A vegan banana cupcake - a marvel of plant-based confection. Light and just sweet enough without being too much, they're exactly like a really delicious slice of banana bread, but in a delicate and refined cupcake form.
Preheat the oven to 350°F, line 8 wells of a cupcake tin with cupcake papers, then lightly grease the cupcake papers with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, sift together the whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine together the olive oil, slightly melted vegan butter, ground flaxseed, unsweetened almond milk and light brown sugar. Whisk thoroughly. After that, on a plate, mash 2 - 3 ripe bananas with a fork until they're very gooey and no solid chunks remain. Add 1 ¼ cup of the mashed banana to the mixing bowl, and whisk it in well, too.
Now, add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, and fold everything together. Add the roughly ground walnuts, and fold them in too. Combine just until no dry flour remains - careful not to overmix.
Fill the 8 cupcake wells full of the banana cupcake batter - almost all the way to the top of the cupcake paper. You should have enough batter for 8 full cupcake papers. Then, bake the cupcakes for 24 - 26 minutes, or until they're golden brown on the top and spring back decently when lightly prodded with a finger. Remove the cupcakes from the oven, and let them cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting, in a medium bowl, combine together the peanut butter, room temperature vegan butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk really well, until the frosting is cohesive and holds its shape. Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them generously with a rubber spatula or cake decorator. Garnish with more grounded walnuts (or see below for other cupcake design tricks).Tips & Tricks: Double the frosting recipe and load it into a piping bag for a more grandiose and fancy cupcake frosting design. Also, you can take some slices of fresh banana, and use them as garnish on top of the frosting too - for added flair.