Made with a ripe banana, this delightful homemade banana buttercream frosting will quickly become your favorite go-to frosting. Banana buttercream pairs wonderfully with peanut butter, chocolate, cinnamon, strawberry, and many other flavors.
This banana buttercream recipe is not only a crusting buttercream but also an American buttercream, making it perfect for piping and decorating.
Crafting the Perfect Banana Buttercream With Real Banana
Preparing the Banana
To start making this incredibly delicious banana buttercream, begin by selecting an overripe banana. Look for a banana with dark brown spots on the peel and a soft texture.
Once you have your overripe banana, mash it in a small bowl or cup until it becomes smooth and free of lumps. Add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent the banana from browning and reduce its sweetness.
An overripe banana contains more sugar than an unripe one. Since American buttercream is already sweet, adding a ripe banana without lemon juice may make it overly sweet. Additionally, overripe bananas are softer, making them easier to mash and resulting in a smoother buttercream.
Please note that this banana buttercream is not ideal for piping detailed designs due to the presence of banana seeds. However, it works excellently as frosting for cupcakes, cakes, or spread onto cookies.
Making the Banana Buttercream Frosting
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip one cup of room temperature unsalted butter until it becomes light, fluffy, and lump-free. One cup of butter is equivalent to two sticks or 16 tablespoons.
Once the butter is light and fluffy, add the prepared mashed banana to the mixer and blend it until well combined.
Turn off the stand mixer and add four cups of powdered confectioner’s sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla extract into the mixture.
Using four cups of powdered sugar ensures that the frosting develops a slight crust on the outer layer, which means it dries to the touch. This helps keep your fingers clean when handling the cookies and cupcakes.
As this banana buttercream recipe incorporates mashed banana as a substitute for milk, there is no need to add any milk to the frosting.
Cover the stand mixer with a clean towel or a paper towel and mix on low/stir setting. Avoid setting the mixer to a higher speed. If necessary, use a rubber spatula to stir the frosting. Overmixing can introduce air bubbles into the buttercream. If you accidentally overmix, don’t worry! Check out this post on how to fix it. However, as always, it’s better to prevent the issue in the first place.
Once the frosting is mixed, transfer it to a piping bag with your preferred decorating tip and start decorating right away. The decorated cupcakes, cakes, or cookies can be left at room temperature for a couple of hours. Alternatively, store them in the refrigerator or freezer.
Store this banana buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to three months.
How to Decorate Banana Cut Out Sugar Cookies
I decided to use this recipe to decorate some banana cut-out sugar cookies, and they turned out incredibly delicious!
Here are the simple instructions for decorating banana sugar cookies:
- Divide the buttercream into two bowls, putting only about a third of a cup of frosting in one of the bowls. Color the small bowl of frosting brown and the larger bowl yellow.
- Place the brown and yellow buttercream into two icing bags without tips. Simply cut a small hole at the end of each icing bag.
- Squeeze some yellow frosting onto the banana-shaped cookie. Then, use a palette knife to spread the frosting evenly, leaving the top stem without frosting.
- Add some brown frosting to the stem part of the banana cookie and draw a line at the bottom of the banana.
These cookies are easy to decorate and taste amazing. Even my three-year-old son helped with the decorating process. Squeezing the yellow frosting onto the cookies was a fun and straightforward task for him.
Save the Recipe for Banana Buttercream
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