Iron Cupcake Challenge 2: Ingredient-Basil September 23, 2008

Home Grown Purple Basil Cupcake with Chocolate Orange Mousse

My second Iron Cupcake Challenge has arrived and the secret ingredient is basil.  What a perfect challenge for me because we have tons of basil growing in our garden.  We have eaten the wonderful herb in so many different ways but not yet in a sweet treat–Sugar Plum Vegan Man will love this one!

I chose to use our Purple Basil variety.  It’s a beautiful plant with a gloriously fragrant basil smell.  I put the basil in a food processor with organic sugar and created a basil sugar that I added to my vanilla sponge recipe.  The cake tuned out incredibly moist and delicious.  For the frosting I made a chocolate orange mousse out of silken tofu, dark chocolate, maple syrup and orange oil.  It complemented the basil cake quite well and was a winning flavor combination in my house.

Purple Basil Growing Strong

As much fun as I had this is a competition so vote for my organic, vegan and local purple basil cupcake beginning on Sunday, September 28th until Wednesday, September 30th (our two year anniversary!) at No One Puts Cupcake in the Corner.  We are competing to win the
following prizes: a cupcake ring by be sure to include reference and a link to our prize providers:
ETSY artist METAL SUGAR, Head Chefs Cooking Tools by Fiesta Products,  Hello Cupcake Book by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, a Jessie Steele Apron, a Cupcake Courier and gifts from Taste of Home magazine.

Wow! That’s a lot of prizes that I would love to win.  So be sure to vote for your lovable Sugar Plum Vegan.  Blessings and Basil for all!