Cooking Upstream: It's beginning to look like spring...

The weather has finally turned and we seem to be leaving winter behind here in the Philly area. The cherry trees are in full bloom, daffodils are everywhere, and I haven't worn my heavy winter coat in a couple of weeks. One of the other changes evident of spring is in the produce department at the grocery stores---strawberries are in abundant supply.

I can remember the best strawberries I ever ate. I was in, of all places, Sweden, about 17 or 18 years ago. I was traveling with my parents, and there was a farm we passed every morning. The fields were a deep, dark green, but one morning, we drove by and half the field was suddenly a bright, light green. At the end of the field was a small farm stand with strawberries for sale. What I realized was that the field was full of strawberry plants, and the section of the field that was suddenly a light, bright green had been picked of its fruit. We stopped at the stand and bought a quart of berries. They were smaller than we're used to seeing in the grocery stores at home, and they were so ripe that they oozed juice into the palm of my hand. I bit into the berry, and I couldn't get over that amazing, sweet flavor. I looked at the berry where I had bit it in half, and to my amazement, the berry was red all the way to it's core. Red. Not white, but red. My parents and I stopped at that stand almost every day during the rest of our visit.

That experience left a deep impression on me, it made me appreciate that eating local, in season, and buying directly from the farmer can make such a profound difference in the quality of the foods we eat. I wish I could say that I ate local/seasonal/farmer's markets foods all the time, but I try to when I can. It's still too early in the season to get local strawberries at the farmer's markets, I can't wait for those. But the ones at the local grocery store were so beautiful (and on sale), I couldn't resist picking up a package.

Before I moved to Philadelphia, I worked at our company's location in Arlington, Virginia, where I was known as the "Cupcake Queen". I served as our store's primary pastry instructor, and one of our most popular classes was the cupcake workshop. I changed the menu five times a year--spring, summer, fall, holiday, and winter. I had students who I would see every time I changed the cupcake menu, and I'm told that they still ask after me, even 5 years later.

One of my favorite recipes was a strawberry cupcake from the spring menu. I've tweaked the recipe over the years, sometimes adding chopped white chocolate, sometimes using a cream cheese frosting. Today, staring at my bounty of strawberries, I decided to make a strawberry buttercream. I hope you enjoy them!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 cup chopped strawberries

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp water

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

For the buttercream:

4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
2 cups fresh strawberries, pureed and passed through a fine mesh sieve*

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans.

Place the strawberries, ¼ cup sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until the strawberries are soft, about 10 minutes. Break up the strawberries into a pulp using a fork. Set aside to cool.

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream on medium speed until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on slow speed until combined, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the strawberry pulp (you can either mix it in completely, or leave it partly mixed and swirled through the batter). Spoon the batter into the cupcake cups, being careful to fill them evenly and to fill each cup no more than about ²/₃ to ¾ full. Bake for 17 - 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and cool for 5 minute, then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.

To make the buttercream, place egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and hand-whisk to blend. Bring 2 inches of water to a gentle boil in a medium saucepan. Place the mixer bowl over the simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.Immediately remove mixture from the heat, and attach bowl to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip the mixture on high speed until the base of the bowl cools to room temperature, the meringue is light and billowing and resembles marshmallow fluff. If the mixture is warm, it will melt the butter you’ll be adding next, so touch the meringue and make sure it has cooled to room temperature before continuing.

With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the softened butter a couple of tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to blend in fully before adding the next. Halfway through the butter, stop the mixer and use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl thoroughly. Continue until all the butter has been added and the mixture resembles velvety mayonnaise.

With mixer on low speed, add the strawberry puree and beat until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Do not be alarmed if the buttercream breaks, just keep mixing and the buttercream will absorb the puree. The puree not only flavors the buttercream, it also tints it a delicate pink color. Use immediately to frost the cupcakes, or cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.