I hope you thoroughly enjoy all the yummy flavors of these banana salted caramel popcorn cupcakes! So, with that here they are!

A few weeks ago, in my local supermarket I stumbled across a most amazing and delicious new flavor called, Butter Popcorn!

This got me thinking about all the flavor combos I could pair the butter popcorn flavor to. And what popped up first, was…you guessed it CUPCAKES!!

Now to make the whole thing come together perfectly I remember I had some ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen bench, so with that the genius thought came to mind, and banana salted caramel popcorn cupcakes were born!

Let me tell you about these yummy cupcakes. They are soft, light and fluffy with a pronounced banana sweetness. I filled each cupcake with my signature salted caramel, which I must confess is the perfect texture……gooey and caramelly excellent to fill cupcakes with. Then came the piece de resistance……the butter popcorn frosting. You will want to eat this frosting all on its own cause it’s that good, but now’s a good time to practice self-control! 

The butter popcorn frosting is creamy and featherlike in texture which makes it the superb accompaniment to cupcakes! I swirled the frosting onto the salted caramel filled banana cupcakes added some crushed salted caramel popcorn and took my first bite. If I didn’t know it, I’d think I was in wonderland! It was sooooooooo good!!

HERES WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THESE CUPCAKES!

Who doesn’t LOVE a combination that pairs salted caramel with banana and butter popcorn! That sure is one reason I love these cupcakes! And there’s many more reasons why I love these cupcakes, let me share.

THE FROSTING

This frosting is so good you could spread it on toast, and it would still be amazing. Here’s the secret to getting the creamiest frosting? You whip it till the cows come home (which in reality is about 4-6 minutes). 

The reason for this is the longer you whip it the creamier and fluffy it becomes, making it faultless to top cupcakes with. 

You could use a spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting onto the cupcake, or you could use a piping bag and a tip to give them that café style look. (I used a Wilton 1A to get that snowy, creamy look to my cupcakes). Remember to cool your cupcakes completely before frosting.

THE FLAVOR COMBO

Banana, salted caramel and popcorn…hello!! These flavors are fantastic together but believe it or not the star of this show is the…. Salt! The flaky salt enhances the depth of flavor to the cupcake, bringing the caramel and banana to new heights of sublime luxury. For this recipe I used Maldon Flaky Salt.

VERSATILITY

This recipe can be made into a layer cake or a smaller batch of cupcakes. If making it into a layer cake it requires 3x 18cm cake tins. If making it into a smaller batch of cupcakes simply half the ingredients remembering to half the frosting also. 

HERE ARE MY TOP TIPS TO GET THE PERFECT CUPCAKE!

1. CUPCAKE LINERS

Not all cupcake liners are created equal. I have tried different ones over the years and for some reason unbeknown to me once the cupcakes are cooked, they tend to come away from the cupcake papers. So, my go to cupcake papers are GO BAKE cupcake papers. These have never failed me, and you can get them in sorts of colors to match your cupcake theme.

2. ROOM TEMPERATURE

Take the butter and eggs out the night before and let them come down to room temperature before starting to bake.

3. SECRET WEAPON

I bet you want to know my secret weapon, ok I’ll divulge. My secret weapon is I use the beater attachment on my Kitchen Aid for both the cupcake batter and the frosting (not the paddle). The reason for this is I get a more whipped and fluffy texture to my cupcakes and my frosting, which in turn is better for EATING!! Note: You could also use a handheld beater, here’s my recommendation here.

4. FIRST THINGS FIRST

Make your salted caramel first and at least 2 hours before you are ready to fill your cupcake cavities. This will give the caramel time to cool and set just enough so that’s it’s not a runny mess, but instead you get a sticky and gooey texture perfect to fill your cupcake cavity. 

5. DON’T OVERFILL

Don’t over fill the cupcake liners. To avoid overflowing use an ice cream scoop to spoon the same amounts every time, and make sure you only fill the cupcake papers about 2/3 full, nothing worse than a cupcake overflowing out of the liner and onto the tin!

6. DON’T OVERBAKE

Cupcakes are ready when a baking skewer comes out clean. Then transfer them immediately to a wire rack to cool. This will stop them from overbaking and becoming dry and hard.

Now let’s get into this! Go make your salted caramel, then bake your banana cupcakes, whip up your butter popcorn frosting and bring it all together for an indulgent, velvety cupcake experience!

My book Laying Gods Table has many more yummy cupcake recipes for you to enjoy! Please click on link to get yourself a copy.

For ideas and tips on how to practice hospitality please read my blog post  5 tips for practicing Christian Hospitality. It will give you ways on how you too can demonstrate God’s love in action. 

As always I would love to hear from you! If you’ve tried this recipe and like it please leave me a comment below. 

Loves, Richelle xxx

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