These easy Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes are simply delicious. A soft sponge cake topped with a creamy banana pudding frosting is the perfect dessert for banana lovers!
Don’t miss out on some of the other banana packed recipes! A few of my favorites? Banana Bars with Brown Butter Frosting, Banana Cream Cheesecake, Best Banana Bread and Coconut Banana Bread!
Recipe Features
- Perfect Flavor: This nails the banana pudding flavor perfectly. Not too sweet with the perfect balance of vanilla and fruit.
- Freeze Friendly: You can bake and cool these cupcakes and freeze them for up to three months!
- Bakery Worthy: Use a piping bag to frost and add a cookie for the most elegant finish.
I love these banana pie cupcakes for so many reasons. They’re great for every season and taste so close to classic banana pudding. There’s also the added bonus that they are a handheld treat! Top with a banana slice or vanilla wafer cookie and you’ve got a bakery worthy treat that people will fall in love with!
All of the magic starts with a classic buttermilk cupcake. Add a hefty dose of vanilla, with the help of wafer cookies, and a dreamy pudding frosting and you’ve got an insanely delicious cake. Light, full of flavor, and so so delicious. You cannot go wrong with this easy cupcake recipe.
Banana Cupcakes Ingredients
Banana pudding is one of my all time favorite treats. I like it all on its own, in pie form, as cheesecake, or any other way you can imagine. All of the magic starts with the wafers, am I right? Those little cookies are just too good to pass up with they are soaked and slightly softened by the creamy pudding so it only made sense that that would be how we start this dessert!
- Vanilla wafers: To give these cupcakes a delicious “crust” I place a cookie in the bottom of each paper liner before adding batter.
- Dry Ingredients: Flour, baking powder, and salt. That’s all you need for the dry base.
- Butter: When baking, it’s best to use unsalted butter. It gives you full control of how salty your treat will turn out. If you opt for salted butter, leave the added salt called for out of the dry ingredients.
- Sugar: This cupcake is best with granulated, or white, sugar.
- Wet Ingredients: Buttermilk, which adds a delightful tang, mixed with eggs and vanilla.
Banana Frosting:
- Banana Pudding Mix: You’ll measure out 1/4 cup of DRY mix from one box of pudding. Trust me when I say this adds the most delightful flavor and creamy texture!
- Milk: To avoid a grainy texture, you’ll need to mix the dry pudding with a little milk before starting.
- Heavy Cream: My secret to frostings. Cream makes frosting a little airy and light, which works amazingly well with the soft cupcakes.
- Powdered Sugar: Always add powdered sugar a little at a time, to help keep it from flying everywhere when you turn on the mixer.
How To Make Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes
Confession. There are actually no actual bananas in this recipe at all, but it turns out they didn’t need it! You will be delighted with how banana flavor filled these cupcakes truly are.
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and add paper liners to a cupcake tin. Place 1 to 2 vanilla wafers into the bottom of each liner. Set aside for later.
- DRY INGREDIENTS: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- BUTTER: Combine the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at low speed until both combine fully and are fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in the eggs and vanilla bean paste.
- BATTER: Scrape the sides of the bowl and add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk. Stir at low speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining buttermilk and dry ingredients, making sure to scrape the sides in between.
- BAKE: Divide the batter between your prepared cupcake tin, filling the liners 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- FROST: Let the cupcakes cool completely and frost with the banana pudding frosting, recipe in the card below.
Helpful Tools
- Cupcake Liners: I’m a big fan of neutral cupcake liner (affiliate) colors. I feel like the star of the show should be the cake itself, but you can find dozens of color options (affiliate).
- Scoop: I’m obsessed with my cookie scoop (affiliate). I use it for cookies BUT I also use it to evenly fill cupcake liners. This ensures perfect sized cupcakes every single time.
- Airtight Container: Extend the life of your cupcakes by keeping them stored in a large airtight container (affiliate).
Recipe Notes:
If you’re hoping for light, fluffy and moist cupcakes the secret is in the mixing! Creating enough air bubbles in the batter helps the cake to expand in the oven. You need to mix just enough, but not too much that you cause the cake to collapse. while it bakes. To keep that happy balance, keep your mixer at a lower speed.
Yes. I prefer homemade cakes, but this can definitely be made with a cake mix.
Yes! There is plenty of delicious banana flavor in the frosting. However, you can definitely add more by filling the cupcakes with a tablespoon of prepared pudding.
These Banana Pudding Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. You can let them warm up on the countertop for a bit to let the frosting soften before consuming.
You can freeze baked cupcakes that have not been filled or frosted in an airtight container, in the freezer, for up to 4-6 months. Let defrost on countertop before filling and frosting.
More Must Try Cupcakes
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Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes
These Banana Cream Pie cupcakes start with a soft sponge cake base and are topped with a creamy banana pudding frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 18 vanilla wafer cookies optional
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter soft
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
- 1/4 cup banana pudding mix dry from a box
- 1/4 cup cold milk
- 1 cup butter soft
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and add paper liners to a cupcake tin. Place 1 to 2 vanilla wafers into the bottom of each liner. Set aside for later.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Combine the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at low speed until both combine fully and are fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in the eggs and vanilla bean paste.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk. Stir at low speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining buttermilk and dry ingredients, making sure to scrape the sides in between.
- Divide the batter between your prepared cupcake tin, filling the liners 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
For the frosting:
- Whisk together the pudding mix with the milk in a small bowl. Set aside for later.
- Add the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at medium/low speed for 2 minutes, or until the butter is fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, mixing fully between each addition.
- Stir in the pudding and heavy cream. Beat five minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl once halfway through, until the frosting is fluffy.
- Spread or pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Add a slice of banana or cookie if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Equipment
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