Banana Cupcakes 2 Ways

But before I made some scrumptious mini cupcakes…I ran a 5K!

This was the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure.  It’s held in the Seaport area of Boston, a beautiful location right by the water.  I ran this 5K last year, and at that time it was my very first 5k!!

The weather was beautiful…or so I thought.  It was actually pretty warm, and I think that didn't work in my favor.

There were tons of people here

Even the mayor said a few words (Brian was around taking pictures)

And they’re off!  Yeah I was NOT near the front

There I am!   

And again near the end… not so smiley anymore :) 

My official time was 31:04 :/  Kind of frustrating honestly.  My friend Jocy and I are training for a 10K that’s in a couple weeks, so we have been running more regularly and longer distances.  I also had my best time in March (29:10) during a 5k in a MONSOON!

So somehow I was almost 2min slower on Saturday and it’s just frustrating…any thoughts?  Apparently I’m training too slowly. 

Well it was still a good run anyways, and later I made some cupcakes!

I volunteered to bring cupcakes to my friends house to watch the Pats game, and had been dying to try out this combination that I’ve had in my head for a while now.

For the cupcakes I actually used this Cooking Light recipe.  I wasn’t going for a “light” recipe but it sounded good so I went with it.  I only used the cake portion of this recipe, not the frosting.

I even got to try out my new box of King Arthur cake flour that was in my goodie bag from the trip to King Arthur!

I doubled the recipe which made 60 mini cupcakes 

Then is was frosting time!

I ended up making 2 different kinds as a couple of my friends are allergic to nuts.

Banana Cupcakes with: 

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream or

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting!

First the chocolate…  I bought a “nutella” type spread at Whole Foods  

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

• 1/2 stick butter softened
• 1/2 cup choc. hazelnut spread
• 1.5 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1-2T milk

Blend all together with a mixer, add the milk 1T at a time until it’s the right consistency.  You don’t want it too wet or it wont spread or pipe well.

Next….

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 oz Neufchatel cheese
• 1/2 stick butter softened
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 T honey
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk as needed (1T at a time)

 

I piped the frosting 

The cream cheese frosting was a little wetter and I didn’t want to add more sugar, so I used a simpler tip without any design.

I loved both flavors!  I found the chocolate hazelnut buttercream slightly overpowered the banana, maybe a little banana slice ontop would be good.  The honey cinnamon was a nice balance with the banana. 

But when they are mini you don’t have to choose!!