Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes with Rosemary

One of my faaaaaavourite parts of blogging is the awesome people I've met. I know, it's such a cliché - the foodblogging community is a such warm bunch, open and welcoming, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what? It's true. During the past few months I've met a fascinating array of people through twitter, their blogs and at the SAFBC. Remember that? The event that I had an absolute blast at? Yes, that one.

Sometimes the friendly banter stays online. Other times, it ventures out into the 'real' world. And that's where the real magic happens. On Sunday such an opportunity presented itself again - a boozy lunch with twitter buddy and fellow cheese slut, Sigrid. She suggested Delheim, nestled near our home in the Stellenbosch winelands, and threw in a wine tasting proposal for good measure. TheHusband and I, of course, had no objections to this.

It started off fairly civilised. However by the end of the afternoon we'd tasted more wines than I could remember, scoffed down a three course meal, and partook in an impromptu (for us at least) wine blending competition. Which we also proceeded to win. In the non-father category anyway. Told you us foodbloggers were an awesome bunch.

You would think this was enough food action for one day. And for any normal person, it probably would've been. The portions were large, the wine plentiful and the conversation sterling. But, we all know that I'm far from normal. And so I whipped up these cupcakes when I got home. Because I had a sudden hankering for something cake-y and was too lazy to venture down to our local grocer. And it's much less taxing to mix a batter, line a baking tray, bake cupcakes to golden perfection, whip up some icing and frost said cupcakes than, you know, just heading to the store and buying ready-made cupcakes.

Hey, I said I'm not normal... Also not normal were the ingredients that went into these cupcakes - grassy olive oil, sprightly lemon and forest-y rosemary. Why it's a nature reserve in a cupcake! A delicately flavourful, tasty nature reserve that is. Turns out I am an outdoor person after all...

>>> And while we're on the subject of wine: have I mentioned that I was chosen as one of Kleine Zalze's wine ambassodors? Yes, it's true! So for the next few weeks, you can follow my adventures on their For the Love of Wine site. I will still be blogging about food here as well, so you'll get a double dosage of Creative Pot during the winter months ahead. Woooooot! <<<

Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes with Rosemary
Adapted from Cupcake Project
Makes 12

1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
3 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon extract 
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

For the icing:

1/4 1/4cup c(50 mL) (60 g) cream cheese, softened
1/4 1/4cup (60 g) butterc(50 mL) , softened
1-1/2 1-1/2cups icing (confectioner's) sugar

1 or 2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

zest of one lemon (optional)  (375 mLicing (confertion'er
1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Combine sugar and olive oil in a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy.
2. Add eggs one by one, beating after each addition.
3. Sift dry ingredients together, then add bit by bit to the egg mixture, alternating with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine.
4. Add lemon extract and rosemary and stir through.
5. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly amongst the liners.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
7. Beat all the icing ingredients together until smooth, then use to frost cupcakes. Sprinkle lemon zest on top, if using.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 361.1 , Total fat 18.9 g, Saturated fat 5.5 g, Polyunsaturated fat 1.4 g, Monounsaturated fat 10.8 g, Cholesterol 68.6 mg, Sodium 118.5 mg, Potassium 37.9 mg, Total carbohydrate 45.3 g, Dietary fiber 0.1 g, Sugars 16.9 g, Protein 3.4 g