Tuesday, September 23, 2008

"Ike Didn't Beat Up My Basil" Cupcakes

Hurricane Ike may have taken away my oven, but it sure didn't take away my will to bake (though it did provide the inspiration) for the Iron Cupcake Earth, Battle Basil Challenge.

Since we still don't have power at our house (going on Day12), and baking without an oven can be a bit challenging, I spent Sunday baking at my parent's house. Their basil survived Ike's strong winds and rain, and presented a perfect opportunity to add local ingredients to this month's challenge. Here is the basil basking in the morning sunlight, ready for the rare opportunity to be paired with a cupcake.My inspiration for these cupcakes came in several forms. I wanted the frosting swirls to look like a satellite view of the hurricane, which meant leaving a hole in the middle to represent the eye of the storm. After the storm, our garage was speckled with leaf debris, and in cupcake form this meant torn pieces of basil as the "sprinkles".
The morphology of this cupcake was kept pretty simple with a traditional chocolate cupcake filled with basil infused chocolate mousse and topped with swirled vanilla bean and basil buttercream.
These cupcakes were delicious, just the perfect amount of basil without being overwhelming and ruining the overall chocolate flavor.
And don't forget, you decide who wins Battle Basil in the Iron Cupcake Earth Challenge! Voting starts September 27 at noon here. And the winner will receive lots of cool prizes from Etsy artist Metal Sugar, Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake, Jessie Steele Aprons, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home. Lots of other vegan bloggers are participating, so take a minute and vote for your favorite so a vegan cupcake wins this round!

And I must apologize for being a bit absent on many of your blogs lately, I feel so out of the loop! Without power I have limited internet time at work during the day. I am trying though and will get around to commenting eventually... thanks for your patience. And I promise my next post won't be anything Ike related!

33 comments:

Chrissy said...

this cupcake is awesome! i am blown away. (get it? blown away? like in a hurricane???) great job!

Leslie Richman said...

Your cupcakes look amazing! I tried my hand at the basil challenge too. It's a neat taste in cupcakes!

Anonymous said...

Holy crap, Amanda! I can't believe you did the challenge! I love the way you subverted catastrophe into your inspiration, and I think I'd love one of your cupcakes, too!

Tami said...

That cupcake is brilliant! How cool!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Kudos to you for remaining positive and willing to bake, after Ike - you rock, Amanda!! Love the cupcakes :0)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

As usual when you're the baker, the result looks gorgeous AND delicious. I hope you win-- if only to get that Hello Cupcake book, which has some super-cute ideas (popcorn cupcakes?!).

Vaala ◪ said...

Those are beautiful cupcakes...I love the thoughts and concepts behind them.

I'm pretty impressed with how you're doing coping without power. 12 days is a long time. Hang in there :)

allularpunk said...

i love chocolate and i LOVE basil. amazing, brilliant combo.

Amy said...

Your cupcakes are beautiful (and YUM!)

Anonymous said...

Wow! Those cupcakes look so good I wanted to reach into the computer and grab one for myself. I am glad you used Ike as a theme and don't apologize for continuing to post about it. Surviving a hurricane can be an emotional time. I survived Floyd in '99 so I understand. You are a real sport and to stay dedicated to the contest even with limited internet access is a real feat. Most would have called it a month but you are awesome! Keep up the good work. You have that contest in the bag, good luck!

Anonymous said...

You are awesome! I can't even bring myself to bake cupcakes under normal circumstances. Your effort deserves to be recognized. EVERYONE MUST VOTE FOR AMANDA'S CUPCAKES!! I'm sorry you're still without power. I've heard so many people say the aftermath of this storm has really changed their perspective. I feel bad we got our power back so quickly - we reverted back to our lazy ways.

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

The frosting is so pretty and the cupcake insides look absolutely decadent!

aTxVegn said...

Wow, still no power. I'm so sorry. With all you've been through these cupcakes are very impressive, although they would have been more impressive if you'd have baked them without an oven ;)

tofufreak said...

woah!
those cupcakes really do look like the satellite pic! that's pretty sweet :)

Theresa said...

I love your inspirations. And I love basil, though I've never thought to put it in a cupcake. I bet lime and basil cuppers would be yummy....

Unknown said...

Your cupcakes look divine!!! I voted for you in the last contest, so I will certainly vote for you again!

By the way, your twitter shows that it's your one year anniversary! Happy first year of bliss to you and John! Wishing you many, many more, and hopefully electricity in your home soon!

Anonymous said...

Great to see you baking again, even if it at your parent's place. I hope the power will be back soon so that you can produce more of your beautiful baked goods.

Good luck with the challenge!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Those looks gorgeous and I love thatr thick chocolatey filling!

jessy said...

wow! 12 days without power! eek! (i think the most we had to go without power was just 6!) hang in there! and i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's back on super soon!

your basil cupcake is WONDERFUL! i looooooove it - mmmmmmmmmmmm! the chocolate mousse, the fresh basil, that buttercream! holy batman! YAY!

Sugar Plum Vegan said...

Cupcakes imitating life. Amazing. Blessings to you for going through Ike and still no power. Sending you much light sis!

Anonymous said...

I had no idea that you were STILL without power! I hope you're hanging in there - it's tough! We got our power back after 6 days.

I hope these cupcakes helped lift your spirits. They look delicious!

Veronica said...

I love that you paired these cupcakes with your experience! They turned out beautiful.

I myself had trouble with this challenge, as my initial thoughts didn't pan out. In the end I couldn't stay away from chocolate either. The basil certainly added a tasty flavor I'd never have tried otherwise.

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Wow! They're beautiful & sound delicious!

Animal-Friendly said...

That's so creative! I love to hole in the middle of the buttercream for the eye of the storm. And the cupcake itself sounds super delicious!

Don't worry at all about falling out of the blogging loop- you've been through a lot and you don't even have power! We all understand completely :)

Anonymous said...

Such a creative interpretation of the challenge (and storm), I just love it!

Jes said...

What a great entry for the challenge! Although I'm still a bit unsure about the basil thing...

Ruthie said...

I have to tell you that cupcake looks so good I had a dream about eating it last night.

It was so nice meeting you! Good luck on your cardinal/hummingbird dishcloth!

Ruthie

Bianca said...

You're so freakin' creative! I love the whole hurricane frosting thing. You folks down there in hurricane land are always know how to take a bad thing and make it seem okay.

The cupcakes are just beautiful. And I admire your perserverance. I decided not to participate in this month's Iron Cupcake since I have to move this weekend. It's kind of a lame excuse, but you made cupcakes in spite of not even having an oven! That's awesome!

Sheree' said...

Your cupcake is beautiful! I was afraid of the whole basil ingredient. I am so sorry you are still without power. My family now has power, but not much of a home. The mobile home is in pretty bad shape. At least you, your family and mine made it through. Hang in there a keep up the awesome baking!

VeganCowGirl said...

Your cuppies look amazing. So glad you made it through Ike unscathed (sorry about the oven and power, but at least your body is in good shape).

Best of luck with the contest! You rock and I would eat those little packets of goodness in two shakes of a lamb's tail!

Jess said...

I'm so glad you're okay!! Those cupcakes are literally making my mouth water. They look AMAZING! I love basil with fruit desserts (like sorbet), but have not yet paired it with chocolate. It sounds quite tempting!

Maggie said...

I wanted to try basil with chocolate but chickened out. These look delcious!

the little one said...

You got my vote!