Remembering France

Margaret's visiting! So we're baking!

Margaret and I spent a few weeks traveling Europe during our Junior year of college at UCLA. One of our stops was in Paris (where we fittingly saw the most recent installment of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."). Our Parisian diet consisted of crepes, crepes and crepes. Ok, now that I think of it there may have been a little wine and cheese thrown in there. But the meal of choice was definitely crepes - fromage, fromage/oeuf, champignon/oeuf, and our favorite: nutella/bananes. The latter is the inspiration for what I am now calling "Caity and Margaret's Midnight Cupcake Baking Madness." We decided to bake at 11pm, and by midnight we had 28 cupcakes and over 2 pounds of frosting. I'm not complaining. Read on for the stomach-satisfying tale, Remembering France: A Moist and Just-Dense-Enough Banana Cupcake's Lovely Encounter with Nutella Buttercream Frosting. Here's what you'll need:

Banana Cupcake (Makes 28 Cupcakes)

3 Cups All-Purpose Flour

3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla
4 Eggs
2 Cups Lightly Mashed Bananas (about 4-5 Bananas)

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with paper cups (about 28).

2. Whisk flour, sugar, powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in melted butter, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix wet ingredients in well until combined, then stir entire bowl of flour mixture and wet ingredients until just combined.

4. Gently stir in lightly mashed bananas (I mashed 'em with a fork. It was fun. If you're baking with kids, let them do this part. They'll frickin' love it. Oh, and I say lightly because then you get delicious chunks of bananas in the final product.) being careful not to overmix.

5. Spoon batter into lined cupcake tin, filling cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling rack. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

1 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
2 1/2 Cups Sifted Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Nutella Spread
1 Tablespoon Milk

1. In a large mixer bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add in Nutella and beat until fluffy.

2. One cup at a time, add sifted powdered sugar into butter mixture and beat until fluffy. Make sure you have SIFTED the powdered sugar! Sift THEN measure the sugar. If you measure before, you'll use more sugar and your frosting will be super sweet.

3. If necessary, add 1 Tablespoon milk to lighten the consistency of your frosting.

Ladies and Gentlemen, FROST. THOSE. CUPCAKES!

These are ah-may-zing. I know I may say that about all my baked goods, but seriously, these ones are. I'm proud of my and Margaret's little creation! The cupcake is a perfect mix of savory and sweet, and when paired with the frosting makes for just enough sweetness to satisfy that tooth of yours. Enjoy!