Strawberry cupcakes

I was in the mood to do some baking today. My birthday festivities were so fantastic I didn't have any room for dessert... so I decided a belated dessert today would be fantastic.

I thought Martha's Strawberry Cupcakes looked delicious. Plus, it's almost summer! Perfect time for a nice fruity dessert.

Everything went well until it came to the frosting - Martha's Strawberry Meringue Buttercream. As the "meringue" part implies, this frosting requires the delicate art of turning eggs and sugar into something fluffy and frosting-like. Naturally, mine fizzled. It ended up completely flat and watery and, although it tasted delicious, had no texture to it! I must have gotten the mixing and temperature wrong... or I just have really back luck with meringues.

I vow to get this right by the time the year is up!

Cake:
Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 8 large egg whites
• Strawberry Meringue Buttercream
• 24 small fresh strawberries, washed (hulls intact), for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.
   
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
   
4. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture.
   
5. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each with a heaping 1/4 cup batter. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack. Invert cupcakes onto rack; then reinvert and let cool completely, top sides up. Frost cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream, swirling to cover. Cupcakes may be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Garnish with strawberries just before serving.
   

Frosting:
Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) strawberry jam, pureed in a food processor

Directions

1. In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites and sugar. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).
   
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg-white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.
   
3. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears to separate after all the butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.) Beat in vanilla. Beat on lowest speed to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir in strawberry jam with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.
   

Meringue disaster

I attempted to make meringues for the first time today and let me say - it's easier said than done. It all seemed so simple! Mix together some basic ingredients, whip it up until it is firm, light and fluffy, and bake it in the oven for multiple hours.

Everything was going well until I came to the whipping part. I had decided to substitute sugarless maple syrup for brown sugar, in an attempt to pre-diabetes proof the recipe. Unfortunately, this substitution seems to have done something to upset the rising power of the meringue.

I began mixing. And mixing. And mixing. According to the instructions, after around 5 minutes, the mixture was supposed to have firm mounds in it... but this was not the case. Many minutes of mixing later, the mixture wasn't rising the way it was supposed to and it ended up a liquidy mess.

I decided to just go with this and I poured the mix, with grapefruit juice in it, into a baking pan with a thick lip on the sides to keep the meringue in. I hoped that this would create a meringue-cake-like-dish. I baked it according to the instructions.

I ended up with what I can safely term an excellent start towards baking an actual meringue. The result was an edible, if not SUPER delicious meringue-cake-like creation. I have to say I'm kind of proud of myself for salvaging such a disastrous situation!

RECIPE (courtesy of Martha Stewart at marthastewart.com)


Ingredients

Makes about 1 Dozen

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated grapefruit zest
• Pink gel-paste food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Put egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar into the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water.Whisk until mixture is warm and sugar has dissolved.
2. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low speed and gradually increasing to high, beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
3. Transfer half the meringue to another bowl. Using a rubber spatula, stir orange zest into 1 bowl of meringue. Stir grapefruit zest and pink food coloring into remaining meringue.
4. Place a 3 1/4-by-3 1/2-inch heart-shape cutter in one corner of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a small spatula, fill heart with meringue; swirl. Push down edges of meringue with the spatula, and lift up cutter. Repeat, spacing meringue hearts 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
5. Bake until meringues are firm and can be removed easily from parchment paper, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Meringues can be stored between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.