As promised, although slightly late, here is one option for using all of those perfectly ripe summer strawberries.  These fresh strawberry cupcakes certainly let the sweetness of the strawberry shine.  I used white cake and filled the cupcakes with berries marinated in sugar, grand marnier, mint and orange zest.  Surprisingly so, these additions really help to make the flavor of the berry pop and add some depth to the overall taste.  To top the cupcakes, I made a fresh strawberry buttercream.  Using my traditional Italian Buttercream recipe (post to come soon), I added fresh, mashed strawberries.  The juices from the mashing helped to not only flavor but also color the buttercream a perfectly pale pink.  I purposely mashed the berries instead of pureeing them because I also wanted small pieces of the strawberry throughout the buttercream.  If you are going to go to all the trouble of making fresh strawberry buttercream, you may as well show it off, right?  To finish up, I adorned each cupcake with a small perfect berry (stems attached, for that just from the farm look) and there you have it.

Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate Wedding Cake with White Scrolls

I made this three-tiered cake at work a couple of weeks ago.  Chocolate through and through, this simple cake was chocolate, layered with chocolate mousse, then iced with chocolate buttercream.   Classic white scrolls were piped on the sides of the cake for an elegant design.  Because the cake was made at work (The Crown Market), it is a kosher wedding cake.

When I was growing up, a true sign of summer was a cold entree for dinner.  With a mantra “It’s just too hot to turn on the oven!” my mother instilled a special magic around the idea of eating a dinner that was COLD.  Since then, I have obviously come to embrace the idea that not all foods have to be served warm, or even cooked to be honest.  (One of our favorite summer meals is a simple caprese salad – fresh mozzarella & tomatoes).   However even to this day, when I prepare an entree to be served cold, I get that slightly excited feel I would get as a child.  Summer has finally arrived when its “too hot too cook.”

Hoping to expand on my summer-time, cold entree repertoire, I was excited when I caught this recipe on an episode of The Barefoot Contessa (the food network show hosted by Ina Garten.)  A true believer in her recipes, I decided to give this one a try (I am sure you all have your cookbook authors/chefs that you swear by – Ina is one of mine.  I have never made a recipe of hers that hasn’t rocketed to the top of my “best dishes” list).  I have tweaked the recipe more to my liking: the original calls for an ungodly amount of vegetable oil, I’ve added chopped peanuts, changed to whole wheat pasta, and I played around with different vegetable combinations – I’ve even added chicken.  But no matter the final details, the basis of this recipe is rock solid.  A bright, refreshing meal, this pasta dish combines the classic Asian flavors of sesame, soy, peanut, ginger, and scallions.  Red peppers and sugar snap peas offer a fresh crunch, and add vibrant color to the salad.  All the flavors and textures work well to compliment each other – as in most Asian cuisine, this dish has balance.  There is something to interest all your tastes:  sweet from the peanuts, salty from the soy, spice from the red pepper flakes, fresh green from the ginger and scallion. (more…)

Cherimoya Fruit

I was walking through the produce section yesterday and came across this very awkward looking fruit.  Turns out it was a Cherimoya.  Luckily, for non-Cherimoya buying consumers as myself, the fruit was labeled with a nice and tidy sign explaining its characteristics.  Whole Foods had the fruit labeled tropical,  with a flavor combination of banana, pineapple, and pear.  I thought I would give it a try – why not?

The Cherimoya is an oblong-ish fruit; my particular fruit happened to be heart-shaped.  About the size of a grapefruit, the cherimoya has a thin leathery skin and is ripe when it is soft to the touch (similar to judging a ripe avocado.)  The fruit has a creamy white flesh and large seeds, which are easy to remove. Cherimoyas are native to the highlands of Ecuador and Peru and grow on a shurb/small tree.

Inside a Cherimoya

So now to the taste….  I admit that I had high hopes, but unfortunately the Cherimoya is not for us (Scott and I, that is).  My first honest impression was that the fruit tasted like fake candy.  You know, a really cheap piece of candy that tries and fails miserably to recreate a certain flavor, ie a pineapple gum drop?  Anyways, that is pretty much what I get from the fruit.  The flesh is wonderfully soft – similar to a perfectly ripe pear.  Scott’s reaction (independent of mine) was that the fruit was super sweet and tasted like there was chemicals in the fruit to make it sweet.  I don’t get any specific fruit flavors (such as the suggested pineapple and banana,) but the flavor does oddly enough resemble bubble gum.

So this one was a miss for us, but fun to try nonetheless.  Next time you come across this odd-looking green grapefruit, you’ll know that it is indeed a Cherimoya and hopefully you will be brave enough to try it and create your own opinions.

I came across this recipe a couple of years ago thanks to a grilling edition of Bon Appetit.  The first time I made the dish, it immediately became one of my “signature” meals.  And what credentials must a dish have to be “signature,” you ask?  …. I think the honest answer is that the men in my life praise it highly and request the meal again.  (sad, I know.)  With a small ingredient list, this relatively simple dish took me by surprise.  I find that I am more and more impressed with recipes that call for 10 or less ingredients, as long as those ingredients are quality.  A simple dry rub of paprika, bay leaves, cumin, and cayenne and this steak is ready for the grill.  Don’t be scared by the addition of cayenne.  With the inclusion of other spices and creamy Gorgonzola to compliment, the steaks are surprisingly tame.  The cayenne adds extra dimension without adding incredible heat.

The original recipe calls for T-Bone steaks – certainly a quality cut of beef.  T-Bones are pretty much what they sound like: a steak with a T-shaped bone with meat on either side.  The larger side of the T-bone is a strip steak, while the smaller portion is a tenderloin.  (Porterhouse steaks are very similar to T-bones, and often the names are used interchangeably, but porterhouse steaks contain a larger portion of the tenderloin.)  With the combination of two great cuts of meat, this steak gives you the best of both worlds.  (If T-Bones are too much of a splurge, you can easily create this recipe using a strip steak.)  I must warn, however, that T-Bones are very large cuts of beef.  And again, don’t let that scare you off.  I like to buy one T-Bone for my husband and I.  I will admit that I give him the larger strip steak and save the valued tenderloin for my plate, but shhh, don’t tell him, he doesn’t seem to notice.  (more…)

Sushi Roll Cake

I made this sushi roll cake at work last week.  The sides and top of the cake are covered with rice krispy coated in Fluff to achieve the look of white rice.  The “avocado” is made out of icing: a blend of light green with a yellow buttercream.  The “cucumbers” are green licorice sticks cut into small cross sections, and finally the “crab” are gummy candies that I twisted and cut to achieve the right look.  To finish the cake, I pipped a thin line of black frosting for the nori.  This cake was a lot of fun to make, and with only a day’s notice, I think it came out alright.

Strawberry Plant

Because of the nature of the business (pastry that is), my schedule is erratic at best.  Days off are weekdays and never consecutive.  Unfortunately, its the price I pay for doing what I love.  Anyways, because my schedule can be demanding at times, I have recently decided that my rare day off will be appreciated and valued.   Rather than running around trying to accomplish all the tasks that were cast aside the week prior, I have decided to spend the day, or at least part of the day, doing something fun and enjoyable.  Last week, I treated myself to lunch out and even a glass of wine.  I sat by myself at the bar and just enjoyed the simple pleasure of a cup of soup and a portobello sandwich.  This week I decided I would go berry picking – strawberry picking, that is.

Rose's Berry Farm

Strawberry season is just starting and my favorite local farm recently opened their “pick your own” season.  Although picking our own is a nice activity that Scott and I enjoy doing together, I decided to use my day off to its full advantage and pounce on the first pick of the season.  Living in the Hartford area, I think Rose’s Berry Farm is the best place for berries around.  Located in South Glastonbury, Rose’s offers a variety of pick your own, concentrating on berries, but also including some harvest apples and pumpkins. (more…)