curd

This week I’m busy packing up my house. We’re moving! Again. You guys must be so sick of hearing that. This time we’re at least staying in the same country, even the same province! ;) Max was so surprised and excited that we actually get to keep all our stuff! The poor guy’s so used to leaving everything behind. But don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any lag on the blog because I made sure to work ahead. I didn’t want to miss out on bringing you yummy Easter treats!

But before we get to Easter, I couldn’t resist sharing one more grapefruit recipe. We’ve been pretty obsessed. This time I decided to turn my grapefruits into a silky smooth curd. Curds are such a versatile ingredient. They can be transformed into tarts, used as fillings for cakes and cupcakes – basically they can be used in any dessert that you can dream up. This time I was aiming beyond desserts. I was going for something that could be swirled into homemade Greek yogurt. Hence the honey. I wanted something a bit more suitable as a healthy snack for my kiddos. Grapefruit yogurt anyone?

I experimented with a couple different versions until I came up with this one. It took a bit of trial an error to get it just right, but I finally got just what I was looking for. It has a nice bright clean flavour that is undeniably grapefruit, with a hint of honey to sweeten it up. And, I’m kind of in love with its creamy colour with the lightest pink tinge.

Use it in a dessert, use it in a snack, the choice is up to you and your imagination.

Grapefruit Honey Curd

1 cup freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice (2 grapefruits)
6 large egg yolks
1/4 cup honey
pinch salt
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter

Place grapefruit juice in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Simmer rapidly until reduced by half (1/2 cup). This helps to concentrate the grapefruit flavour.

Meanwhile whisk together yolks, honey and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Once grapefruit juice is reduced, pour it into egg yolks in a slow steady stream, whisking to incorporate and temper the eggs. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and leaves a thick coating on the back of the spatula. Remove from heat. Stir in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until fully melted.

Set a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Strain curd through the sieve to remove any cooked egg or grapefruit seeds. Cover the surface of the curd with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool.

Makes approximately: 1 1/3 cups

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I first posted about our brand new baby girl. Ahhhh! *tears* She’s growing up too fast! I love the baby stage. Just look at those cute baby cheeks (below) and tell me you don’t want to squish them all day long. I know there’s a lot of wonderful times ahead and I’m looking forward to it all so much. But, it’s ok for me to be a little sad that my baby girl is taking one more step to adulthood right?

I wanted to give her a simple but girly birthday party so I decided to go with the theme of Strawberry & Lime. I know that at this age she really couldn’t care less about her birthday so I tried to keep everything simple and stress-free. After-all I wanted to spend lot’s of time with the birthday girl.

The main star to the show (besides the sweet baby) was the Strawberry & Lime Layer Cake – a white cake sandwiched with coconut lime curd and smothered in whipped strawberry frosting. Fruity, refreshing and girly.

The decoration was extremely easy to do and the result was so precious. Perfect for a little girl’s birthday party. I followed a tutorial from Sockerru, where you pipe big dots of frosting and smooth them out with a spoon (I used the Ateco tip# 808 to pipe on the dots). Seriously, it was so simple and quick, anyone could do it. The key is to make the crumb coat as smooth and flat as possible so that everything looks even (I follow this method to smooth my frosting). The only thing I couldn’t figure out was how to finish it up in the back where the pattern met. The solution I came up with? Put the seam in the back where no one can see it. :D

Happy Birthday to my favourite baby girl!

Strawberry & Lime Layer Cake

White Cake

3 cups cake flour*

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

8 large egg whites, room temperature (save the yolks for the curd below)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and 2 cups sugar for several minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Mixing on low-speed, add flour in 3 additions, alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour. Beat just until combined.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on low until foamy. Add 1/4 cup sugar and beat on high just until stiff, glossy peaks form when beater is lifted.

Gently fold 1/3 egg whites into butter/flour mixture to loosen batter. Fold in remaining whites.

Divide batter between 2 9-inch round cake pans lined with parchment paper rounds and spayed with cooking spray; smooth tops. Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool 20 minutes before removing from pans and peeling off parchment. Cool completely on wire wracks before wrapping in plastic wrap to store.

*To make your own cake flour place 2 tablespoons cornstarch into a 1 cup measuring cup, spoon in enough all-purpose flour to fill. Sift several times to combine. This makes 1 cup cake flour.

Coconut Lime Curd

1 (15 oz) can coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup lime juice

6 eggs yolk

green food colouring, if desired

Place 1 cup coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Mix together the remaining coconut milk and the cornstarch. Pour into the saucepan, stirring to combine. Lower heat to medium, add butter and whisk until melted together. Whisk in lime juice and egg yolks. Cook, stirring often, until thick and it coats the back of a spoon. Do not overcook or eggs will start to scramble. Stir in food colouring, if desired. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then pour into a heat-proof bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to stop condensation. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating. Beat, to loosen, before spreading on cake layers.

Whipped Strawberry Frosting

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

4 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/4 cup strawberry puree (from frozen, thawed berries is fine)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a stand mixer, beat butter for 6 minutes, until pale and creamy. Add remaining ingredients and beat for an additional 6 minutes, until light and creamy.

If not using all of it right away beat by hand with a spatula, to remove any air bubbles, before using.

To Assemble

Trim tops of cakes flat. Carefully cut each cake in half to make 4 layers of cake (here’s a great video to show you how). Place one cake layer on serving platter, spread with some of the coconut lime curd. Place another cake layer on top and spread with more coconut lime curd. Repeat one more time and then top with the last cake layer (you will have leftover curd). Crumb coat the cake to glue the crumbs to the cake and to make sure none of the curd shows through the frosting. Refrigerate 10 minutes to set. Frost as desired. Refrigerate until serving.

White Cake adapted from Martha Stewart. Coconut Lime Curd adapted from Donna Hay Dec/Jan 2012.