Banana Pudding Cupcakes (like The Actual Dessert!)

Total Time: 58 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 18 mins

Ingredients

• 36 vanilla wafers
• 3 medium ripe bananas
• 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (3 ounce) package vanilla pudding mix
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 medium ripe bananas, cut into 24 slices

Recipe

• 1 heat oven to 350°f grease 24 cupcake wells or line with paper liners. count out 12 vanilla wafers for the garnish and set aside.
• 2 place the remaining 24 vanilla wafers flat side down in the bottom of each cupcake well; set pans aside.
• 3 for the batter, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth, about 1 minute; you will have about 1 1/4 cups.
• 4 place the cake mix, oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl with the banana puree; blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. scrape down sides of bowl.
• 5 increase mixer speed to medium and beat another 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
• 6 spoon 1/3 cup batter into each cupcake mold, filling 3/4 full. you'll get 22-24 cupcakes; remove empty liners, if using, or take out the batterless vanilla wafers if you're greasing the pans.
• 7 bake until cupcakes are golden and spring back when touched, 18-20 minutes. cool on wire racks for 5 minutes; carefully remove cupcakes from pans and cool 15 minutes on the racks before filling.
• 8 meanwhile, make the filling: place the milk in a medium saucepan. whisk in the pudding mix until blended.
• 9 place pan over medium heat and continue to whisk as the mixture comes to a full boil, 3-4 minutes; remove pan from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. pour the pudding into a medium bowl and cool for 20 minutes.
• 10 while the pudding is cooling, make the topping: crush the remaining 12 vanilla wafers; set aside.
• 11 in a large chilled bowl, whip the cream with an electric mixer (chilled beaters also) on high speed until thickened, 1 1/2 minutes. stop the mixer and add the sugar; beat again until stiff peaks form, 1-2 minutes more.
• 12 to assemble the cupcakes, remove the paper liners and place cakes on a platter. spoon the pudding into a pastry bag fitted with a wide tip.
• 13 pipe a generous amount of pudding into each cupcake (1-2 tbsp) through the center of the top, allowing about 1 teaspoons of the pudding to overflow onto the surface of the cupcakes.
• 14 sprinkle the wafer crumbs on top of the pudding and dollop about 1 tablespoons of the whipped cream over the crumbs.
• 15 just before serving, stand a banana slice in the whipped cream; serve.
• 16 store the cupcakes, without the banana garnish, lightly covered in the refrigerator for 1 day; add the banana slice just before serving.