Tomato cupcakes with a lime basil frosting

Here's an unexpected but satisfying way of using up some tomatoes and basil from your basket.

The tomato cupcake itself has the spiced flavor of a carrot cake and the lime basil frosting has the zingy herbaceous taste that you might enjoy in a mojito. My kids don't like them but, honestly, this is one of those times when I'm more than happy with that.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 eggs

150g/ 5oz soft brown sugar

100ml/ 3.5oz vegetable oil

200g/ 7oz All purpose flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1tsp Mixed spice (see recipe below or use pumpkin spice blend)

200g/ 7oz Fresh tomatoes, pureed

Frosting:

350g/ 12oz Powdered sugar

25g/ 1oz Unsalted butter, room temperature

150g/ 5oz Cream cheese, room temperature

1 lime, juice and zest

8 Basil leaves

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 325F

Method

Weigh out the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and oil until light and airy.

Sift the dry ingredients in to the egg mixture and fold in.

Fold in the pureed tomatoes.

Fill cupcake cases and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Start making your frosting while the cupcakes bake. This mixture makes a rather loose frosting so it's better to make ahead and leave to firm up in the fridge before putting it on the cupcakes.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese to get a nice smooth consistency.

Make a slurry in the food processor with the basil leaves and lime juice or just finely chop the basil. Add the lime juice, zest and basil to the butter and cream cheese mix. Stir to combine and then add the sifted powdered sugar and stir until fully incorporated.

Put the frosting in the fridge to firm up a bit and then pop on top of the cakes when they've fully cooled.

Mixed Spice blend

• 1 Tbs ground allspice

• 1 Tbs ground cinnamon

• 1 Tbs ground nutmeg

• 2 tsp ground mace

• 1 tsp ground cloves

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp ground Ginger

Simply combine and keep in an airtight container.