"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!