Banana Bread Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

I picked up the cutest cupcake liners (from Meri Meri by Anthropologie) the other day and was hoping to use them in time for Christmas this year. Since we always have too many bananas laying around, I decided to make banana bread cupcakes with the festive liners. They are just the cutest with their little Christmas trees in muted pink and teal colors.

These cupcakes are so moist because they aren’t baked as long as regular banana bread. Obviously, you can have banana bread any time of year, but I had to make them festive with a cinnamon frosting, because Christmas! And the frosting adds another layer of decadence, perfect for Santa on his busiest night of the year! My kids will never know how much Santa enjoyed this treat this year!

Banana Bread Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Servings: 12
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 banana for garnish
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting Ingredients

1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture taking care as to not over mix. Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
While cupcakes are baking, make the frosting: beat confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 2-3 minutes, in a medium bowl using an electric mixer. Once cupcakes are cool, spread tops with honey-cinnamon frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake. Enjoy!