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We all love these bad boy’s, there is something about cupcakes that we all love. Maybe it’s the lashings of buttercream, maybe it’s the fact its individual so we don’t have to share it with anybody else or the fact that we can be as creative as we want when it comes to decorating them? Whatever the reason cupcakes are really enjoying their time in the spotlight. People just can’t get enough of them and it’s been like that for the last few years.
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That does include me, I love cupcakes because I don’t feel as though I am over indulging by having one, and they are small and cute with their creamy topping and sparkly decorations. And we will all agree never to speak of the second one and on occasion the third one that follows the first 😉
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So lets talk about these ones. I recently started raiding our drinks cabinet for inspiration; alcohol can add wonderful flavours to cupcakes if used in the sponge the alcohol usually burns off leaving behind a nice mellow aftertaste in the flavour. We always have a lot of dark rum in the house, as my partner is a fan of it, his favourite is OVD ‘Old Vatted Demerara’ Rum. It’s Guyanese Rum and it’s the best selling dark rum in Scotland, its everywhere. I don’t know if it’s the sailor in him that’s such a fan of rum but he certainly is a fan. So I decided I was going to seal some and bake with it, OVD has a lovely dark sugar flavour to it.
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Any dark rum would work or if preferred you could omit the rum altogether and you would still have a lovely cupcake but these are designed to be boozy.
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So I started with dark rum, now I think most people who have read this blog before have noticed my obsession with all things banana. I love it; I eat several in a day and try to squeeze them into my baking as much as possible. And rum and banana are perfect bedfellows so it was a no brainer to have a banana-based cake, the basic batter is the same recipe as my nan’s banana cake  which is worth checking out if you just want a plain banana cake. But I wanted to add a little something else as well. I love alcoholic coffees and rum and coffee are also a good pairing, but could I pull off rum banana and coffee cupcakes?
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And the answer was a resounding yes! The 3 flavours compliment each other perfectly. The coffee and rum are very subtle in the sponge almost an after taste, but are boosted by the buttercream, which is a velvety rum and coffee combination.
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And the finely fresh ground coffee sprinkled on top just gave it that perfect coffee finish.
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This batter makes enough for 12 full size cupcakes, I had not long bought a mini cupcake pan and was looking for an excuse to use it so I made 6 normal cupcakes and 16 mini cupcakes. Which are lethal because you really can kid yourself into thinking eating 6 of them is perfectly fine 🙂
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The crumb of this cake is so moist and honestly one will not be enough.
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Recipe:
Rum Banana and Coffee Cupcakes
Ingredients
Ingredients for the sponge
- 125 grams unsalted butter - at room temperature ((1 stick and 1 tablespoon))
- 250 grams caster sugar ((1 and 1/4 cups))
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250 grams Plain flour (All Purpose sifted, (2 cups))
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- 4 medium very ripe bananas - mashed
- 1 tablespoon coffee extract - or very strong black coffee cooled
- 60 millilitres OVD Rum - any dark rum will work ((1/4 cup))
For the frosting
- 115 grams unsalted butter - soft ((1 stick))
- 500 grams Icing sugar (Confectioners sugar, (4 and 1/2 cups))
- 60 millilitres OVD Rum - any dark rum will work ((1/4 cup))
- 1 tablespoon coffee extract - or very strong black coffee cooled
Instructions
Directions for the sponge
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4
- Line your cupcake pan with 12 cases or lightly grease the pan.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until they are light and creamy.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing briefly in-between each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
- Slowly add the flour and baking powder and combine. The mixture will feel very stiff at this point that is fine.
- Add in the mashed bananas, dark rum and coffee extract, or cooled black coffee.
- And mix well until everything is combined.
- Spoon into cupcake pans and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If making the mini one adjust the time to 10 minutes.
- Once baked leave in their pans for 10 minutes until cooled than transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.
For the frosting
- Beat the butter until it is light and fluffy.
- Gradually add half of the icing sugar and mix in.
- The butter cream will be stiff and powdery this is a good sign.
- Add in the rum and coffee extract or cooled black coffee. And mix until everything is well combined.
- Mix in the rest of the icing sugar and beat until you are left with a smooth buttercream.
- Once the cupcakes are completely cool spoon you butterceam into a piping bag and swirl on top and sprinkle with very fine fresh ground coffee beans.
- I used a plain round nozzle as I like the effect, but any nozzle will do. Just pick your favourite, or spoon on a generous amount and spread with a pallet knife.
Notes
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Wow, great recipe! Super easy to follow and turned out awesome… plus the pictures are superb. Nicely done.
Hi Marty, thank you so much 😀
Great article thank you so much for sharing. Anything that has banana and coffee in it is my version of a dream, it has given me so much inspiration. Thank you again.
Hi Jennifer, thank you 😀
Hi. I wanna try this for my husband. Do you think I can use regular granulated sugar instead of caster sugar?
Hi Dahan I’m positive regular granulated sugar would work perfectly here 🙂
Yummy! and this is really a discovery for me. “alcohol can add wonderful flavours to cupcakes”… I know alcohol makes a great addition to some dishes, didn’t know it does too for cupcakes. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Greg, thanks for stopping by. You’ll be surprised what a little experimenting will help you discover 🙂
These look very moist and tasty! I am very tempted to make some, though I’d have to make sure there were people to share these with so I didn’t scoff them all myself. Thanks for the kind comment on my blog, too!
Hi Janine, I just found this comment and realised I hadn’t responded… Please forgive my tardiness! Thank you for your lovely comments and I’m sure you would scoff them all as they were so moreish!
Love this recipe
Thank you they were really good I shall be making these again when it’s an all adult guest list 🙂
What an unusual flavour combination – I bet these are delicious!
Hi Louise, it is a tad unusual but they work so well together each flavour compliments the other two. They were really yummy 🙂
Yum, banana, dark rum and coffee? These cupcakes look fabulous and sound amazing Emma! Love the wrappers and frosting too! Sign me up for a dozen please:)
Hi Kelly, thank you it’s a lot of flavour but they work so well together 🙂 I just wanted to spice up banana cupcakes a bit as I’m always making them 🙂