Monday, May 16, 2011

Bad Buttercream!

Being as strawberries are the in season berry right now I've had a craving to make some chocolate cupcakes with real strawberry buttercream. When I caught a glimpse of a recipe for Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Buttercream Cupcakes at Sweetapolita I decided to give it a shot with strawberries.

*Don't fear - I promise to try the raspberry version later this summer.

I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking and had my friend Megan over to decorate (and eat them!). Naturally, things didn't go as easy as planned and shenanigans ensued...

I decided to try a new recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Everything was great until we added the strawberry puree but it was too much liquid for the poor buttercream which immediately curdled. We tried whipping it back into shape and added some icing sugar (which the electric mixer blew all over the kitchen) but in the end it only became heavy and sticky.

Not easily deterred, we pulled out more butter, whipped it up, and slowly added the strawberry icing mixture back in a bit at a time until we got the right consistency. In the end it all came together. The piping was a bit messy but we made it work and then topped the cupcakes with strawberries and sprinkles!




The good news: With butter, icing sugar, and strawberries it all tastes great even if the buttercream isn't as fluffy and I'd like

The bad news: It took much much longer than I would have liked to make two bowls of icing and troubleshoot the lumpy problems the puree created. Overall it was a bit of a gong show.

The other news: Good or bad, depending on how you look at it, I have a bowl full of strawberry buttercream (slightly runnier than I'd like) in my fridge. And it's a BIG bowl. Now I just need to decide what to make...



Good thing it just so happens to be my Dad's birthday on Friday - Guess what kind of cake he's getting!?!

Enjoy,
Calli

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