Banana and Maple Syrup Breakfast Cupcakes

These cupcakes are immense. Perfect for anyone who wants a quick breakfast or snack throughout the day, they contain wholemeal flour, meaning that you'll stay fuller for longer. Not only that, bananas are high in both potassium (good for your heart) and antioxidants (the riper the bananas, the more antioxidants), and are an easy way to get fruit into your diet.

I topped the cupcakes with a drizzle of maple syrup icing, which gives an extra boost of sweetness and an impressive finish.

The cupcakes are very quick to prepare, and once baked, if you store them in an airtight container, they will last a week.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 100g wholemeal plain flour
• 100g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 75g butter or margarine, melted

For the icing:

• 50g icing sugar
• 3-4 tbsp maple syrup

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4. 

2. Mix the mashed bananas, sugar, maple syrup and egg together until no sugar crystals are visible (this will only take a few minutes). 

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl, before folding in to the banana mix.

3. Add the melted butter and stir briefly until no more butter is visible.

4. Spoon into cupcake cases in a muffin tin. Try to get an even amount of mixture into each case, and if any mixture drips on the tray, clean it off before baking.

5. Drop the tin a few times on the counter to dispel any air bubbles. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, and the top of the cupcake springs back when lightly pressed. Take the cupcakes out of the muffin tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

6. Mix the icing sugar with the maple syrup with a spoon, a tablespoon at a time. You want a slightly runny consistency, where if you lift a spoon from the icing, a long ribbon of icing flows down and stays visible on the mixture left behind. Place the icing in a piping bag.

7. Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe zigzags of icing onto the cupcakes. Leave to set for a few minutes, then they are ready to eat!

Note: For extra crunch, add 25g chopped walnuts to the cupcake mixture, and top the cupcakes with a walnut half.

Another Note: As an extra chocolaty indulgence, add 25g chopped white chocolate to the cupcake batter. It is delicious!

Like this healthy recipe. Then you'll love my Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse.