High Altitude Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

The fluffiest, high altitude banana cream pie cupcakes, filled with homemade banana custard, and topped with mascarpone whipped cream frosting. These banana vanilla cupcakes are basically like eating a yummy bowl of creamy banana pudding that’s presented as a cute little cupcake.

You might also love this banana layer cake with brown butter frosting, the best ever banana cream pie, and bourbon banana pudding cake.

This site contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links.  This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services.  All opinions expressed on this site are my own.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Real Banana Flavor. For the best tasting banana cream pie cupcakes, you want real banana flavor from ripe bananas, not banana extract. To get this flavor, you’ll start by steeping bananas and a vanilla bean in milk overnight. Then you’ll use the banana milk not only in the banana custard filling, but also in the cupcakes themselves. I use this same technique in my banana cream pie and my banana layer cake. What I love about this process is that you get all the banana flavor without any brown, mushy bananas in your dessert.

Tastes Like Banana Pudding. I’ve always loved banana pudding, with the vanilla cookies (perfectly softened from the moisture in the pudding), fluffy whipped cream, sliced bananas and custard. You’ll get all of these delicious elements in today’s banana pudding cupcakes.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Banana Milk

• All you need to make the banana milk is whole milk, very ripe bananas (with lots of speckles) and a vanilla bean. Don’t use green bananas, or you won’t get as much sweetness or banana flavor in the milk. If you don’t have vanilla beans, you can just add a teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
• Be sure to let the milk steep for the full 12 hours – or even up to 24 hours – to get as much banana flavor into the milk as possible. You’ll be using the banana milk when you make the custard and the cupcakes.

Banana Custard

• The banana custard or banana pudding is a simple mixture of granulated sugar, corn starch (to thicken it), egg yolks, unsalted butter and some of the banana milk that you made. I make a similar version of this custard for my banana cream pie, and it’s just fantastic.

Banana Cupcakes

• For the banana vanilla cupcakes, I used my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. The cupcakes are soft, moist, light and fluffy. Pretty much everything you want in a cupcake.
• You’ll need cake flour (which makes a fluffier cupcake than if you used all-purpose flour), granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, eggs, banana milk, melted butter and vanilla extract.

Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

• Since these are banana cream pie cupcakes, it’s only right to frost the banana cupcakes with whipped cream frosting instead of buttercream.
• Mascarpone cheese is a lovely complement to whipped cream, adding a delicate sweetness, as well as helping to stabilize the whipped cream so it doesn’t deflate. You’ll also need powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream. If you can’t get mascarpone cheese, then full fat block cream cheese makes a great substitute.
• To decorate the top of the whipped cream, you can sprinkle the cupcakes with crumbled graham crackers, vanilla wafers or shortbread cookies. You can also add a fresh slice of banana on top of each cupcake, immediately before serving.

Instructions

Prepare the banana milk.

• Peel the bananas, discard the peel, and slice the bananas into 1/2 inch pieces. Combine the milk, vanilla bean + scraped vanilla bean seeds, and the sliced bananas in a saucepan. Over medium heat, bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
• Pour the milk with the bananas into a lidded container, and refrigerate for 12 hours (overnight), or up to 24 hours, to infuse the milk with banana flavor. After 12 hours, use a slotted spoon to remove the bananas and the vanilla bean pod from the milk. TIP: You can either throw out the bananas, or mash them and use them in banana bread.
• Let the banana milk come to room temperature for about an hour, before mixing up your cupcake batter. You’ll be using 3/4 cup of the banana milk in the cupcake batter, and 1 cup + 2 tbsp in the custard.

Make the banana custard.

• In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar and corn starch. Whisk in the egg yolks and banana milk.
• Over medium heat, whisk the custard constantly and bring it to a boil. It should take about 8-12 minutes of whisking before it begins to boil and thicken. Once this happens, continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 full minute, until the custard is very thick.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until smooth. Pour the custard through a mesh strainer to remove any bits of cooked egg. Take a piece of plastic wrap and press it right against the hot custard. Refrigerate the custard for several hours, until thoroughly chilled, before filling the cupcakes.

Bake the banana cupcakes.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan/s with 15 paper liners.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, then whisk until everything is well distributed.
• Separately, whisk together the eggs, banana milk, melted butter and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and whisk just until combined.

• Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
• Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Make the mascarpone whipped cream frosting.

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or with a hand held electric mixer), beat the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
• Gradually stream in the cold heavy whipping cream. Beat on medium/high speed for several minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until the frosting is fluffy and thick enough to hold its shape.

Assemble the cupcakes.

• Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of the cooled cupcakes. Set aside the centers of the cupcakes for later.
• Fit a piping bag with a medium round tip, and fill with the chilled banana custard. Pipe the custard into the cupcakes, then set aside any leftover custard.

• Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the mascarpone frosting. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then set aside any leftover frosting.
• Sprinkle the crumbled graham crackers or cookies on top.
• Refrigerate the cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Make banana pudding cups.

• Since you’ll have leftover banana custard and whipped cream frosting, as well as the centers of the cupcakes, you can use it all to make a few servings of the best ever banana pudding in glass jars.
• Alternate layers of the cake, custard and whipped cream in several glass jam jars. You could also add some more crumbled graham crackers or cookies.
• Cover the jars and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do banana cream pie cupcakes need to be kept refrigerated?

Yes, with the custard and the whipped cream, these cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. You can let them set out for a half hour or so before serving.

What can I use instead of mascarpone cheese in the whipped cream frosting?

If you’re not able to find mascarpone cheese, you can substitute full fat block cream cheese.

You Might Also Like

Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!

Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!