Week 36: Real Banana Pudding Cupcakes

This week I've had a lot of time to think about which cupcake to make...we've been off all week! My dad was from Georgia and I always loved southern-style Banana Pudding the way my Grandma used to make it. I searched the web and my cupcake books for a recipe that incorporated the ingredients of Banana Pudding...vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, bananas, and meringue...to no avail. I decided to try to create something like this all on my own. Yikes...pretty much up to now I have followed someone else's recipe to the letter. I put some more thought into how I could create this and here's what I came up with.

I decided to try making my own banana pudding as the basis for the cupcake filling. First, I made the cupcakes...lined cupcake pans with paper liners, and put one vanilla wafer in the bottom and one thin slice of a ripe banana on top of that. I decided that the batter should be vanilla and I used a recipe I found on Oprah's web site for because it made 18 cupcakes and I doubled it. (I always need at least 30 cupcakes for home and work.) I filled the cups 3/4 full and smoothed them over to make sure that there weren't any holes because of the wafer and banana. After they were baked, I let the cupcakes cool down and then I carefully cut off the top and cut out an area in the middle of the cupcake. Then, I tried not to eat all the pieces I cut out...but that was hard.

Then I scooped a spoonful of the pudding into the cavity in the cupcake. I used a knife to extend the pudding out over the top of the cupcake so that the top would stick back on and then would not move. I had made 36 cupcakes so while the filling of the cupcakes took a little while, I was watching a bowl game, so the time went quickly. The final touch was making the meringue to go on top of the cupcakes, and doing the torching (I love this part!). Everything went well and my taste-testers here at the house were delighted with the Banana Pudding Cupcake. It's like portable Banana Pudding!


Check out my flickr account for more photos of the stages: Banana Pudding Cupcakes Production

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:20 PM

    Whoa, that's cool. Banana pudding and cupcakes--what a wonderful combo! Maybe Cupcake Queen will write her own cookbook!

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  2. Anonymous12:46 AM

    OMG!
    You've created a new GENRE in cupcakes!!
    Happy New Year Cupcake Queen

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  3. Anonymous9:59 AM

    disclaimer: I don't like banana pudding.

    That said, I love these cupcakes! And will you look at CQ? Getting all creative on us, breaking away from the recipe and doing her own thing. I love this woman!

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  4. OMG yum!!! I will definately be trying this one out.

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  5. Yummy! What a wonderful tribute to a true southern favorite.

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  6. Anonymous7:35 AM

    Hi, I've been lurking for a while and I love your ideas. They're all yummy. One question...why couldn't you use the twinkiw filler to inject the pudding into the cupcakes? Keep up the fabulous blog. It's a treasure to view each week. Dee

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  7. Dee:
    The pudding was too thick to go thru the twinkie filler. I even tried using a pastry bag thingie and that wouldn't work.

    CQ

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  8. Congratulations on making your own recipe! I'm so impressed! Not to mention they sound absolutely yummy!!

    /applaud

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  9. Anonymous6:48 PM

    If you don't mind using a cake mix, I think the cake mix doctor has a recipe for a version of these in her cupcake book. Very tempting.=)

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  10. Anon: That is one of the books that I checks first! I've used lots of her recipes...she is awesome! But, something was missing in her recipe. I can't remember exactly what, but I thought that it didn't really capture the true sense of what I was looking for...using the actual ingredients of banana pudding with bananas, wafers and meringue. I agree..all of her recipes are so creative and tempting!

    CQ

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  11. Anonymous11:32 AM

    Hi there,
    I love your cupcakes and the pictures are soooo yummy. Would you please share your banana cupcake recipe with us? Please?
    Thanks.
    Cookie Wench

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  12. Hi, I just became an avid reader of the blog---and this particular recipe struck me. I was wondering if you ever posted this recipe. If not, would you mind putting it for the newcomers?

    Thanks,

    A

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  13. Anonymous9:25 PM

    Hi! This recipe sounds absolutely delicious! I have one question though: if I don't know how to torch the meringue/do not have the equipment, should I bother to make the cupcakes? Or is there an easier way to make the meringue? Thanks!

    E

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