My July IronCupcake:Earth Entry!

Okay, this month when I saw that the IronCupcake:Earth challenge for July was herb, I just had to enter.  I've had this idea for curry cupcakes on the brain for a while now, and I was excited to have an excuse to make them.  I also had basil on the brain, so I decided to make basil cornbread cupcakes since my sister had made some cornbread that I couldn't get out of my head.  And so, my cupcakes were born!  Voila!

Here are the first ones that I thought of: coconut curry cupcakes with lemongrass paste, topped with a curry cream cheese frosting.  Since I love curry, I wanted to try making it in cupcake form.  This is a much, much milder version of curry, and my mom(someone who hates curry) actually liked them!  Here's the recipes:

Cupcakes:

1 cup coconut milk

2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/4 cup sugar

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 TBS lemongrass paste

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1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12 cup muffin

 pan with liners.

2) Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer.

3) Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl; add slowly in batches to the dry mixture.  Mix until the batter is a soft brownish-orange color and sticks to itself.

4) Add the lemongrass paste and mix thoroughly. 

5) Using a regular cookie scoop, put two scoops in each liner.

6) Bake cupcakes for 18 minutes; cupcakes should be the color of cinnamon.  Remove pan from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

7) Remove cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack.  Once the cupcakes are cool to the touch, make the frosting.

Frosting:

1 8 oz. block of full-fat cream cheese

2 TBS tomato paste

4 tsp. curry powder

1 TBS coconut milk

1 TBS lemongrass paste

1 tsp. salt

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1) Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat in the tomato paste.

2) Add the curry powder, coconut milk, lemongrass paste, and salt.  Mix very well.

3) Frost your cupcakes!

These cupcakes are good, even without frosting, and they go well with salad.

Next, I made my basil cornbread cupcakes, and those were my favorite.  I filled them with sauteed mushrooms, and then frosted them with a cream cheese frosting that had pizza-reminiscent spices added to it.  Man, they were good!  All right, here are the recipes:

8 large white button mushrooms, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 TBS salted butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. chopped basil

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Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook until the butter is bubbling and the garlic is sizzling.   Add the mushrooms and spices, and stir to distribute them evenly.  Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low.  Cook until the mushrooms are nice and dark.  You will have a lot less than you started with!  Stir, cover, and turn off heat.  Set the pan aide while you make your cupcake batter.

Cupcakes:

1-1/4 cups buttermilk(or regular milk with 1 TBS vinegar or lemon juice added)

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 egg

dash lemon juice

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup sugar or evaporated cane juice

1 TBS baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1 TBS finely chopped basil

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1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners.  You will have enough batter to make 14 cupcakes, so put the pan on a cookie sheet and put two foil liners on there as well.

2) Mix wet ingredients in a bowl.

3) Mix dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer; add the wet ingredients and mix well.

4) Add the basil, and mix completely, scraping down the sides and making sure that the batter is thoroughly mixed.

5) Using a regular cookie scoop, put one scoop in the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Put 1 TBS of the sauteed mushrooms in each liner, and then put one more scoop of cupcake batter on the top of each.

6) Transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove pan from oven, and let cool for 5 minutes.

7) Remove all of the cupcakes to a cooling rack, and once they are cool to the touch, make the frosting.

Frosting:

1 8 oz block full-fat cream cheese

2 TBS tomato paste

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

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1) Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer; beat in the tomato paste.

2) Add all of the spices, and mix thoroughly.

3) Frost the cupcakes and top with a basil leaf, if desired.  Enjoy!

These are a very good flavor combo, and I really enjoyed them.  Thanks for reading this post, and you can vote for me on the IronCupcake:Earth blog if you like my cupcakes that much.

I am competing to win the following fabulous prizes:

A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935

A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEYhttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273

A sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery,http://www.acupcakery.com/

PLUS, a piece of artwork form the lovely CakeSpy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS,http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers,http://www.1800flowers.com . 

Also, if I won, my recipe could be featured in one of their future cookbooks!  How incredibly awesome would that be? Well, I'm off to the good old bed, so have fun and be happy in the meantime!