The Hummingbird Bakery Life is Sweet: 100 original recipes for happy home baking. Tarek Malouf

      Bananas Foster Cupcakes

      Bananas Foster is a dessert created in 1951 at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans. Bananas cooked in brown sugar, rum, butter, cinnamon and banana liqueur are then spectacularly flambéed at your table and served with vanilla ice cream, and here we present them to you in cupcake form. Dark sugar and treacle give the sponge a kick, and don’t worry if you don’t have any Crème de Banane – more rum will do!

      Makes 18 cupcakes

      For the cupcakes

      25g (1oz) piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly sliced

      115ml (4fl oz) water

      195g (7oz) mashed ripe bananas

      60ml (2fl oz) dark rum

      90g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened

      80ml (3fl oz) treacle

      150g (5½oz) dark muscovado sugar

      1 large egg

      270g (9½oz) plain flour

      2 tsp baking powder

      1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

      ½ tsp salt

      2 tsp ground ginger

      1 tsp ground cinnamon

      1 tsp ground nutmeg

      For the sauce

      75g (2½oz) dark muscovado sugar

      45g (1½oz) unsalted butter

      25ml (1fl oz) golden syrup

      25ml (1fl oz) dark rum

      25ml (1fl oz) crème de banane (optional – if not using, use 50ml dark rum)

      For the frosting

      130g (4½oz) mashed ripe bananas

      1 tsp fresh lemon juice

      225g (8oz) unsalted butter, softened

      600g (1lb 5oz) icing sugar

      25g (1oz) dark muscovado sugar

      1 tsp ground cinnamon

      1 tbsp dark rum

      1 tsp vanilla extract

       Two 12-hole deep muffin tins and 18 paper muffin cases

      1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F), Gas mark 4, and line the muffin tins with the paper muffin cases.

      2. In a saucepan, combine the ginger and water and bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, take off the heat and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Discard the ginger, straining through a sieve if necessary. Stir the banana and rum into the gingery water and set aside.

      3. Using a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand-held electric whisk, cream the butter, treacle and sugar together for around 5 minutes on a medium-high speed until light and creamy. Beat in the egg, on a lower speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients and the banana mixture to the creamed mixture in alternate additions, being careful not to overmix.

      4. Scoop into the paper cases until three-quarters full. Using a 50ml (1¾fl oz) ice-cream scoop can make this process easier and will result in even cupcakes. Bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

      5. To make the sauce, combine the muscovado sugar, butter and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until they reach a simmer. Add the rum and crème de banane, if using, and cook for a further 2–3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

      6. To make the frosting, mash the bananas in a small bowl with the lemon juice. Using a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter for a minute or two to loosen. Add the mashed banana and beat for 1–2 more minutes until well mixed. Add the icing sugar, a third at a time, on a low speed, then add the brown sugar, cinnamon, rum and vanilla. Turn the mixer up to medium and beat for an additional 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

      7. To assemble the cupcakes, skewer each one three or four times and pour enough sauce into the holes so that they are quite soaked through. Allow the cupcakes and sauce to cool completely. This is very important, as the frosting will melt if the cupcake is even slightly warm.

      8. Pipe or spoon generous amounts of the frosting onto each cupcake, gently smoothing over with a palette knife or spoon and making a nice swirl of frosting on each one.