‘Milo’ is a word Australian homes with kids would be all too familiar with. Malt drinks are a hit with a lot of children. Mine really love it and will eat spoonfuls of it straight from the tin. Sometimes, I mix it with banana and vanilla ice cream to make a milkshake. Yesterday while the blender was doing its work and I was staring into it, the cupcake Gods suddenly smiled at me and I smiled back. Why didn’t I think of this earlier! Banana Malt Cupcakes!

I really like the flavour of these cupcakes. Better than the milkshake! And it is such a great recipe to make for kid’s parties and get-togethers. When I told my boys the cupcakes had Milo in it, their eyes lit up.

The cupcakes are soft and moist and the buttercream has a flavour similar to milk chocolate. So they work well together. A dusting of milo powder gives it an extra malt boost. You can replace the chocolate malt powder with your preferred malt powder.

Please note while making the frosting that most chocolate malt powder are already sweetened so I have reduced the icing sugar than I would normally use to make my buttercream. The resulting buttercream will be fluffier (not very stiff)  and not the perfectly pipeable one. It’s actually wonderful spooned or spread over the cupcakes. Though I managed to pipe, I wasn’t too happy with the end result.

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Malt Buttercream

Banana Cupcakes
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (or 2 cups plain flour+2 tsp baking powder)
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
125g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large ripe bananas)

Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Grease a 12 capacity muffin pan or line with paper cases. Combine flour and castor sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Stir in cinnamon.

Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to flour mixture. Using a large metal spoon, stir gently to combine. Add the mashed banana.
Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, spread or pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Dust with chocolate malt powder or cocoa powder.

Chocolate Malt Buttercream
1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 g), room temperature
11/4 cup icing sugar, sifted (add another 1/2 cup if you want a stiffer frosting)
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup chocolate malt powder (I used Milo)
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Add the malt powder to 2 tbsp warm milk and stir to make a smooth paste. Keep aside. In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter till smooth. With the mixer on low-speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the malt milk paste and cocoa powder. Beat on high-speed until frosting is light and fluffy.