So I love the taste of banana pudding but hate the texture so I can never do more than a bite or two. My first attempt at resolving this was a banana pudding cake. Since I was a novice at baking I used boxed cake (Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden) and for frosting I used Cool Whip frosting, which probably doesn’t exist anymore because I haven’t seen it in years.

Anyway, you’re not reading this to get a bootleg ass box recipe so let me move on. Finally, I ventured into the world of cupcakes and baking from scratch. I found a great recipe for vanilla cupcakes. I noticed that the recipe changed over time so, thankfully, I had screenshotted the original because I loved it! Although, I admit, I have yet to try this one. Maybe it is better. Or maybe it fixes the issue I already adjusted for in the original by adding baking powder to make them fluffier.

For the pudding, I haven’t ventured yet into making it from scratch plus it’s already a lot of work so, I definitely use a box of instant. Plus, the reason will make sense when we get to the frosting. So in the illustrious words of Diana Soto, “judge ya muva!”

But on to the damn recipe…

Ingredients

Cake:

1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Everything Else:

1 3.4-oz package Jell-O™️ Banana Cream Instant pudding mix

1 cup cold whole milk

1 pint heavy cream

1 cup powdered sugar

2 bananas, sliced

1 Box of Nilla Wafers

Directions

1. Measure half the banana pudding powder (about 1/4 cup) and set aside. With the other half, add it to a small bowl with one cup cold milk and whisk until fully blended. Cover and refrigerate.
2. In an ideal world, you have a metal mixing bowl. Take that and the beaters and throw them into the freezer until it’s time to make the frosting. If you have a struggle kitchen, it’s okay. I did too before I got fancy. You can do this after the cupcakes. But more on this later.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
4. In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
5. Beat butter and sugar until well-blended. Then add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
6. Add like 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix, then add 1/3 of the milk. Alternate until all dry ingredients and milk are blended into the batter and batter looks smooth and creamy (it also tastes like ice cream).
7. Divide into muffin tins and bake at 350°F for 20-23 minutes. This recipe should yield about 24 cupcakes.
8. Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool completely, then bore holes into them. I have this weird looking tool that may or may not have been originally intended for boring holes in cupcakes but it works so ??‍♀️. Now if you don’t have a fancy cupcake borer thingy, idk maybe use a knife? The important thing is that you make a hole big enough to fit some pudding in it but small enough to not ruin the structure of the cupcake. So don’t go all the way to the edge or bottom. Now I’m stressed so I’ll post some pictures of the process too.
9. Get out your pudding, which should be set by now (give it a stir to be sure). With a regular spoon, fill in each hole with pudding. Don’t go overboard, fam. Just fill the spoon like halfway and let it slide in.
10. Top each cupcake with a Nilla wafer, then too each Nilla wafer with a banana slice.
11. Now let’s get that chilled bowl and beater out of the freezer. Add the whole pint of heavy cream and the remainder of the pudding mix and start mixing at about a medium speed. Mix through steadily until stiff peaks form. If you have a stand mixer, you are laughing at all the peasants whose arms are about to fall off. If you, unfortunately, have a hand mixer, get in a comfortable position because it’ll take about ten minutes. Also, to you bougie ass stand mixer snobs, don’t walk off and sip your wine just yet. If you mix too long, you’ll end up with a lumpy mess and have to start over.
12. So once you have your stiff peaks, add the cup of powdered sugar and mix it into the cream. Boom. Frosting is done.
13. All that’s left to do now is frost your cupcakes. I probably should’ve said this earlier but I highly recommend using a piping bag and tips. That way you can cover the cupcakes completely and they’ll look all pretty and professional.
14. Top each cupcake with a second Nilla wafer as a garnish and to hint at what kind they are. If you use bananas, they are going to rapidly turn brown and look gross so just don’t.

Store these in the refrigerator between serving to keep the pudding and frosting nice and firm. Plus it will only help the cookies soften.

Bone Apple Teeth!