Happy Tuesday, and happy March 3rd. Several years ago today, I gave my good friend Bret, on whom I may have had the teeniest crush, a bottle of tequila for his birthday. Several hours later, tequila exhausted, he issued a no-less-adorable-for-being-booze-fueled declaration of love. Exactly according to my evil plan (mwahahahahaha).

The next year, no longer needing the tequila, I asked my now-fiance what kind of cake he'd like for his birthday. At which point I learned that he. doesn't. like. cake. I wasn't sure our relationship was going to survive that type of division, but one way might be to convince Bret that he does like cake, if it's the right cake. And what does Bret like? Fruit. He's one of those weird people who eat fruit for dessert - and even mixes fruit into perfectly delicious foods, like ice cream. It's strange. But I figured I could make a banana chocolate chip concoction that he would appreciate, and that would satisfy my requirement for cake to celebrate a birthday. I *think* I nailed it, that year (when he was turning 33) and right on through this year, which marks Bret's big 40th. He is, predictably, spending today on an airplane. But he'll be home this evening, and I'm doing everything in my power to leave at least one of these cupcakes on which he can make a wish.

To be clear, these are not optionally vegan, low-fat banana chocolate chip muffins. These are cupcakes, with two types of sugar, a full cup of chocolate chips, and some highly-recommended icing. With big chunks of banana in a hearty but light cake (thanks to the whole wheat flour and buttermilk, respectively) and sweet chocolate, they are delicious.

Banana Chocolate Chip Birthday Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Food.com

Makes 12

Ingredients

1/3 cup buttermilk (store-bought or made with 1 tablespoon vinegar with almost 1/3 cup milk)
3 medium very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. If you don't have buttermilk, make it by adding 1 tablespoon white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup, and then fill to the 1/3 cup line with low fat milk. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. You can skip the buttermilk in favor of regular milk, but I'm a serious fan of using buttermilk in baking (and pancakes), so I recommend it. It couldn't be easier.

2. Combine dry ingredients with a whisk. Add in wet ingredients (including brown sugar), coarsely mashing the bananas and combining until ingredients are just wet. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Measure about three tablespoons of batter per cupcake into a greased or papered muffin tin.

4. Bake at 350 for 24-30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. It's tough to perform the toothpick test here, because of the bananas, but if the cakes are firm when you pull them out and golden brown, they're done.

This cake is delicious with a pure vanilla buttercream, cream cheese or chocolate frosting. They're also really good plain, but a birthday candle belongs in a pile of frosting. Pick your poison and enjoy!

I should note that Bret is not the only person I love who celebrates a birthday this week. As I noted earlier, my little sister turns 29 tomorrow (weird, right, since I'm 26?). We'll be on a plane very early tomorrow, but we love you and wish you an awesome day! These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, untainted by the addition of fruit, are pretty yummy if you're feeling like making yourself a special treat.

Thank for reading, and we'll be back, tanner and relaxed, next week!