Iron Cupcake -- Basil!

I've recently discovered a new project venue. It's a fun little project that quickly could become all consuming. I know, that's dangerous, right? I learned about it from a co-worker whose daughter had participated in this contest last month. The name intrigued me -- the Iron Cupcake Challenge.

Now, as previously declaired, I'm a Food Network junky and yeah, I've watched more than my share of Iron Chef, Japan and America. But Iron Cupcake? This was a new one on me and so, well, I had to do the Google and check it out.

Now, I'm an Iron Cupcake baker. I'm about to enter my first contest. This month the secret ingredient is Basil. That's right, basil. In a cupcake. But like their mantra says, these are not your momma's cupcakes.

So yesterday, I baked. I created the recipe, snipped the basil from my backyard, and went for it. I didn't even shop. I used what was on hand in the pantry (fortunately, I had just stocked up a week ago as the pantry was getting mighty low there for a while) and set out on my quest.

I decided not to go wild and crazy. My brain immediately went to lemon and blueberries, for some reason. So here we have, Lemon-Basil Cupcakes with Lemon-Buttercream Frosting and Blueberry Sauce.

Here is the official photo I'm posting for the contest.

What do you think? I had some help from friends to decide. I took well over a hundred pictures. Can you believe how difficult it is to take a decent picture of a cupcake? Well, I'm here to tell you....

And here are a couple of others. Mouth watering yet? I hope so.

Oh, and so this is the place that I am supposed to tell you this is a competition and you can actually vote on this cupcake by clicking on the Iron Cupcake graphic in the right sidebar of this site. It will take you to where the voting takes place. But not until the contest actually opens, which is.... (okay, gotta go look)

Here is the official statement: Voting will begin on Sunday, September 28 at 12 noon at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com and will be open through Thursday, October 1 at 12 noon. (And like I said, you can click the graphic on my site to get there, too!)

And oh yeah, there are prizes! (It gets better and better, huh?) Here are the links to the prize providers: (thank you so much, prize providers!)

• ETSY artist METAL SUGAR: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14597777
• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS http://www.fiestaproducts.com
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com
• CUPCAKE COURIER http://www.cupcakecourier.com
• TASTE OF HOME http://www.tasteofhome.com.

Rest assured, I'll remind you about the voting thing. (smile)

Tomorrow I'm off to work in South Dakota for a few days. Hope to be able to bring you some interesting posts while on the road. Talk soon!

maddie