Banana Coconut Cupcake with Whipped Chocolate Frosting

Name: Banana Coconut Cupcake with Whipped Chocolate Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 12 min
Ingredients: 1/2 a ripe banana (mashed); 1 tbsp maple syrup; 1/4 cup oat flour; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1 tbsp shredded coconut + more for sprinkling on top; 1 can coconut cream; 1-2 tbsp cacao powder; 1-2 tsps maple syrup (optional)

February 16, 2017 · Natalie 46 Comments

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Good thing this Banana Coconut Cupcake is a single serve dessert, because you won’t want to share even a bite of such an easy, fluffy, frosted cake in a cup! Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free.

After completely snubbing bananas in Monday’s ice cream post, I think I owed this to them. And to you. And to myself. Because sometimes we all deserve a cup full of fluffy banana coconut cake with frosting even fluffier that comes with one spoon and one spoon only.

Considering we are just emerging on the other side of all that Valentine’s chocolate craziness, you may be thinking that’s a lot of chocolate frosting for one cupcake. Yes, yes it is. But the frosting is made mostly of coconut with just a little touch of cacao because chocolate goes too well with both banana and coconut to leave it out. I’d like to tell you the frosting is made mostly of air so just go ahead and pile it on with reckless abandon, but that would be a bit of a stretch. However, it does have a wonderfully whipped airy texture–like a cacao-flavored cloud of cream!

I am getting a little ahead of myself though, distracted by the frosting and forgetting about the coconut-filled cupcake underneath. I originally whipped up this recipe on a hungry whim planning to snap a pic, post it on Instagram, and dig in. But it was too good. So I had to ~~make another immediately and devour it in record time~~ devote a blog post to this simple 5-ingredient cake snack.

The cupcake. It’s been a while since I’ve made anything with bananas, I almost forgot how perfect they are as a base for baked things. They sweeten, they bind, and they just get more flavorful in the oven. With so many of the cupcake jobs covered already, there isn’t too much more to add. Maple syrup for extra sweetness. Baking powder for fluff. Coconut shreds for some tropical flavor. And oat flour because it wouldn’t be much of a cake without it. Sprinkle a little more coconut on top, then it’s off for a 1 to 2 minute spin in the microwave or a 15 to 18 minute stay in the oven–your choice!

Okay now we can get back to the frosting. Because without frosting it would just be a cute cup full of especially coconutty banana bread. With frosting it looks almost party-appropriate and definitely deserving of the cupcake title.

The frosting. It could almost be a treat all it’s own (and the leftovers were for me!) All it is is coconut cream + cacao powder whipped until smooth with a whisk or hand beater. You can sweeten it if you want with a teaspoon or two of maple syrup. But I kind of have a thing for slightly bitter chocolate flavors, so to me the natural coconut sweetness alone is perfect.

I don’t know about you, but I find cans of coconut milk can be really hit or miss. Sometimes they whip up to be creamy and thick, other times grainy or too watery or just weird. And there’s no telling which way it could go until you open the can. The funky ones get poured into a jar and saved for smoothies or other blender business, but for whipped frosting the texture has to flawless.

I recently discovered these little cans of coconut cream that not only seem to always have the perfect texture for whipping even without refrigeration, but also are the perfect size for a single-serve recipe like this. Although fluffy frosting leftovers are never really something to worry about.

I hope you enjoy this fluffy-frosted cupcake party of one!