I have to admit that I would have never thought about adding basil to a cupcake. But the basil just adds a certain something to these cupcakes from Cupcake Project and really brings out the flavor of the fresh strawberries. I think it might just be a little addicting.
Strawberry Basil Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 cup basil sugar (see recipe below)
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup pureed fresh strawberries
- 1/4 cup whole milk
Basil Buttercream Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups basil powdered sugar (see recipe below)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix basil sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add butter and mix until fully combined.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, oil, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Mix in strawberries until just combined.
- Mix in milk until just combined.
- Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
Basil Buttercream Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on high speed.
- Mix in basil powdered sugar a little bit at a time.
- Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time.
- Mix in salt.
- Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Basil Sugar by Cupcake Project
Ingredients
- 1 large handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Rinse basil leaves and gently pat dry with a towel.
- Pulse basil leaves in a food processor until they are as small as you can get them. Don’t worry if there are still some big pieces since you’ll process them further in a bit. You should end up with about one packed tablespoon of chopped up basil. Add more basil or remove some if you are too far off.
- Place processed basil and sugar in a small bowl and use a spoon to mix well, pressing the basil into the sugar.
- Place the basil sugar in the food processor and pulse to fully combine.
- If not using within three days, store in the freezer until ready to use.
- If basil sugar starts to get clumpy, pulse again in a food processor just before using.