Iron Cupcake: Herbs--and my way out

This month's Iron Cupcake Challenge was herbs. I decided to take the easy way out and use mint, because I like mint and you can't go wrong with mint and chocolate.

I wanted to do something a little different though, so I tried to do zebra cupcakes. However, the zebra stripes didn't quite turn out. I think this is due to the fact that my layers must have been too thin. Next time, I think I'll try for fewer stripes and use more batter in each dump.

Nevertheless, the cupcakes turned out yummy, which is always a good thing. So here they are!


Minty Zebra(ish) Cupcakes
inspired from here

2 c. of all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
4 large eggs
1 c. plus 1 tbsp. of white sugar
1 c. of milk
1 c. of vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. of mint extract
1 tsp. chopped mint (more if you want more mintiness)
1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350^oF.

Line muffin tin with paper liners.

Stir the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs and sugar until smooth and light colored, about two minutes on high speed of a hand mixer. Add the oil and milk, and mix for another minute.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until blended. The batter will be of pouring consistency but not thin.

Pour half of the batter into another bowl. In one portion, add mint extract and chopped mint. Stir to blend. Add the vanilla and the cocoa powder to the other portion and stir lightly to blend.

Assemble the cake. Place the baking pan in front of you. Place the bowl of white cake batter to the left of the pan and the bowl of chocolate batter to the right of the pan. Take two small cups of equal sizes (I used two tablespoons; however, if you want to get stripes, you might want to try a bigger size, like a scant 1/4 cup). Pour a cupful of the white cake batter onto the center of the pan. Then, pour a cupful of the chocolate batter directly at the center of the cupful of white cake batter. Repeat until all the cake batter has been poured into the pan.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Mine took 20 minutes to bake.

Then frost with chocolate ganache. Garnish with mint leaf if desired.

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream

Warm cream up in microwave and pour over chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Dip or spread on cupcakes.

And here are the prizes.

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
  
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: 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; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by http://www.1800flowers.com .