Easy-to-Make Banana Pudding Cupcakes | A Sweet Treat for Anytime

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Filling:

3.4 oz package instant banana pudding
2 cups milk

Buttercream:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon banana extract
1 pinch salt
4 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk

Optional Topping:

Vanilla wafers
Sliced bananas

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F degres.
Line a 12 count muffin tin with paper liners, set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add in the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.
Fill the cupcake liners ⅔ full with cupcake batter and bake for 18-20 minutes until slightly golden and tops spring back when touched.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the pudding add together pudding mixture and milk in a bowl just until set then set aside.
To make the buttercream, beat together the butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and salt for about 2-3 minutes until lighter in color.
Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until incorporated.
Add in the milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Then beat for 2-3 minutes to whip it up nice and fluffy.
Once cupcakes are cool, core out the centers and fill with pudding and spread pudding over the tops of cupcakes to the sides (you will have pudding leftover.)
To frost cupcakes: place buttercream into a piping bag fitted with and open star tip (Wilton 1m) and pipe onto tops of cupcakes and top each cupcake with a whole vanilla wafer and a slice of banana.

Notes

The pudding does not need to be fully set as it will set up in the cupcake itself.
Make sure you buy INSTANT pudding NOT cook and serve or this will not set up.
You will want to gently spread the pudding with a spoon to the sides of the cupcake but do not let it drip down the sides.
If you do not want to make homemade cupcakes you can swap it out with a white or vanilla cake mix.
The garnishes are completely optional. The sliced bananas on top will go brown after a while if they are not consumed right away.
Make sure the cupcakes cool fully before coring and filling.
You will have some pudding mixture leftover. Put it in a covered container in your refrigerator and save it for later!
If you’d like use a homemade pudding, check out my recipe for VANILLA PUDDING and just add two teaspoons of banana extract to that recipe instead of the vanilla extract.
If you don’t want to use or can’t find banana extract, just use vanilla extract