Martha Stewart's Mother's Day Hummingbird Cupcakes Recipe

Inspired by many ripe bananas in my fridge, I looked through some recipes before settling on Martha Stewart's Mother's Day Hummingbird Cupcakes.  I had never had hummingbird cake before so I quickly looked at the ingredient list.  It also called for canned crushed pineapple that I didn't have, but would make do with the fresh pineapple I did have.  I was super excited to test out the recipe!

The original recipe yields 40 cupcakes, but I made only a third of the recipe and had enough batter for a dozen cupcakes.  The directions in this post is for the original recipe.  First I toasted 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.  To toast nuts, bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes.  Make sure to watch so you don't burn your first batch and have to make a second one like me. 

In a bowl, combine:  3 cups all purpose flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon.  I sifted these ingredients together and then whisked.  Set aside.

Melt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (I used salted) and let cool.  Then beat the butter on medium-high speed with 2 tsps. vanilla and 2 cups sugar.  You will then mix in eggs, one at a time, for a total of 3 eggs.  

In another bowl, mix together: 2 cups mashed ripe bananas, 2 8-ounce cans of drained crushed pineapple, 1 cup of the toasted walnuts, and 1 cup of unsweetened desiccated coconut (I have no idea what desiccated means nor did I have coconut so I omitted).  Add this mixture to the creamed butter mix and beat until combined.  Then using a spatula, stir in the flour mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes or until golden brown and the tooth pick comes out clean.       

Leave the cupcakes in the tins until completely cool, then remove.  While they were cooling I whipped up a cream cheese frosting. 

The cupcake had a very moist texture and reminded me of banana bread.  I loved it!  It was more work than I am used to, but definitely worth it!   

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Peanut Butter Mochi Cupcakes

I am not a fan of mochi, but when Nadia posted the recipe for these Mochi Cupcakes (given to her by our friend, Wanda), I decided to give it a try - only because my kids love mochi.

And because I don't like an (bean paste) I decided to use a peanut butter filling instead.

I baked both regular size and mini cupcakes, and for both sizes I found that the filling got a little too hot, causing some of the cupcakes to get holes in the top.

So I made more peanut butter filling to use as frosting to cover up any holes.

I thought the cupcakes were good - very peanut buttery, but I'm still not a fan of mochi.

My kids, however, loved them and were asking for them every day after they came home from school.

If you like mochi, give this recipe a try!

Mini Peanut Butter Mochi Cupcakes (recipe slightly adapted from Yoo Eatz)

Ingredients:

• 1 16-oz. box Mochiko rice flour
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 c milk
• 3/4 c vegetable oil
• 2 t vanilla extract

Filling/frosting:

• 1 c creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 3 T milk
• 2 c confectioners sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
• Combine all ingredients except filling/frosting ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
• Combine all filling/frosting ingredients (add more milk if necessary to get desired consistency) in a separate medium bowl.  Set aside half of the mixture to frost the cupcakes.
• Fill each cup of a prepared muffin pan halfway, then add a tablespoon full of the peanut butter filling.
• Add more cupcake batter so each cup is about 3/4 full.
• Bake for 17-20 minutes (or 8-10 minutes for mini cupcakes).
• Cool before frosting.

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How To Make Sweetheart Cupcakes

I enjoyed the fun dessert ideas in the book Custom Confections Delicious Desserts You Can Create and Enjoy by Jen Besel so much that I had to try another one.  Her step by step instructions take out the guesswork and also don't require any fancy equipment.

Her recipe for Sweetheart Cupcakes uses two cake mixes, but I decided to use one and add food coloring.  I followed the instruction on the cake mix box and then separated 1 1/2 cups batter.  I added food coloring and then baked in a 8 inch square pan.  Because the layer is pretty thin, it didn't take long to bake.  

I let the cake cool and then cut out my hearts.  I was able to cut out about 12 hearts. 

     

Add about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of batter in each cupcake liner.  Then place a heart in the center and cover with more cupcake batter.    

Bake at 350 degrees.  The recipe said 24-26 minutes, but this was too long for my oven.  I just checked the cupcakes with a toothpick making sure it came out of the cake clean.  Top the cupcakes with a nice buttercream and enjoy!  Make sure you cut the cupcakes along the heart so the heart can be seen.  Otherwise, the center won't resemble a heart.  Super cute cupcakes just in time for Valentine's Day!

 

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