Strawberry Peach Basil Cupcakes
We had a bakoff at work and I wanted to make a cupcake with a creative flavor combination. To get inspiration I decided to flip through the Iron Cupcake Earth Flickr pool. There are some great cupcake photos in there! I could spend hours just browsing through that photo pool… I came across this recipe and thought it sounded perfect. I’ve made lemon blueberry basil cupcakes before that were delicious.
I used the recipe from Take the Cannoli as inspiration for the flavor combo but just used my own recipes. The cupcakes are Martha Stewart’s yellow buttermilk cupcakes that I made recently with rave reviews.
For the filling, I used the peach jam I just made. I stirred in about two cups of fresh strawberries and reduced it on the stove until it thickened up even more. Then I let the jam mixture cool.
Once the jam was completely cool, I strained some of it through the strainer to get out any pulp and seeds. That strained off version is the sauce that I added to the top of the cupcakes for some additional color. I added some thinly sliced fresh basil to the remaining jam mixture to use to fill the cupcakes.
For the frosting, I used the same base recipe that I posted yesterday, using french vanilla pudding. This base frosting recipe is great and very easy to mix up. Once it was mixed, I added some of the jam filling to the frosting until it got enough of a hint of the fruit and basil without being over powering. Then I added another pinch of the freshly chopped basil just for good measure. I enjoy this type of frosting best at room temperature, so while I do store these cupcakes overnight in the fridge, definitely let them warm up a bit before serving.
I’m happy to announce that I did win the Innovation Award for most creative flavor combination. All the hard work and taste testing paid off!
Don’t forget to enter in my 2nd blogiversary giveaway by midnight on August 28th! You could win some cute cupcake liners like the red ones seen in this post!
Check out my week of cupcakes here.
Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 stick salted butter, softened
1/2 pkg french vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (or more to suit your tastes) powdered sugar
Directions:
In mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth and silky.
Turn the speed to low and add the pudding mix, when it is all incorporated, slowly add the cream, a little at a time. When fully incorporated bring speed up to high and beat for 5-7 minutes.
Turn speed back down to low and add powdered sugar by Tbsp., tasting along the way. When it is sweet to your taste, beat again at high speed for a good 5 minutes to really break down any graininess that you might get from the powdered sugar.
Bring back down to low speed and beat for a while that way to get rid of air bubbles.
Recipe from Fields of Cake
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
What an awesome way to feature goat cheese in a dessert! I never thought of turning it into a chocolate mousse – sounds like I need to try this soon. 🙂
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:51 am
You definitely should. I know goat cheese isn’t for everyone, but we really enjoyed the subtle flavor in the mousse.
Jen, I love everything about this tart – from the chocolate crust to the mousse and the pretty strawberries on top. Yum! Enjoy your birthday month 🙂
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:52 am
Thanks for humoring me on the whole birthday month thing 🙂
Ohhh lalalalala, I totally dig this dessert even more because it has goat cheese and strawberries…some of my fave foods!! Happy Birthday month…you better party and eat like it’s your birthday!!
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
Oh I’m definitely going to party like it’s my birthday! All month long 🙂
oh yes to the goat cheese in this tart! fabulous. happy birthday month 🙂 you might need to make this a few more times to celebrate?!
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
Oh I have been baking plenty of deliciousness this month to celebrate 🙂 You know how hard it is to repeat recipes…
Love the idea of incorporating goat cheese in a dessert- I have never seen it down with chocolate before. I will definitely be trying this soon as I have some goat cheese in my fridge waiting to be used 🙂
beantownbaker — June 11th, 2013 @ 7:20 am
Oh yea, goat cheese and chocolate go really well together.
Oh my, the use of goat cheese in this is phenomenal! I would love to try it!
beantownbaker — June 11th, 2013 @ 8:46 am
Definitely do! And you could top it with any fruit you like. I think raspberries would be good too.
Chocolate must work great with goat cheese since they’re both utterly delicious!! This recipe looks magnificent omg I think I would be able to eat the whole tart by myself *-*
Goat cheese is one of my favorite ingredients to use in desserts, and your tart looks soooo delicious! Thanks for sharing =) Definitely a must try this summer.
Oh wow this is gorgeous! I love this recipe, I bet it tastes heavenly!
I just finished making my second one for this week…we love it…it is so smooth and rich and well D E L I C I O U S!!!…my grandson requested the second one but truth be told I was gonna make it anyway…the bittersweet chocolate and the cocoa in the crust are what make it….if anyone out there hasn’t tried it do so you will be in love….
beantownbaker — June 25th, 2013 @ 5:38 pm
So glad you’ve enjoyed it! I definitely need to make this again. I have already made it with raspberries but want to try blackberries next.
you wont believe it but I made this AGAIN yesterday…I did a play on bananas foster on the top…it was a hit with my company…and good recipes for sweets for the 4th?..lol….
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:02 pm
Wow – bananas foster on top. I would never have thought of that! I am making this tart and this strawberry shortcake for the 4th.
So sinful and delicious looking 🙂
Holy yumminess. I never thought of putting goat cheese in. My mouth is watering at the thought. Strawberries are my absolute favorite berry of all time. I will have to for sure try this recipe, Got it saved to my personal file. thank you.
I love chocolate mousse and I love goat cheese, so clearly I need to make this!
Also, there is strawberry picking (not sure it is organic though if that matters) up here near Oxford. I can get you the info for next year if driving up here is not a problem (I imagine it depends on what side of Cinci you live 🙂 ).
beantownbaker — August 4th, 2013 @ 6:44 pm
I definitely don’t mind driving for freshly picked strawberries!!
I love absolutely EVERYTHING about this recipe! It’s hard to beat mixing tangy goat cheese with chocolate and berries. What a unique recipe!
beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
It tastes as good as it sounds! I hope you try it.
WOW! What a wonderful recipe! Definitely one of my new favorites! Happy birthday month!
Does this go in the fridge covered or uncovered and how long does it last? Thanks!