of course i eat fruit.

I try to eat healthy. Honest. The problem is, I *love* junk. It's so good to me. I'd rather have a waffle with some pumpkin spice kisses melted on the inside, instead of oatmeal...or anything of that nature. I even try to make my own breakfast sandwiches with whole grain, fiber-rich English muffins and turkey sausage, instead of stopping at the golden arches every morning. I've tried leaving out the cheese, but who am I kidding? (Side bar: My mom once told me to stop eating cheese so I wouldn't be so fat. So I cut it out of my diet for a while. And perhaps it was coincidence that I lost a couple pounds. But then I realized I'd rather be fat and cheesy, than skinny with no cheese. It's made a world of difference. And probably a few pounds.)

So to make up for my lack of "right" choices, I try to eat fruit (veggies are a whole 'nother story). I love my honey crisp apples, so during this time of year, I'm good. The hubs eats a banana and apple every day. So I try to eat a banana every day as part of my breakfast. Only...after Monday hits, I'm usually banana-ed out. Therefore, my uneaten bananas get a little brown. And the hubs won't touch a banana with one speckle of brown on it. Seriously.

On a good week, I'll save the ripened bananas, unpeel them, and freeze them, like so many bloggers do. And I love my banana nutella muffins (I throw some flax or chia seed up in there, just to make myself feel better). But honestly, I can banana nutella muffin myself out too. I know what you're thinking...I must be crazy, right? What can I say though? I like variety.

Now, one of my favorite restaurants is The Melting Pot. (There's a connection here, I swear it.) If you've never heard of this restaurant, it's all about fondue. It's especially great when you're catching up with your besties or old friends...some go for a romantical night out -- unfortunately, the hubs hates TMP (blasphemy!).

Anyway. The restaurant offers different flavors of chocolate fondue for dessert. A few years ago, they started offering a bananas foster fondue. Y.U.M. I'd never had bananas foster, but ohmygoodness was that fondue delicious. And immediately I thought, I *totally* want to make this into a cupcake! Fast forward to recent times, and naturally, I am not the first person with this brilliant idea.

So a few weeks ago, when my uneaten bananas made their way into the fridge to prolong their ripeness, I decided I was finally going to do it. I was going to make bananas foster cupcakes.

I always like to start with a search, and then piece together and adapt what I want. What did I search, you ask? Bananas foster cupcake. And then I searched bananas foster fondue. You can't be disappointed. Initially, I wanted to make a little fondue bowl out of the cupcake, but decided against it since the fondue would have no way of staying warm. But tell me how fun it would be to dip your extra cupcake piece into your bananas foster fondue cupcake bowl.

The actual result? Banana cupcake, lightly drenched in a banana rum sauce (the fondue "sludge" minus the white chocolate), topped with white chocolate butter cream, a couple of banana slices, and more sauce. Um, yah. EXACTLY that.

 

Thankfully, I had a couple of small gatherings with friends, and then I brought some in for my co-workers. I'm pretty sure I was everyone's favorite person. And that's always nice. To be the bringer of fruit, cupcake, AND happy feelings? Life is good. And so is this cupcake.

The fresh bananas on top and the banana cake balance out the rich, sweet taste of the white chocolate butter cream. And the banana rum sauce gives the cupcake a little something extra, without making it soggy. It's a perfect way to get a portion of your daily fruit intake! Now if only I had some left over...