These chocolate hazelnut banana cupcakes with marshmallow frosting are outta this world! A simple, moist banana cupcake is stuffed with Nocciolata, and smothered in a toasted marshmallow frosting. The bits of toasted marshmallow in the frosting create an amazing texture!

Ohhhh. Emmmm. Geeee. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. You seriously need ~~one~~ ~~two~~ all of these chocolate hazelnut banana cupcakes with marshmallow frosting. These are actually banana cupcakes stuffed with a chocolate hazelnut spread and topped with toasted marshmallow frosting, but google didn’t like that extremely long title 😉

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Let me just tell you right now that these are my new favorite thing. I mean, they’re better than margaritas, and I don’t take my margarita talk lightly! It helps that every component on it’s own is ridiculously tasty, but put them together and you’re in for one outrageous treat!

Moist, tender banana-y cupcakes. Gooey Nocciolata (an organic chocolate hazelnut spread like nutella). Toasted marshmallow whipped into a luxurious buttercream.

I need to take a second.

I’ve been wanting to make banana cupcakes for-EVER. I bought a bunch of super yellow bananas at the grocery store more than a week ago, in hopes that it would only take a couple of days for them to get brown. You know the saying “a watched pot never boils”? Yea, well, a watched banana doesn’t brown, which is worse!

Holy. Moly! These bananas took forever to brown and all I wanted to do was make chocolate hazelnut banana cupcakes with marshmallow frosting. Is that too much to ask?

So I bought these bananas on a Friday and I hoped they would be brown enough by mid week to bake with. Btw – I was waiting for these to brown, because you need super brown, mushy bananas for optimal moistness (is moistness really a word? ha!) and banana flavor in the cupcake! The riper the banana, the creamier and sweeter is it!

They weren’t ready by Wednesday, so I put them in a brown paper bag, because I heard that helps them brown. By Thursday, nothing. So I put them in the fridge. I don’t know why I did that, because now that I’m doing a little research, it looks like that was counterproductive. Refrigerating them actually slows down the ripening process.

*Slaps forehead*

It’s just funny, because usually I buy fresh bananas and end up forgetting about them and then struggle to find a creative recipe to make with them.

Not this time.

Well, yesterday, after more than a week had passed, they were finally ripe enough! Although I was extremely impatient, trust me when I say that these chocolate hazelnut banana cupcakes with marshmallow frosting were well worth the wait.

Let’s start with the best part. The frosting. This, my friends, is toasted marshmallow buttercream. It’s sticky and delicious. You’ve been warned that you’re probably going to get a little messy while making this, but you’ll thank me for it later!

First, you’re going to make a basic buttercream. Place room temperature butter in your stand mixer and mix until light and fluffy, about a minute or two. Stop and scrape down the bowl and then slowly add in powdered sugar and salt. I say slowly, or you’ll end up with powdered sugar all over your walls 😉 Again, stop and scrape down the bowl and then add in heavy cream and vanilla. It will be extremely thick, but the marshmallows will thin it out.

Now, toast the marshmallows in the oven. Set your broiler (mine is 500 degrees F) and let it warm up for a minute. Then prep a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay marshmallow down in a single layer. Toast these for about 5 minutes, watching constantly, or until they’re golden brown and melty! You definitely want to make sure that they’re cooked all the way through – un-melty marshmallows won’t mix into the buttercream. 😉 You may need more or less time depending on the placement of your oven racks – mine was just in the middle.

Immediately scrape the toasted marshmallows into the mixer and beat until fluffy. I used a spatula to transfer the toasted marshmallows. It is a little messy, but because you used parchment paper, you shouldn’t have any problem getting the marshmallows off the cookie sheet.

Now, go ahead, do a little taste test. I know you want to. 🙂

Is your mind blown?

The frosting won’t be thick enough to frost the cupcakes yet. That’s why I make the frosting first, so it has a chance to set while you make and cool the cupcakes.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl combine whole milk, sour cream, and vanilla. Set aside.

In your stand mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy. Now add in the milk/sour cream/vanilla mixture. Then beat in two eggs, one at a time. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until *just combined*. Lastly, add in peeled and mashed ripe bananas! TIP: I always mash my bananas with a fork on parchment paper, so I can slide the banana in easily! Give this a quick stir, making sure to not over mix!

Now, prep a standard sized muffin tin and line it with cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a cookie scoop (I used one scoop from this medium sized cookie scoop and one scoop from this small cookie scoop) to fill each cupcake liner.

Bake these in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut a small hole in the center of each cupcake. Just eye ball it. You’re going to fill the holes with Nocciolata, or a similar chocolate hazelnut spread.

This stuff is rich, delicious, and organic so it’s healthy…right? 😉 Thanks to Nocciolata for sending some my way, it is truly delicious!! Since it’s so rich, I kept the hole in my cupcakes pretty small, but feel free to play around with how much you want to stuff each cupcake!

This, again, is pretty messy, but who cares? Just lick your fingers as you go along…kidding 😉 I used a knife to gently spoon the spread into each opening. I’m sure you could also melt the Nocciolata into a measuring cup and pour it into the hole, but I had waited long enough for these cupcakes, that I didn’t take the extra time!

Once each opening has been filled, your toasted marshmallow frosting should be firm! Frost each cupcake however you like. I chose to pipe the frosting on. If you do, make sure to use a round hole piping tip.

I was going to pipe these on with a star tip, but the marshmallow chunks kept getting stuck. It is extremely thick, so if you want to keep it simple, I say just slap some frosting on there and call it a day, because you just made the best cupcake ever.

I mean, are these chocolate hazelnut banana cupcakes with marshmallow frosting calling your name yet? A simple banana cupcake is stuffed with Nocciolata, and smothered in a toasted marshmallow frosting. I love how moist and fluffy the banana cupcakes are, and the chocolate hazelnut spread is just….awesome, and can we please talk about that toasted marshmallow frosting again? It’s sweet, it’s thick, it’s creamy, and I love the texture from the toasted and chewy marshmallow bits.

Now enough talking. Go make these cupcakes!!

– Jennifer

What’s your favorite cupcake filling? Show me the yummy!

P.S. These may seem complicated, but they’re really not! It’s just a simple banana cupcake filled with premade Nocciolata, and a quick buttercream! I promise 🙂

P.P.S. In order to start expanding Show Me the Yummy, starting Monday, March 2 I will only be posting 3 times a week! Thank you for the support in helping SMTY grow!