This post was sitting in my drafts for a couple of days now,but hardly had any time to review and publish.Had a great weekend attending Blogger events by Famished in Arabia,the UAE's Food Blogger group. More of it later...
Ever had any days where things never turn out as you expected,things go wrong when you haven't planned it at all,whatsoever.Well,this is one such incident.
I had an abundance of bananas,waiting to rot.Abundance of dates by boxfuls,leftovers of Ramadan.And I had a craving for a baked goodie,so much so that I started perusing the cooking magazines,recipe cutouts voraciously to find something that will put my leftovers and whatever I had in hand to good use.And voila! Spiced banana and date cupcake came to the rescue.
I jotted the recipe down,dashed to the kitchen,turned on the oven and got working on it having the idea of taking the pics and posting on the blog.It was quite easy to whip up,and the baked babies came out beautifully sans the overflowing of the batter since I had filled the cases way too much than required ¾ th of the muffin tin so that I wouldn't have to go for a second round of baking.The recipe leaves a little bit extra than making 12 cupcakes,so opt for large muffin tins or go for baking the next batch.
All this in between feeding my two tykes and settling them in front of the laptop with Cars2 movie.I know they will be glued to the movie for a couple of hours leaving me to do the frosting and take the shots.Alas!..How wrong I was when assessing my own kids..!
Then,the recipe called for butter frosting which I don't normally use but given the fact I was running around the house like a mad woman,it was impossible.Whipped cream frosting with chopped dates and cinnamon in it.Delicious!!!
Trying to pipe the frosting with chopped dates in it, in a piping bag was my first mistake.I created a big mess.How could I have overlooked it...Duhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Setting up the tripod and trying to take food photos for the first time when the kids are around was my major mistake.Having become mini food photographers,they became fully fledged ones by taking pictures of everything around the house moving with the tripod.Though I manage to get some shots,I wasn't satisfied.I am huge critique of my photos and I had to remind myself that I'm still in the early stages of blogging and photographing.
These little gems refrigerate beautifully and I thoroughly enjoyed biting into the cooled moist banana-ish cake with a wave of cream and crunchy sweetness to it with the chopped dates,that could calm a freaking mother's nerves.
It's worth the whole mess,clutter and the nerves.
Here's the recipe..
Spiced Banana & Date Cupcake
(adapted from Friday Magazine)
Ingredients:
90 g unsalted butter
½ cup soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger(or 1 teaspoon grated ginger)
⅔ cup ripe banana mashed(around 2 medium bananas)
⅓ cup plain yogurt(preferably drained)
2 tablespoon milk
*Butter Frosting
1 ½ cups unsalted butter
1 ½ cups icing sugar
80 g chopped dates
½ teaspoon cinnamon
*Whipped Cream Frosting
250 ml whipping cream
10 dates chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoon icing sugar
Method:
- Cream butter and sugar,add in cinnamon and ginger.
- Add eggs slowly and beat.Then mix in sifted flour and baking soda.
- Mix in the banana,yogurt and the milk at last.
- Spoon into muffin cup lined trays.
- Bake in a 180 C pre-heated oven for 18 to 20 minutes.
- Cream butter with chopped dates and cinnamon.
- Add icing sugar and mix till light and fluffy.Spread evenly over cooled cupcakes.
- Beat the whipping cream till thick.Add the cinnamon and icing sugar and the chopped dates.
- Spread over cooled cupcakes.
- I have given both the frosting methods and you can opt for any of those based on your preference.
- All purpose flour with 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt can be used instead of self-raising flour.
Neha says
Hey Farwin...First time on your blog...You have a nice collection of recipes....Happy to join you dear...Do visit me at http://muchmorethanahomemaker.blogspot.com/
Cheers
Anonymous says
Banana and dates in a cupcake is like my version of getting high on drugs, love this combo!! the photos are amazing, really really good, keep it up Farwin 🙂
Jehanne says
Those cuties are really worth your headless chicken efforts, Farwin, I can totally relate trying to take pics, with baby on the hip grabbing things as well! Good job you did here:-)
[email protected] says
Oh yeah Jehanne,it was a nightmare.. 🙂
Arva @ iliveinafryingpan-thanks for your lovely comments dear.
Neha,thanks for dropping by.Will be visiting your site soon..
Kurryleaves says
great job dear...just love the combo...amazing
Anja says
Love the recipe, love the cupcake, love the pictures! Thanks for sharing, Farwin. Keep it up.
[email protected] says
Thank you so much for your lovely words,Anja and Kurryleaves...
cookingvarieties says
salam farwin. that's quite an interesting story on how you had to wrestle with your kids and the camera... and trying to pipe cut dates ha ha.. such a hassle and amusing too, but your muffins got done beautifully and that is well rewarded.
thanks farwin for your effort and time spent to share with us your delicious banana dates muffins, two of my favorite cooking ingredients.
aipi says
Those cupcakes look incredibly tempting and addictive! I really like the spices used.
USMasala
[email protected] says
Thanks cookingvarieties and aipi,feels good to read your lovely comments...
Umm Mymoonah says
Something really healthy to munch, looks so yumm!
Plateful says
I fell for the spiced. And then I kept falling after reading banana and dates. Yum yum flavors Farwin. I'm faint with hunger after seeing them, and it's past midnight!!
[email protected] says
Thanks Umm and Nash for the lovely words.I know how hard the midnight cravings can hit you.. 🙂
Anonymous says
Hey, how did I miss this post ? Dates,Banana, Cinnamon - what a nice combination!!!... Awesome snaps Farwin. Did u get the new camera?
Mich9 says
google knows it 😀
Mich9 says
google knows it 😀