Plantain Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

I’ve only been to an authentic Spanish restaurant once in my life. But while I was there, I had the pleasure of tasting fried plantains for the first time in my life and they were unlike anything I’ve ever had before…but in a good way! They were sweet but somewhat salty at the same time- they are simply indescribable. But anyway, the other night I was watching Worst Cooks in America with Kamil and we happened to catch the end of a new episode of Cupcake Wars. I wasn’t really paying close attention but I must have been tuning in somewhat because I heard one of the judges say that one of the competitors’ plantain avocado cupcakes were good with the right frosting. Hold on- did they really just say plantain AVOCADO cupcakes?! To me, those flavors don’t seem like they would go well together at all, but the idea of putting plantains in a cupcake inspired me! I was flipping through my Pamela Clark Cupcakes book that I’ve been referencing to a lot lately and came across a recipe for banana caramel cupcakes. Long story short, I substituted the 2/3 cup mashed banana for 2/3 cup mashed fried plantains and the 1/3 cup of sour cream for yummy dulce de leche! 🙂

Plantain Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

Fried Plantains

Bonbini

• 2 ripe plantains, peeled and sliced
• 1 tbsp salted butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• pinch of ground cinnamon

Cake

Adapted from Pamela Clark

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 2/3 cup mashed plantains
• 1/3 cup dulche de leche
• 3 tablespoons milk

Dulche de Leche Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from The Curvy Carrot

• 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons dulche de leche
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Melt the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon over medium heat in a skillet
2. Arrange the plantains in the skillet and saute the pieces about 3 minutes per side or until the sugar caramelizes and the plantains get a nice dark coating of the mix
3. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a standard muffin pan with baking cups
4. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy
5. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, mashed plantains, dulche de leche, and milk. Divide mixture evenly among baking cups; smooth surface
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn onto wire racks to cool
7. With an electric mixer, beat butter until pale and fluffy
8. Add powdered sugar on high speed, 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached
9. Add vanilla, dulche de leche, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, beating on high speed for another minute
10. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes

Frying the plantains

All mashed up!

A close-up of the batter

Pre-baked

Post-baked

And all dressed up ready to go! 😉

The other cupcakes featured here are my cranberry orange cupcakes which can be found here