On Sunday evening, at around 5:13 pm, I had a frosting related nervous breakdown.  This breakdown involved near tears, a wayward icing knife and a big ol’ mixing bowl of butter cream.  How did I come to such a lowly state? Let’s start from the beginning (times are an approximation…it was all a haze):

On May 13, 2010, as I was sitting at my desk at work, the idea of making a strawberry layer cake popped into my head.  Thinking I could use my favorite vanilla cake recipe, I decided to pick up some strawberries on Saturday at the 14th & U Farmers Market to turn said cake idea into a reality.

On May 15, 2010, I pick up some lovely strawberries from Garner’s Produce for said cake idea.  The rest of the day is spent enjoying the National Zoo, free wi-fi at Tonic (I’ve been told I get way too excited when I find a wi-fi hotspot…I don’t disagree with that assessment) and pointing out issues with the latest Dr. Who episode.

On May 16, 2010 (starting at 9:25 am), I spend the morning lazing about and thinking about my cake baking/decorating strategy.  I read over Joy’s post on frosting a cake, making sure to note all the tips she suggests for a painless, beautiful frosting experience.  On more than one occasion, the thought, “This won’t be hard” pops into my head.  I will live to regret that flippant attitude.

At 12:00 pm, I start chopping up strawberries while listening to Warner Herzog’s interesting spin on documentary narration.  I keep waiting for him to burst out into “This is Sprockets!”

At 12:13 pm, I make a strawberry filling using strawberries, water, sugar and corn starch.  When I think it’s thick enough, I take it off the heat and set it aside to cool.  This turns out to be a mistake.

At 12:35 pm, I painstakingly set up the mise en place for the cake ingredients.  Since I’m using my go-to cake recipe, whipping up the cake batter is relatively painless.  This lulls me into a false sense of security as I place the cakes (my dumb ass only used TWO cake pans, when I should have used three…I’m a moron) in the oven and sit down to pay full attention to Herr Herzog.

At 1:27 pm, I check on the cakes and am surprised to find they are still jiggly in the middle.  This raises the first red flag in my head, as it usually only takes 25 minutes to bake these cakes.  I reset the timer for five minutes and go back to the couch.

At 1:34 pm, I check again on the cakes…still jiggling like Pamela Anderson’s breasts.  Panic begins to creep up in the back of my neck.  I brush it aside, thinking, “Perhaps I should have poured some of the batter into a third pan.”  I reset the timer for another five minutes.

At 1:36 pm, I check on the strawberry filling…and discover it hasn’t thickened at all! What the hell?!?!? The panic pushes its way back up to my neck, almost laughing at me.  I’ll just add more cornstarch, I think.  I set the pot back on the stove, add another teaspoon of cornstarch and start whisking.

At 1:42 pm, the cakes are STILL jiggling in the center, the strawberry filling looks like red snot and I haven’t even started on the butter cream.  And where the hell is the pedestal to my cake stand??????

At 1:47 pm, the cake starts to firm up BUT it’s also starting to get a little bit more brown than I’d like.  Wait, is that side starting to burn a little??? AND WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS STRAWBERRY FILLING????

At 1:53 pm, the cakes are finally done (cake testers confirm this).  In desperation, I throw the strawberry filling into the refrigerator, hoping the cold will thicken it up a bit.

At 1:59 pm, I start on the butter cream, which is also a go-to recipe.  All is well as I’m whipping up the batch of frosting.  That is until I realize the resulting batch won’t be enough to frost the entire cake.  That damn panic’s now up to the nape of my neck, taunting me.  I scramble around to make another batch.  Then I’m struck with “inspiration” and decide to put some of the strawberry filling into the butter cream.  This will turn out to be another mistake.

At 2:13 pm, I sit down again and pray that the voices of panic will SHUT THE FUCK UP!

At 3:03 pm, I start making our lunch for the week: cream of asparagus soup with green garlic.  I am trying my hardest not to think about the cake or how the hell I plan to decorate it.  Especially when I discover I CAN’T FIND MY PASTRY BAGS!!!! AND WHERE THE HELL IS THE PEDESTAL TO MY CAKE STAND?????

At 4:35 pm, I decide to start frosting the cake.  At this very moment, I also can’t seem to find my flat icing knife and instead must use the bent one.  In my mad dash through our gadget drawer, I pitch the box grater out in hopes of finding my flat icing knife.  When I don’t find it, I leave a trail of gadgets on the counter as I walk away with the bowl of frosting.  The Boy is left to put the gadgets back into a semblance of order…he senses the coming storm and wisely decides to stay out of my way.

At 4:45 pm, I create a fortress of frosting on the top of the first cake layer to keep the filling from oozing out.  This will turn out to fail miserably.  I try to take a few pictures but am tired, have poor lighting at my dining room table and overall, just don’t give a shit anymore.

At 5:13 pm, I curse the day I ever thought this was a good idea.  Strawberry filling is oozing out like a festering wound.  The butter cream is separating because SOMEONE thought adding some filling to it would be a good idea.  The damn frosting won’t stay on the sides and The Boy is just looking on in horror.

At 5:27 pm, I realize I’ve lost the battle and just slather on the last of the frosting.  I get the cake to look as normal as possible, top it with strawberries and half heartedly attempt to take pictures of it.  The lighting sucks no matter where I put the damn cake and I just don’t care at this point.  I cut a slice off for The Boy to eat and walk away in a daze.

I faintly hear him say it tastes good, but I’m too far gone.  I’m in pastry shell shock and all I can do is stare at the wall and occasionally blink.  At some point I take a bite of the cake and I’m snatched out of my stupor.  It tastes incredible.  The frosting is delicious, even though it doesn’t stick to the sides all the time.  The filling is bursting with strawberry goodness and it (finally) thickened to the perfect consistency.  And the cake itself is moist and vanillalicious.  I just wish it didn’t look like a four year old’s craft project.

I was talking to an employee at Garner’s Produce on Saturday and he said this would probably be the last week for blueberries coming up.  I knew that meant it was time for me to figure out how to preserve a bunch of berries for the Winter, but wasn’t sure how to do it exactly.  When I started searching around for tips on how to freeze blueberries, I was amazed at how easy it really was to do.  Most all of the advice suggested a simple method that ended up only taking me about 10 minutes of actual prep time (and keep in mind, that included stopping to take pictures).  So on Saturday, I bought 4 quarts of blueberries at the 14th & Farmers Market and made quick work of storing those beauties for the winter!

To properly freeze blueberries for the Winter, you’ll need the following materials:

Good Quality Freezer Bags (I used heavy duty Ziploc Freezer Bags)

2-4 Baking Sheets (depending on how much blueberries you are freezing)

Colander (to clean and drain the blueberries)

Kitchen Towels (to carefully remove water from blueberries after washing them)

Wash the blueberries, using a colander and a gentle pressure of water.  Discard any blueberries that are underripe, smushed or otherwise unsuitable for cooking/baking.  Once the blueberries are cleaned, carefully pour them out onto a kitchen towel.  Top the blueberries with another kitchen towel and gently blot as much water away as possible.  Please be careful not to smash any blueberries.

Now place the blueberries in a single layer on baking sheets.  Use enough baking sheets so the blueberries aren’t crowded on each sheet.  Place the baking sheets in the freezer, allowing the blueberries to freeze completely.  Once the blueberries are frozen, place them in batches in the freezer bags.  Squeeze out as much air as possible from the freezer bags, zip them up and place them in your freezer!  And that’s it!  You have now successfully stored up blueberries for the Winter.  Trust me, when you’re eating fresh blueberry muffins in the dead of Winter, you’ll be glad you did this!

I guess you could say I’ve gone a bit blueberry crazy over the last few weeks, but I can’t really help it.  I adore blueberries and they’re only around for a short time in the Summer.  So at the first sign of them at the farmers markets, I tend to go a bit overboard and blueberry mania ensues.  Not that anyone’s complaining…I’ve gotten some pretty awesome recipes out of this year’s blueberry harvest.  And these wonderful muffins are a shining example!

I’ve started running again with my goal being to complete this 8k at the end of October.  I’ve always been a proponent of breakfast (hello, GRITS), but with amping up my morning workout to include running, breakfast has taken on a particular importance.  I used to go down to the cafe in my office building for a multi-grain bagel with light cream cheese but that can really add up (especially for someone saving up for a trip to the Amalfi Coast next year).  With that in mind, I decided I’d start making a nice batch of muffins each Sunday for breakfast for the week.  Not only would I be getting my carbs, I’d also get some fresh fruit…what could be better?  Since I had some blueberries from the farmers market, I decided to use them for my first batch of muffins.  Now I just needed to find a great muffin recipe.

Luckily I stumbled upon a fantastic looking blueberry muffin recipe on Food and Wine’s website, complete with a crumb topping!  The recipe was fairly straightforward and easy, so I was able to make the muffins fairly quickly.  And it helped that the Boy was willing to pitch in to help (he should…he was benefiting from this too).  Since the recipe made 18 total muffins, that gave us more than enough muffins to last for the week.  And after one bite, there was pretty much a bit of a rumble as to who would get to take the most muffins to work.  Oh yeah…these muffins were that good.  The recipe can be adapted for other seasonal fruit, so I believe I’ll be using it often throughout the Summer!

Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping (From Food and Wine, February 2007)

For the crumb topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the muffin batter:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Either grease a 12 and 6 cup muffin pan or use paper liners.  Set aside the muffin pans.

Make the crumb topping first. Combine the flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Using a fork, stir in the melted butter until a crumbly texture is formed.  Set aside the crumb topping and start on the muffin batter.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  In a wide mouthed, large measuring cup (or a separate bowl), measure out the milk.  Then add the canola oil, eggs and vanilla extract, whisking everything together.  Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until a smooth batter is formed.  Fold in the blueberries carefully.  Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the batter and pour it into a cup of the prepared muffin pan.  Continue doing this until all of the batter has been used.  Sprinkle each cup of batter with the crumb topping, covering the surface of the batter.  Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes or until they are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Allow the muffins to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

These muffins store well in an airtight container (I used one of those reusable plastic containers) for up to a week!

I didn’t want to leave Market Week without sharing this amazingly simple but oh so delicious treat!  But sadly, my writing mojo is seriously lacking today (okay, all of my mojo is lacking today…people, I wore TWO DIFFERENT shoes around my office for an hour today before noticing my mistake).  So instead, I will let my pictures do the talking! I want to thank Kelly over at eat make read for hosting this wonderful event! Check out her site for links to other bloggers who participated in Market Week or hop over to the Market Week Flickr page! 

Fresh milk from a local creamery!

Vanilla Ricotta Cheese from Blue Ridge Dairy: YUMMMMMMM!!!! You can eat it simply with fresh berries!

Place 8 ounces of the vanilla ricotta in a mixing bowl and get out your trusty whisk!

I honestly didn’t use cups to measure out the ingredients, so just add heavy cream and some milk (use more heavy cream then milk) to the ricotta.  Whisk until you have a yogurt like consistency.  Add only about 1/4 cup of sugar…taste to see if it’s sweet enough for you.  If it is, refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour.  Then follow your ice cream machine’s instructions!  For the blueberry sauce, I simply placed one cup of fresh blueberries in a saucepan with about a tablespoon of sugar (add more sugar if you like your sauces very sweet).  I then heated up the berries and sugar over medium high heat until the berries released some of their juices and it thickened to my liking.  Scoop, sauce and enjoy!  This is the perfect Summer treat and it was easy as pie to make.  Have a good weekend and check out a local farmers market!