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). 

Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is incredibly easy to prepare and makes an elegant dessert.  It’s the perfect dessert on warm days and tastes great served with fresh berries, such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  The custard takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and is baked in a hot water bath.  It can be made up to a few days ahead and the sugar topping should be torched just before serving.   

Boston Cream Cupcakes

In my twist of the classic Boston Cream Pie, I filled light Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes with creamy Vanilla Bean Custard and piped Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream on top. 

Ingredients:

• 24 Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes, cooled
• 1 recipe Vanilla Bean Custard, refrigerated until set
• 1 recipe Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Take a small paring knife and core the each cupcake, leaving ¼ inch of cake on the bottom and about ½ an inch of cake on the sides. 

Fill the center of each cupcake with vanilla custard.  I found that using a small spoon and simply spooning in the custard works perfectly. 

Using a spatula, add the chocolate swiss meringue buttercream to a piping bag set with a large star tip.  Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, starting at the edge and moving in a smooth, circular motion as you bring the tip above the center of each cupcake. 

Vanilla Bean Custard

This creamy, vanilla bean custard makes a nice filling in layer cakes or my Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

The custard is simple to make and thickens up nicely to support the weight of a cake layer.  It can also be eaten by itself or piped into chocolate cups for individual desserts.