Basil Infused Olive Oil Cupcakes with White Wine

Sometimes I get tired of my star tip (the one I use to pipe big cupcake swirls). So, I pick a random tip from my set and see what I can come up with. For these cupcakes, I used Wilton tip 352 and piped a loose spiral with lots of lines criss-crossing over it. I think it's a keeper!

Note: If you click the link to my tip set above, you'll see that it doesn't have 352 in it. I have no idea how I got 352, but it must have gotten mixed in with the others.

Let's Talk About the Cupcake

These cupcakes are not my first ones made using olive oil and I wouldn't even say that they are the best (my olive oil cupcakes with lemon, thyme, and balsamic whipped cream are some of my favorite cupcakes ever). However, this is the first time that I used olive oil in the frosting. I made a basic buttercream frosting and used olive oil instead of milk. The olive oil makes you pucker just a little bit (especially if you use a bold, fruity olive oil). If you like the taste of olive oil, you'll enjoy the effect, although you may wish that it were even stronger (remedy this by drizzling some olive oil over the frosted cupcakes).

I Thought You Said We Were Going to Talk About the Cupcake, Not the Frosting

Ah, yes. The cupcakes. These cupcakes are also not my first cupcakes made with basil (I made vegan chocolate basil cupcakes). However, without the chocolate flavor to serve as a distraction, the basil flavor truly shines here. The basil makes the cupcakes feel light and Springy (as opposed to all the snow we've been getting here in St. Louis), but I will warn you that the cake is quite dense.

My neighbor tasted tasted these for me. She said that she didn't like the first bite because it was too unexpected, but that she enjoyed each subsequent bite more and more and was in love with the cupcake by the last bite.

Olive Oil Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 10 cupcakes

• 1 C extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2 oz fresh sweet basil leaves
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 C sweet white wine
  

1. Soak basil leaves in the olive oil for at least an hour. You can also muddle them to help release the basil's natural oils.
   
2. Pour oil through a sieve to remove the basil. Squeeze out as much oil as you can. No matter how hard you try, some will remain on the leaves. It's OK. You only need to end up with 2/3 cup of oil.
   
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
   
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed.
7. Add half of the wine and continue mixing.
8. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the wine and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until they bounce back when touched.

Olive Oil Buttercream Recipe

• 1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
• 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 T olive oil

1. Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy.
2. Add olive oil and continue to beat for another minute.
   
3. Add more confectioners' sugar to make the frosting stiffer, if desired.

Cupcake Hero

I made these cupcakes for February's Cupcake Hero! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other olive oil entries!

Multigrain Cupcakes with Strawberries: Revisiting the Strawberry Cupcake

About a year ago, I made strawberry cupcakes. I used an award-winning recipe and I joked that I should have left well enough alone. I messed up the recipe by adding some jam, which made it too moist. Did I follow the strawberry cupcake recipe this year? Nope!

• I converted it to a mutigrain cupcake.
• I used olive oil as my vegetable oil.
• I used milk and balsamic vinegar instead of buttermilk.
• I used ginger extract from Supreme Spice instead of vanilla extract.

It's pretty much a completely different cupcake at this point.

How Were the New Multigrain Cupcakes with Strawberries?

People enjoyed the moistness and the fresh berries as well as the earthy flavor brought on by the multigrain flour. The ginger extract flavor was more noticeable in the aftertaste than the initial bite, so it was a fun surprise. I liked them, but definitely found them to be more of a breakfast cupcake than a dessert cupcake.

Groom 2.0 said he couldn't taste the difference between the multigrain flour and the regular flour. I promised him that I would no longer place value judgements on his tasting notes, so I have no further comment about his feedback. Bride 2.0 asked to be exempted from this tasting after she told me that she didn't like strawberries. Clearly, they won't be picking this one.

The Multigrain Cupcake with Strawberries Recipe

As noted above, the multigrain cupcake with strawberries recipe was created by majorly modifying the strawberry cupcake recipe that originally came from the Good Morning America Weekend Edition's Great American Cupcake Challenge.

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 1/2 C multigrain flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 C butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 C minus 1/2 t milk
• 1/2 C vegetable oil (I used olive oil. See my post on olive oil cupcakes for more on baking with olive oil.)
• 1/8 t ginger extract from Supreme Spice (You could use 1 t vanilla extract if you prefer)
• 1 C finely chopped fresh strawberries

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
3. Add eggs. Mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Add balsamic vinegar, milk, oil, and extract. Mix until combined.
5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
6. Stir in strawberries.
7. Fill cupcake liners halfway full. Do not fill more than halfway! These cupcakes do not dome. If you fill them too high, they will rise and then sink and look ugly!
8. Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes. Let cool.

The Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

I frosted the cupcakes with my strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe.

A Note on the Strawberries in the Photo

The strawberries in the photo above are growing in our lawn. We did not plant them, they just showed up. While you may question our lawn care practices or even if those are really strawberries (I think they are, but I haven't tried one yet), it was nice of them to show up for their photo op!

Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lemon, Thyme, and a Balsamic Vinegar Whipped Cream: Weird Thyming

Olive oil cupcakes with balsamic vinegar whipped cream don't taste like salad dressing. If you love olive oil and balsamic vinegar, don't be afraid to try them in something sweet. You won't regret it!

My olive oil cupcakes were made with lemon and thyme. They were dense and crumbly, yet plenty moist and tasted like a lemon pound cake without the pound of butter. The fresh thyme gave them an even more Springy feel and the balsamic whipped cream blew me away! I could eat that stuff on anything!

How Did I End Up Making the Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lemon and Thyme?

Rachel of Coconut and Lime and I have again and again blogged about things at the same "thyme":

• Rachel posted her absinthe cupcakes on March 12. I posted my absinthe cupcakes on March 17.
• Rachel posted a recipe for key lime frosting on March 25 and I posted my key lime cupcakes on March 27.
• Rachel posted her chocolate cream cheese frosting on April 6. I posted my chocolate cream cheese frosting later that same day.

I am very lucky that Rachel didn't brand me a copycat. I wasn't copying - really, honestly, truly I wasn't. I hadn't even read her posts yet when I made any of my cupcakes. The thyming was just eerie.

Rachel and I talked about it and decided that since we clearly like the same kinds of things and it was bound to happen anyway, we should plan to post something at the same thyme. Since the whole thing was about thyming, we decided to both make cupcakes with thyme! (Fine, we didn't know what to bake and Rachel suggested an herb and we ended up with thyme. I like my made- up version better though.)

Shopping for Ingredients

I knew I wanted to use fresh thyme. I opted to buy a thyme plant so that I could use what I needed and plant the rest. Jonathan and I also bought some tomato plants. Not surprisingly, I got a twitter from Rachel saying that she had bought some tomatoes to plant the same day. That one wasn't so weird, but still, I'm going to have to meet her some day. We are living parallel lives.

The most fun part of my ingredient shopping, however, was for olive oil. A new olive oil store, Extra Virgin, opened near us in Clayton, Missouri. At Extra Virgin, you can do olive oil tastings just like you would do wine tastings. The variety in olive oils is astounding. The owner was incredibly helpful and recommended an olive oil that is perfect for baking - Jovia Groves' 2007 Arbequina. Apparently she isn't the only fan of this olive oil. Read the review of it from the blog "I Love Olive Oil".

You can bake with any olive oil, however the oils vary greatly in the pungency and strength of the olive flavor. The Jovia tasted really buttery and had only a mild olive flavor. When the cupcakes were baked, you would never know that I had made them with olive oil. The owner told me that she uses olive oil as her vegetable oil in any recipe that calls for vegetable oil. I never would have thought to do that.

The Olive Oil Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for the olive oil cupcakes by slightly modifying an olive oil cake recipe from Cafe Fernando. The recipe with my modifications is listed below, but be sure to check out the original recipe on Cafe Fernando as well. He's got a great pic of a slice of the cake that will give you a good idea of what the texture is like.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 2/3 C extra virgin olive oil (I recommend Jovia Groves' 2007 Arbequina, but any olive oil will do. You can order Jovia from Extra Virgin.)
• 1 T lemon zest
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 C lemon juice
• 2 T finely chopped fresh thyme

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest and rub together to extract the fragrant oil from the zest.
3. Add olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined (preferably with the whisk attachment).
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed.
6. Add half of the lemon juice and continue mixing.
7. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the lemon juice and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.
8. Stir in the thyme.
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until they bounce back when touched.

The Balsamic Vinegar Whipped Cream Recipe
 
I've always said that I don't like whipped cream. What I meant was that I don't like Ready Whip. I love spraying the whipped cream from that pressurized container as much as the next gal, but the taste just isn't there. Fresh whipped cream is so easy to make and is in such a different league that I have no idea why everyone doesn't make it.
I was going to make a lemon whipped cream for this recipe. When I tasted the cupcake and realized just how lemony it was, I knew that more lemon would be too much. I found a recipe for balsamic whipped cream on Sugarlaws and thought it would be a perfect complement to the cupcakes.
At first, I was a balsamic doubter. I actually poured some balsamic vinegar onto some extra cupcake batter to see how the flavors went together. It was perfect! I've reprinted Sugarlaws' recipe below. She served her balsamic whipped cream with strawberries, which is exactly what I plan to do with all the whipped cream I have left over.

• 2 C heavy cream
• 1/2 C sugar (or more, your preference)
• 3 T balsamic vinegar

1. Combine cream, sugar and vinegar in a large bowl or stand mixer.
2. Beat on medium speed for about five minutes, until soft peaks form.

A Present for Making it to the End
 
I leave you with this photo from J. Pollack Photography. I have to link to him in almost every post. He's my husband and he makes my cupcakes look so good! 


Don't forget to go check out Rachel's thyme cupcakes at Coconut and Lime!