Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Cakes

It's been a looooooong time since I have made cupcakes. With the new baby I just never found the time in 13 weeks of being at home if you can believe that. But something has inspired me to dust off my kitchen aid and bake again, and that something my friends is the return of Cupcake Hero! You may recall that Cupcake Hero is what inspired me to learn how to bake cupcakes in the first place. My attempts at entries included Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, Jalapeño Peanut Butter Cupcakes, and Strawberry ShortyCuppyCakes. Cupcake Hero was on hiatus for a little while but now it's back and my fabulous friend CB is the new host! Leave it to CB, the cupcake master, to not just bring back the cupcake competition but to take it to a whole new level. Check out all this swag the winner gets! A-maze-za-zing! I've got my eye on those uber cute earings. Best of all the ingredient this month is one of my favorite things. Banana!
At first I had a hard time deciding what I would do with bananas. There are just so many options since it goes so well with different flavors. Strawberry, peanut butter, chocolate, mango, caramel . . . . I think my favorite way bananas are served are frozen bananas from Disneyland. So I decided to go with chocolate. Plus I had a good recipe that I had wanted to remake using chocolate and whipped cream. Since the original recipe I got was from the previous Cupcake Hero host slush, it felt fitting to use it. I was also inspired my baby Day's favorite onesie because want screams banana more than cute monkeys :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Cakes

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3)

3/4 cup buttermilk or soured milk*

1/2 cup shortening or butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, put cupcake liners into cupcake tins.

2. In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add bananas, buttermilk, shortening OR butter, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined. Add eggs; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full.

3. Bake in a 350 oven for 15-17 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from tins and cool thoroughly on wire rack before frosting.

***If you don't have buttermilk on hand when preparing baked goods, substitute sour milk in the same amount. For each cup of sour milk needed, place 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar in a glass measuring cup. Add enough milk to make the 1 cup total liquid ; stir. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes before using.

makes about 2 dozen cupcakes

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting
2 cups heavy whipping cream
5 tablespoons sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 tablespoons coco powder

Mix together and beat until stiff peaks form.

I decorated these with marshmallow fondant and melted chocolate to draw the face on the monkey.

Rating: A+ The first time I made these the frosting was too sweet with the cupcake so this time I used a whipped cream frosting and it was perfect! Just the right amount of sweet. Plus I love the combination of a cool frosting with the cupcakes a little warm still so the chocolate was gooey. nom nom nom nom :) A lesson learned though was not to over cook these. They are better a little gooey I think and taste too much like a muffin if over cooked. My oven is on the fritz so half came out perfect and the other half was over done :-/