LWF&D makes yummy treats. And eats them.

On Tuesday afternoon, I made delicious, delicious cupcakes. They went a little something like this:

First, a thorough search of the internet for the perfect recipe. Chocolate cupcakes? Maybe. Buttermilk vanilla? Perhaps. Banana? Aha! Yes! After my love affair with Billy's banana cupcakes was sadly truncated by a return to my "real" job, I haven't had that blissful taste in months. Well, it was time to rock 'n' roll.

Following Martha Stewart's recipe (yes, cringe. I'm not a Martha fan, but I am man--well, woman--enough to recognize a good recipe when I see one), I conjured up a big bowl of cupcake batter. It was an interesting batter-- more of a muffin mixture than a traditional cake batter, using melted butter and mashed bananas. And then before I baked the little delights, I hid a secret surprise in each, my little editorial addition to the recipe. You'll see.

They came out of the oven looking beautiful:

Tiny golden beauties

The corner cupcake

And then I frosted them. Martha's recommendation is a honey-cinnamon frosting, basically a traditional American buttercream with a bit of honey and a dash of cinnamon. But, in my quest to replicate Billy's masterpiece, I wanted cream cheese all the way. So I whipped up a batch using, yes, another Martha recipe. And once my beautiful cupcake stumps were cool, I slathered those pupplies with the frosting. They looked like this:

Crowned with snow

Finally, after dinner, I chose the perfect one to be my tester cupcake. Yup:

THE one

As always, I cut it in half... revealing the surprise!

Hidden Hershey kiss!!

And then I dug in. Dear readers, forgive me for tooting my own horn, but these cupcakes were damn good. I'll admit the frosting wasn't as good as Billy's cream cheese frosting, which I suspect has a higher ratio of sugar to cream cheese (my version was tangier and softer). But the cake was delicious, and the bit of chocolate hidden inside put it absolutely over the edge. I gobbled this down in the blink of an eye.

And then I licked the frosting bowl. Oops?

Give it a try yourself. Recipes are available here:

Banana cupcakes
Cream cheese frosting