Marbled Lavendar and Honey Cupcake

This is another entrant for this month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge, but this time it's sweet cupcake!

Her name is Cassie Baker and she, well, bakes. She bakes a lot of cupcakes and other yummy goodies and documents her trials on her blog How to Eat a Cupcake.

I like Cassie's blog because she uses a wide array of ingredients. Sometimes they're less exciting, but still tasty (marshmallow, chocolate malt balls) and sometimes they're weird and make you think "dear God, save us all why oh why would you do that?!" (like apple and cheddar or beer and peanuts).

Cassie's sometimes unusual flavor combos are a result of her readers suggestions. Based on the most popular suggestions, she lets readers vote on what she should do. And isn't that what America is really all about? I think we should all start referring to cupcakes as "Freedom Cake". Yes, let's try to make that happen.

Despite the oddball requests, she always manages to do something delish with it!! I mean, who else do you know that could take mountain dew and turn it into a refreshing, albeit green, summer treat?? WHO, I SAY!?!?!

These are her purple and white marbled cupcakes scented with lavender and topped with sweet honey frosting. How did she know I had a weakness for anything scented with lavender?

Marbled Lavender Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

Makes 16

1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk, room temperature

1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature

2 tablespoons lavender leaves, finely chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Honey Frosting (my own recipe)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Food coloring, optional1.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream chopped lavender, butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two addi­tions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.

3. Measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Stir purple food coloring into reserved 1 cup batter.

4. Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of white and purple batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and a cake tes­ter inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes (Mine were done at about 18 minutes). Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

5. To make frosting, combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on low until combined. Increase speed to high and whip for 1 minute.

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!