Week 6. Fresh and Healthy Banana Lime Cupcakes with Chai Icing

This week I wanted to make some cupcakes that were less sweety-sweet and more refreshingly fruity! And when I found this recipe, I knew I'd found it!



Fresh and Healthy Banana Lime Cupcakes

Source: Cupcake Fun

Ingredients:
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas mashed
• 1 teaspoon lime zest grated
• 3/4 cup sour cream

instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, lime juice, vanilla, banana and lime zest; mix well. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream; blend thoroughly but do not overmix. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

Chai Icing
1 8-ounce package of non-fat or reduced-fat cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

**Hannah's Hints**

* This original recipe didn't call for a specific type of icing, so I looked through what I had in my files...I love this chai icing, and it was a nice complement to the fruity freshness!

* Fresh limes are fantastic...but you'll probably only need one for this recipe. I bought 4...so now I have 3 limes waiting to be used in something else! They smell heavenly, and are really fun to juice...so find that little juicer and have some fun. Also, it's helpful to roll limes around on the table to get it warm and the juice flowing!

* As has been the case with most of my other recipes, if this batter happens to spill on your hand, you will probably want to spill some more...it's pretty darn delicious!

* In case you were wondering, my new mixer is heavenly!! It has so much power and looks very space-age...I'm in love!


* This batter smells absolutely delicious when you're mixing it...I was reminded of our family Christmas in Cabo a few years back!






* I had high hopes of spending Friday evening baking and crafting...that mostly happened! There are the shirts I made and the brilliant Valentine's made by Carly:



Hopefully more crafts and delicious cupcakes to come, next week the cupcakes will be part of my payment to Tim DePriest for transposing my music...he's my hero!