Banana frenzy!

I took advantage of Aldi's ridiculously cheap prices on bananas last week (99c a kilo!) and had to use up the 'nanas that had been slowly ripening on my bench. A friend of mine from work is going away for a couple of months and he loves banana cake, so I thought he'd like some banana cupcakes as a 'I'll miss you, Harry' sort of gesture.

After madly trying to find banana chips (they appear to have ALL gone missing from Safeway) I was finally able to give these a try.

I just added three ripe bananas to the trusty vanilla cupcake recipe base and added about 1/4 cup more sifted flour (the bananas put quite a lot of moisture back into the mixture). I got 27 medium cupcakes out of this batch.

For the frosting, I took a slab of softened Philly cheese and beat it with the electric mixer. I added 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and then slowly added icing sugar until I got a thick, pipeable consistency.

I get a lot of questions about piping, so I might share some hints/tips with you.

It's important to make a really stiff frosting as the heat from your hands softens the icing while piping. This will make the icing more prone to sagging, so always make it a little stiffer than required to be on the safe side.

You'll definitely need a good piping bag too - my crappy supermarket one split after only a couple of uses.

For a glossy frosting, use a little boiling water (not cold or warm - must be boiling).

Make sure you push the icing right down in the bag to avoid air bubbles, particularly if you're refilling your piping bag. Air bubbles seem to be more of a problem with cream cheese icing, so be mindful that you get rid of those bubbles as it can really mess up your wonderful piping work!

Have a lovely week guys! :)