Banana Split Cupcakes Spell Summer

Summer

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Why Banana Split Cupcakes? When I was young, the world revolved around the mall. That was the place to be, be seen, and find just about anything you could imagine. The magical place was the drugstore: McCrory’s. They sold clothes, general housewares, had a pharmacy counter, and then a mini restaurant.

Similar to Rennebohm’s, McCrory’s had the wooden laminated booths with balloons tied to the coat racks which were fashioned in between them. The balloons all had a slip of paper in them, from FREE to $1.49. The concept was, eat a banana split and see what price you would pay for it if you had a meal first.

banana split cupcakes article cover image

Occasionally, my mom and I would go and have the chicken noodle soup, then split a banana split. We got as low as $0.25 – but never hit a freebie before it closed. She has Alzheimer’s now, and just relived that $0.25 day with glee. I knew it was time to make Banana Split Cupcakes, in her memory.

These may seem a bit futzy – you are making a Neapolitan Cupcake, just like the classic banana split had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream nestled into that lengthwise split banana. That is why we use 3 different cake mixes to start with – to create that base for the toppings to be displayed on.

How to Make Banana Split Cupcakes

You will need:

1 Box Triple chocolate cake mix
1 Box Strawberry cake mix
1 Box French Vanilla cake mix
Large eggs – however many you need for the 3 cake mixes
Canola Oil – however much you need for the 3 cake mixes
Water – however much you need for the 3 cake mixes
white cupcake liners
muffin pan
3 mini ice cream scoops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Following the directions on the back of the cake boxes, make your cake batters.

Using 1 ice cream scoop for each flavor, scoop strawberry cake batter into the cupcake liners.

Use another scoop to place Chocolate cake batter on top of the strawberry batter, and the third scoop to put the Vanilla cake batter on top of the chocolate batter.

banana split cupcakes in the muffin pan ready to bake

Bake in the oven for 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and then allow to cool on the counter completely.

For the Banana Split Cupcakes Frosting

You will need:

2 C Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter, softened
4 C powdered sugar
3 tsp pure vanilla extract
5-7 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 medium ice cream scoop
1 large piping bag fitted with a star tip
2 C Confetti sprinkles

Using a standing mixer, beat all frosting ingredients together until combined and smooth, with stiff peaks forming. Scoop 1 C of frosting into the piping bag and set aside.

Mix the sprinkles in the rest of the frosting until combined and set the bowl aside.

What you need for the Chocolate ganache

1 1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 C heavy whipping cream
1 Squeeze bottle

Using a small pot, heat up the heavy whipping cream until steaming. While heavy whipping cream is heating up, place chocolate chips into a heat-proof bowl. Once the heavy whipping cream is heated, pour over the chocolate chips. Allow the ganache to sit for 1 minute before whisking until smooth. Pour ganache into the squeeze bottle.

Decorating ingredients you will need:

1 Container of confetti sprinkles – I like the two-pound bulk ones I get HERE.
1 can of peanut topping
Maraschino Cherries

How to decorate the banana split cupcakes

Using the ice cream scoop, scoop frosting with the sprinkles mixed in onto the top of the cupcake like we did in the patriotic cupcakes:

Use the squeeze bottle and drizzle chocolate ganache onto the top of the frosting to look like hot fudge. Pipe a dollop of frosting out of the piping bag onto the ganache to look like whipped cream.

Sprinkle a few sprinkles and chopped peanuts onto the frosting/ faux whipped cream. Top with a Maraschino cherry and you are ready to rip into it like a monkey on a cupcake…I hope they remind you of fun summer evenings of your own youth!

A Monkey on a Cupcake