Hummingbird Cupcakes

So I've finally attempted to make something from the Lantana cafe. I decided to go for the ever expanding popularity of the Hummingbird cupcakes. And here's how they turned out...

I had a slight tinker with the recipe as I was only able to make 12 rather than 24, but it worked out fine and the cupcakes were soft, golden and moist enough on the inside thanks to the banana and pineapple. The cream cheese topping could have been more stiff, which means I will of course have to make them again to get it right.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 cups demerera sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

75g unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 bananas, diced

1/2 can of pineapple chunks, drained

25g pecan halves, chopped

How to make:

Preheat oven to 160. Line 12 muffin wells with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.

Stir in melted butter, eggs and vanilla until just combined. Gently fold in pineapple, banana and pecans.

Fill the muffin wells about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Leave the muffins in the pan to cool for 5 minutes and then gently remove them from pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

50g unsalted butter, softened at room temp

100g cream cheese

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of icing sugar

With a wooden spoon (or electric mixer), beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until light and creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar until well combined and paste onto the cupcakes. Finally, decorate with some pecan halves.

NB: you could use walnuts instead of pecans.