Fluffy Nana Nutters

I remember as a kid, I used to L O V E bananas and peanut butter sandwiches or heck just plain would work too. To this day, you can give me a ripe banana and a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter and I'm in heaven. These remind me of that.

These bad boys are good. I first saw this recipe when I was blog surfing on my regular weekend routine. I had been waiting for an opportunity to make them and it finally came! This is definitely a keeper!

Banana Cake
Adapted The 90/10 Rule

2 1/3 C + 3 T unsifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup mashed (not pulverized into soup) ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup buttermilk

1 recipe Brown Sugar Meringue Buttercream (see below)
1 jar marshmallow crème/fluff
Creamy, salted peanut butter – about 1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare cupcake pans

Sift dry ingredients. Cream butter & shortening at moderate speed for 3 minutes.
Add 1/2 of the sugar. Beat 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining sugar. Beat 1 1/2 minutes.

Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, combining well. At low speed, add vanilla and bananas and mix just till combined.

At low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients. Stir just till combined. Add all of the buttermilk. Stir just until combined. Add the last of the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined.

Spoon into prepared cupcake pans.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Yield: approx. 20 cupcakes

Brown Sugar Meringue Buttercream
5 egg whites
8 oz brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into chunks
2 oz shortening
1 tsp vanilla

Heat egg whites and brown sugar at medium low, stirring constantly, just until you start to see steam rising from the surface of the mixture. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer and whip at high speed until a meringue forms and bowl is cool to the touch.

Whip in the butter & shortening a bit at a time. The mixture will separate & look curdled at some point, but keep whipping. It will come back together again. Whip in the vanilla.

YIELD: 3 cups

To assemble cupcakes:

Make a well in the cupcakes & a spoon to pop the plug out.

Fill with marshmallow fluff (I *HIGHLY* recommend using a piping bag to do this because the fluff is a sticky/gooey mess otherwise).

Add about a 1/4-1/2 tsp of peanut butter to the well. Place the lid back on the cupcake. Ice with brown sugar meringue buttercream.