Basil Cornbread Cupcake

Ahhh, the savory cupcake. One of life's lesser known, perhaps under-appreciated, delectable treats.

Okay, so I've never actually eaten a savory cupcake, but I have definitely salivated over many!

This one comes from Bitsy the Baker's blog. It's a basil cornbread cupcake, filled with mushrooms (mmmmmm!) and topped with a tomato creem cheese frosting.

This is her entrant for the Iron Cupcake Earth challenge, which is a cupcake cook-off that requires bakers to use one "mystery" ingredient. Ya know, kinda like its namesake Japanese show...is it coming together...oh...yep, there it is.

This month's theme was "herbs", so naturally the savory cupcake makes a lot of sense. The real question is, when are they gonna choose octopus...?

Here's the recipe:

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

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

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

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!