Strawberry Cream Roll

This Strawberry Cream Roll is a light vanilla sponge cake rolled up with fresh strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.  It makes a wonderful summer dessert – the cake is light and the strawberries and whipped cream make a refreshing filling.  

If strawberries are not in season, you can also make my Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves or use a good quality store bought strawberry jam and layer this on top of the whipped cream before rolling up the cake. 

Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes

Blueberries and Earl Grey tea may sound like a strange combination, but when you try these cupcakes, you’ll be amazed by how well these flavors mesh.  The light citrusy flavor of the Earl Grey tea complements the fresh blueberry flavor of the preserves, and the cake itself is light and fluffy.  The blueberry preserves keeps the cake from drying out and the additional flavor transforms ordinary cupcakes into something special. 

Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream looks beautiful speckled with earl grey tea and has a light, slightly citrusy flavor.  In the above picture, I’ve paired this buttercream with Buttermilk Yellow Cake and Blueberry Preserves in my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes.
 

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• About ½ to 1 teaspoon loose leaf earl grey tea (amount should be adjusted to taste; some brands of earl grey tea have stronger flavor than others)

In a spice grinder or food processor (I use the Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor), grind or process the earl grey tea leaves until they become a fine powder.  I used a fine mesh sieve to make sure the tea leaves were fine enough so that when mixed into the buttercream, it will not lose its smooth, silky texture.  Set aside.  

Whisk together egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl over simmering water until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are warm.  Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until meringue is a glossy white and can hold stiff peaks, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the Earl Grey tea powder and beat until evenly distributed.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter all at once.  Slowly increase the speed to high and beat until mixture is homogeneous, about 2 minutes. 

Mother's Day 2012

This year for Mother’s Day, I had to do something special.  Since we were hosting a small party of about 20 people, I wanted to create some light or miniature desserts so that everyone could try more than one item.  

Pictured above are Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.  I dipped the strawberries in chocolate and once the chocolate hardened, I drizzled white chocolate on top.  They are incredibly quick and easy to do (it only takes about half an hour to an hour to cover 30+ strawberries), but one of the most important steps is to make sure the strawberries are washed and dried completely.  If the strawberries are wet, the moisture will cause the chocolate to freeze up and you’ll end up wasting your whole bowl of melted chocolate.   

I also wanted to create something with fresh fruit and custard for a light, refreshing dessert.  One of my favorite things about baking is how creative you can be.  Once you master the basics, you can always create new combinations.  For the dessert pictured above, I used mini silicone baking cups and brushed them with melted chocolate to make bittersweet chocolate cups.  Then I filled the cups with rich, vanilla bean custard and topped them with fresh blueberries and strawberries and a couple dollops of fresh whipped cream. 

Another dessert that I made was a Strawberry Cream Roll, which is a vanilla sponge cake rolled with fresh strawberries and vanilla bean whipped cream.  This dessert is perfect since the cake, strawberries, and whipped cream are all incredibly light.  

Besides the items pictured, I also made Lemon Bars and some Mini Fleur de Sel Cupcakes (Dark Chocolate Cake, filled with Fleur de Sel Caramel, and topped with Fleur de Sel Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream). 

Blueberry Sauce or Preserves

This blueberry sauce or preserves is made by cooking the blueberries until they break down and their natural juices are released.  This recipe should be made with fresh, sweet blueberries, since it does not have much sugar added and the flavor of the fresh blueberries really shines through.

If you add Wondra (a type of flour for mixing into sauces and gravy) as the blueberries are cooking, they will thicken up like a jam, which is perfect as a spread on toast or for filling cupcakes, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes, or you can leave it without flour to make a blueberry sauce which is perfect served over vanilla ice cream or as syrup for pancakes, waffles, or French toast.  I make this sauce or preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to preserve them using glass jars.  

Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes

These buttermilk yellow cupcakes are the perfect base for a variety of frostings and fillings.  Vanilla bean seeds or zest from a lemon or orange can be added to the butter-sugar mixture to give these cupcakes an additional hint of flavor.  These cupcakes are amazing with complex flavor variations, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes: Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes filled with Blueberry Preserves and topped with Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Bouchon Bakery's Macarons

If you haven’t been to Bouchon Bakery before, you must stop by next time you’re nearby.  They have 5 locations in the United States: two in California (Yountville and Beverly Hills), two in New York City, and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Although Bouchon Bakery is known for their breads, pastries, and confections they also have a full espresso bar as well as a café menu with sandwiches, salads, and quiche to make lunch on-the-go easy. 

One of my favorite confections from Bouchon Bakery is their macarons.  Macarons are soft, chewy meringue cookies made with ground almonds and sandwiched together with rich, velvety Swiss meringue buttercream.  The last time I visited, I bought one of each of their espresso, raspberry, and vanilla macarons as well as their seasonal flavor, which at the time was a malted chocolate macaron. 

I also tried their version of the San Francisco born classic: the ho-ho.  This Bouchon version of the ho-ho was composed of a chocolate cake rolled with Chantilly cream and covered in a rich chocolate shell.  Their ho-ho was delicious, but it’s a dessert that you definitely want with some milk. 

Pineapple Sorbet

Now that the weather is getting warmer, nothing is more refreshing than ice creams and sorbets, especially fresh pineapple sorbet.  This pineapple sorbet is light, fruity and somehow incredibly smooth and creamy, yet it is made of only three ingredients.  Since pineapple is the main ingredient, you must use a fresh, whole pineapple, and cut it yourself (no canned pineapple!), but it is well worth the extra effort.  

Ingredients:

• 1 small pineapple, cut into chunks (about 3 cups)
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup hot water

Instructions:

Dissolve the sugar in the hot water.  Puree the pineapple chunks and simple syrup (sugar-water mixture) in a blender.

Cover and refrigerate the pineapple puree until it is cold, at least 1½ hours (you can skip this step if the pineapple or pineapple chunks were previously stored in the refrigerator).  

Freeze the puree in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.