Banana Chocolate Cupcakes covered with lovely swirls of Chocolate Fudge Frosting give us a double dose of chocolate. You will love these tender and moist cupcakes that are oh so sweet. They go perfectly with the silky smooth texture of the chocolate frosting. Not only do they taste divine, but as you can see, they are a feast for the eyes.

This Banana Chocolate Cupcake recipe makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes. The batter is a snap to make because you just stir the wet ingredients together in one bowl and the dry ingredients together in another bowl. Mix the two and you are done. The batter is quite thin so use an ice cream scoop or small ladle to fill the muffin cups. Now the recipe calls for cocoa powder, so you can use either regular unsweetened or Dutch-processed. As always, keep in mind that the type and brand of cocoa powder you use will determine the flavor of the cupcakes, so use the best you can afford. The other ingredient in this batter to take note of, is that the fat is in liquid form (canola, vegetable, or corn oil). The reason I bring this up is because oil makes for a moist and tender cupcake that stores very well, with the added advantage that they can be refrigerated and still stay soft.

The chocolate fudge frosting recipe is adapted from the cookbook Chocolate Bar by Matt Lewis and Alison Nelson who run a chocolate boutique that they call a “candy store for grown-ups” in New York. It is the type of chocolate frosting my mother always used to cover cakes. Made with butter, confectioners (icing or powdered) sugar, vanilla extract and unsweetened chocolate, it is perfect for piping. It uses unsweetened chocolate which is also known as baking, plain or bitter chocolate. This is chocolate in its rawest form. Chocolate liquor that has been refined and contains 50-55% cocoa butter. Since no sugar has been added to the chocolate it has a strong, bitter taste that is used in cooking and baking but is never eaten out of hand. When used in this frosting it imparts a deep chocolate flavor. Ghirardelli and Baker’s unsweetened chocolate can be found on the baking isle of most grocery stores, or other brands I particularly like that can be found in specialty food stores or else on line are Dagoba, Guittard, or Scharffen Berger.