Banana Cupcakes Recipe

You will love these moist, dense-yet-still-soft homemade banana cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. To guarantee the best results, use sour cream, buttermilk, and extra ripe bananas—these power ingredients make all the difference in this spiced cupcake recipe.

This banana cupcake recipe is a mix of these banana cupcakes with chocolate peanut butter frosting and this banana cake, which are actually very similar recipes. Both have a super-moist texture, delicious cinnamon spice flavor, a soft yet dense crumb, and wonderful banana flavor. Today’s cupcake recipe is basically 2/3 of the banana cake, only with the same amount of banana. I really wanted to pack as much banana flavor into the cupcakes as I could without compromising the texture. Another change reflected in the recipe below is adding some sour cream, an addition that always promises a more tender crumb.

Tell Me About These Banana Cupcakes

• Texture: These banana cupcakes aren’t as dense as banana muffins, but aren’t really as soft as vanilla cupcakes. Instead, they land somewhere in the middle. You’ll love how moist the crumb is too—we have the butter, buttermilk, sour cream, and all the banana to thank for that.
• Flavor: Each bite includes banana, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla. (Some of the best flavors in baking!) It all pairs so nicely with the tangy cream cheese frosting on top.
• Ease: Besides mashing the bananas, which is even easier if you use your mixer, the entire process is fairly simple. If you make your own buttermilk, there is one extra step. See recipe note below.
• Time: Set aside over 2 hours to complete this recipe which includes prepping, baking, cooling, and decorating times.

Success Tips for Banana Cupcakes

Choosing the Right Ingredients for Banana Cupcakes

Here’s an overview of the ingredients you need and why each is important.

• Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour serve as the base of these banana cupcakes. Don’t use cake flour because it’s too light.
• Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cupcakes rise.
• Salt + Cinnamon: Salt and cinnamon add flavor.
• Bananas: You need 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) of mashed banana, which is about 4 medium or 3 large bananas. Make sure the bananas are very ripe because more brown spots = sweeter banana flavor.
• Butter: When creamed with sugar, butter adds flavor, moisture, and structure.
• Sugar: We love the mix of both brown sugar and granulated sugar in these cupcakes. Plus, the brown sugar adds more moisture.
• Eggs: Eggs bind everything together.
• Sour Cream: Sour cream creates a moist and tender crumb.
• Vanilla Extract: A splash of pure vanilla extract adds more flavor.
• Buttermilk: For best taste and to ensure proper rising, use buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, see the recipe notes for a DIY buttermilk substitute.

Can I Use Frozen Bananas?

Yes, frozen and thawed bananas work in this recipe and you can read more about How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking if you’d like. Two important things to remember:

• The riper the banana, the better. When you bake with bananas, you want to use brown, spotty super-ripe ones.
• Strain off excess liquid. As bananas thaw, they let out a lot of liquid, which can throw off the wet ingredients in any baking recipe. I always recommend draining off most or all of that excess liquid before mashing and measuring them for your recipe.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

We’ll pair these banana cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Cinnamon and banana are a natural pairing and 1/2 teaspoon of the spice is the perfect amount in this frosting recipe. (Not too much, not too little!) It’s crazy how 1 tiny addition to regular cream cheese frosting makes such a flavorful difference. Bonus: this frosting pipes beautifully using a large round tip such as Ateco 808, the same I use for decorating carrot cake cupcakes.

For the optional garnish, we love adding a drizzle of salted caramel and a banana slice (dried or fresh!).

This frosting would also be fantastic on top of snickerdoodle cupcakes. If cream cheese frosting isn’t your thing, traditional vanilla frosting or even chai spice buttercream frosting work beautifully here.

They’re truly perfect banana cupcakes. And if you’re not into banana, you might enjoy these apple cupcakes instead.