
100g condensed milk
1tsp cocoa powder
130g plain flour
130g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas , mashed
160g caster sugar
1 egg
60ml oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
60g toasted pecans, chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare a cupcake tin with 12 muffin cases.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and condensed milk.
3. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
4. In a separate bowl or jug whisk together the banana, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla extract.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
6. Toss the pecans in a teaspoon of flour to lightly coat. This will stop the nuts from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. Fold into the batter.
7. Scoop a heaped tablespoon of batter into each case, followed by a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture. Repeat the process with another tablespoon of batter and a final teaspoon of the chocolate sauce.
8. Use a skewer to swirl the chocolate into the banana batter before popping into the oven to bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
If you can, leave to cool before eating/devouring.
Enjoy!
Love baking (or The Great British Bake Off)? Discover tasty bakes with our guest blogger Kirsty over on her blog Ever So Sweet.