Ollalie Berry and Basil Cupcakes with Balsamic Cream Cheese Frosting

After seeing the delectable cupcakes girlchef came up with I was inspired to come up with a cupcake for the Iron Cupcake Challenge: Herbs myself. Since basil is abundant in my garden this year I figured there just had to be a way to incorporate it into a cupcake recipe. The Olallieberries are actually in the form of jam and was a special gift from Suzi.

Here's what went into the cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp finely chopped basil
• 1/2 cup Olallieberry jam (You can substitute a different kind, of course.)
  

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping down sides as needed.

Line muffin tins with liners. Place one small scoop of batter into each liner. Add 1 tsp of jam to each and top with another small scoop of batter. Liners should be filled about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting. I actually placed mine in the freezer for just a bit since it's so hot right now.

For the frosting I used:

• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
• 1-2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 drops each red and blue food coloring
  

Combine the cream cheese, balsamic, milk and food coloring. Mix until creamy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.

I also placed my frosting in the fridge to get it nice and cold.

The photo below shows what happens if you leave your cupcake out too long on a hot day!

My frosting got a tad runny! Oops!

It was really fun coming up with this flavor combination. These actually tasted pretty darn good!

Print recipe

Be sure to go and check out Iron Cupcake!

The prizes up for grabs consist of the following:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery,
  
• CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for the winner each month until further notice.

Corporate prize providers are:

• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS
• TASTE OF HOME books
• a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
• Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers