Plantain cupcakes & hazelnut frosting

Plantain cupcakes & hazelnut frosting For the caramelised plantains:

1) Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

Mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Put the sliced plantains in an 20-cm square baking tin and pour in the butter mixture. Toss the plantains until well coated with the mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until caramelized, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and mash the plantains with a fork. The yield should be about 500g mashed caramelized plantains.

For the cupcakes:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Line 16 cups of 2 standard 12-capacity cupcake baking tins with liners.

Add the flour, baking powder, sodium bicarbonate, and salt to a sifter and sift into a large bowl.

In another large bowl add the softened butter and sugar and mix, with a hand mixer, until smooth. Beat in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla essence, and the mashed caramelized plantains until the batter is smooth. Slowly stir in the sifted flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Evenly spoon the cupcake batter into the 16 liners, filling the cups 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the tops are light golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack and cool completely, about 20 minutes.

For the chocolate hazelnut cream cheese frosting:

Add the cream cheese, chocolate hazelnut spread and vanilla essence to a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, scraping down sides of the bowl, as needed, until the frosting is smooth.

Assemble the cupcakes:

Put the frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a 1-cm diameter decorating tip. Frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle the top of each cupcake with crushed plantain chips. Arrange on a serving platter and serve.

A viewer, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe. The Food Network Kitchens chefs cannot make representation as to the results.