Banana oat cupcakes stuffed with Smil/Rolo candy

A new experiment… I had three bananas ready to go and a bunch of oats that I just did not want to store any longer. I vaguely knew I wanted to make something with caramel. I had also intended to make some chocolate cookies stuffed with Smil (the Norwegian equivalent of Rolo) but did not want to make more chocolate stuff in the end, so I just threw a Smil into the center of each cupcake. It remains to be seen how these will be received, but hopefully it will be a successfully experiment.

How to go bananas yourself?

Preheat oven to 190c

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 mashed overripe bananas

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. In another bowl, beat egg, add milk, oil and vanilla, then sugar. Add banana. Mix well. Add dry mixture until just mixed (do not overmix).

Place mixture into greased cupcake pans or into cupcake papers. I put a small amount of the mixture into a cupcake paper, added a Smil candy and topped it off with a bit more batter.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes.

I frosted with caramel Swiss meringue buttercream.

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
24 tablespoons unsalted butter
three tablespoons caramel/dulce de leche

Over a double boiler, whisk egg whites and sugar. When sugar is dissolved, transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer – beat with the whip attachment until soft to medium peaks form. Switch to paddle attachment, start beating and adding in the butter a few tablespoons at a time. Once you have a frosting-like texture (which can take a long while – the mixture will possibly look curdled, like it cannot possibly come together, at some point, but it will come together – just keep beating), add the vanilla. When nearly ready, add the caramel and mix until well-combined.

Frost the cupcakes with the prepared frosting.