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. 

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.  

Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

These bite-sized Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes are refreshing and light; perfect for dessert on a warm day.  When you bite into the mini cupcake, you immediately taste sweet strawberries from the preserves; then the subtle citrus flavor of lemon shines through from the cupcake. 

Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves

These strawberry preserves are made by cooking the strawberries until the fruit’s natural pectin thickens the mixture.  I make these preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to can them using glass jars.  This is perfect accompaniment to your breakfast toast, bagel, or English muffin, or you can use these preserves in my Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream or to fill cupcakes, such as my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups strawberries, stems removed and cut into quarters
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds into a medium sized saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries start releasing their juice. 

Bring to a boil (mixture will become frothy and double, or even triple, in volume) and boil for 10-12 minutes.  The strawberries will start to break down and become somewhat translucent and the syrup should be slightly thick. 

Let mixture cool to room temperature uncovered (about 30 minutes to an hour).  The mixture will thicken up even more as it cools.  Store the preserves in an airtight container in your refrigerator.