How To Make Pop Art Banana Cupcakes
Banana Cupcakes celebrating the King of Pop Art Andy Warhol, Banandy Warhol Cupcakes if you will. Too much? Before I start I have to be straight with you originally, I wanted to do cake pops for pop art which, in my head, sounded like a total doddle. It wasn’t. First, I was too ambitious and tried to do a giant one. Like, defy all laws of physics for soft cake remaining stable on a stick ambitious. Of course, it didn’t stay on the stick; it belly flopped to a sad little topple to the floor.
But I was like ok, it’s fine just make them smaller, which I did. Then I tried to colour chocolate yellow to dip them in. I read a few wiki-hows and thought, that’s easy. It wasn’t. It’s a trap! And everything you learn from colouring icing is useless on chocolate, my bright yellow vision suddenly became a weird spotted peach that seized and died in the pan. Trust me, just buy the pre-coloured chocolate if you ever have the need. Out of chocolate options (and time), I landed on cookie icing. Which actually did work a treat, it was bright and easy to coat the pops with. It looked great except, my perfectly moulded and proportioned bananas were now fat. Like, me after eating all the leftovers at Christmas, all the edges were ‘roundier’ than I would like. No problem, I thought, I’ll pipe on some dark chocolate and it’ll all work out. The smart cookies amongst you will have noticed a pattern by now; no matter how much I thought these would work out, they did not. They looked awful, I’m no artist and I was trying to paint on very specific details. In chocolate. Disaster.
Thankfully, the banana sponge I knocked up tasted brilliant; super soft and full-on banana flavour. I could definitely use it. Instead of cake pops, I settled on banana cupcakes with little Warhol-esque banana toppers made in fondant. Fondant to the rescue again!
What You'll Need
- 2 very ripe, medium bananas
- 1 large egg (lightly beaten)
- 60ml oil or melted butter
- 150g self-raising flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 50g sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Juice of half a lemon
Method
Make a banana template in parchment paper, quite small so it doesn't engulf cupcake
Roll out the yellow fondant and use the template to cut out bananas
Mix a little vodka with black food colouring and paint directly on to the fondant to create the Warhol design
Leave the banana decorations to dry overnight
The next morning, preheat the oven to 190C
Peel and mash the bananas in a large bowl. It’s crucial you use ripe bananas because as they ripen they produce more sugar. If yours aren’t ripe, pop them into the oven (skin on) on a low heat for 5 mins or until they turn blackUsing an electric whisk mix in the sugar and oil
While still whisking gradually add the egg
Sift in the flour and baking powder, fold in with a spoon
Spoon into cupcake cases, this recipe will make 12 small or 6 large
Bake for 15-20 mins until a skewer comes out clean
Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack
When cool whisk together the icing sugar, butter and lemon juice until fluffy
- Spoon or pipe on top of your cupcakes
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