Strawberries, strawberries everywhere, and I want to EAT THEM ALL!

Seriously, I love strawberries. I love the teeny wee wild strawberries that grow like weeds in the gardens and I love big ones. We are definitely a nation with a love affair for strawberries; where else is strawberries and cream such a celebrated dish? However, something I don’t like is strawberry jam. Well to be more accurate I don’t actually like any cooked fruit in sweet things and jam definitely has the taste of cooked fruit. So, what am I to do when strawberries are on a really cheap offer and I can’t eat them all before they go off? Well, make strawberry curd of course!

I first started looking into the idea of curds when I was planning my sister’s wedding cake. I wanted to do something along the lines of a Victoria sponge but with a bit of a twist. As I don’t like jam that was off the table- I made everything from scratch and I know there is very little point in me making something I don’t like because it is much harder to tell when you’ve got it right. I could of course just put fresh berries in the centre, but it just felt a bit dated and done. After a bit of hunting I found that you can make a curd with many more fruits than just lemon. Now, I hadn’t ever actually made any kind of curd or even tried one before I first attempted this pink treat. I think it’s because I associate curd with lemons and I don’t generally like sweet lemon things (ok, so maybe I am a little fussy!)So I found a recipe (this is the original one http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/2013/04/studio-pottery-baguette-and-fresh-strawberry-curd-recipe.html) and I followed it. Once I tried it I knew I’d never go back! It has the taste of fresh strawberries, with a creamy, buttery texture. Quite simply it is DELICIOUS! Mr Spoonie Foodie says he doesn’t like curds, but I really can’t understand why! I found the original recipe a bit too sweet (well, quite a bit too sweet as I cut 1/3 of the sugar and it is more than sweet enough) and I felt like lime would be a better flavour lifter than the orange that she used.

Then of course, I had to do something with the curd – I can’t just have it sitting in the fridge and tempting me. I didn’t fancy the hassle of making a large cake so I decided to keep it nice and simple. Vanilla cupcakes with a whipped cream topping and a drizzle of strawberry curd on the top. I’m not going to lie, for a simple cake they were pretty spectacular! This recipe is the base for pretty much all of my cakes. You can use medium or large eggs but try to use eggs that are around 60g in their shells – either large medium eggs or small large eggs! I often don’t use vanilla in my cakes but i felt like it would really compliment the flavour of the cream and curd. Also, I have started to use the sexiest ever vanilla. It’s vanilla bean paste, it contains the vanilla beans as well as the extract and it is just phenomenal. I’ve never had vanilla flavour like it without forking out on pods. It makes fantastic ice cream too. It is very strong and although the bottle says you can use like for like with normal extract I find it extremely overpowering and tend to use half or even less than it states for extract in a recipe.

The colour of your curd is going to depend on the colour of your strawberries, but don’t be afraid to use ones you’d otherwise throw away (cut off any really mushy bits though). The process of thickening the curd takes quite a long time and will be dictated by the water content in the fruit, but with a little patience comes great reward!

Strawberry Curd

250g fresh strawberries

200g sugar

125g butter

4 eggs

1 lemon

1 lime

Wipe any dirt away from the strawberries and chop off the leaves and stem. Put them into a blender and blend whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Zest and juice the lemon and lime into a heatproof mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the butter cut up into cubes.

Break the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them well.

Put a small amount of water into a pan (that you can fit the bowl on top of) and put on to simmer.

By now your strawberries should be completely blended and you shouldn’t be able to see any pips. If you can see pips still you can always strain them out, but I don’t find that it’s necessary (and neither did Karen from lavender and lovage so I feel ok about that!)

Add the pureed strawberries to the mixing bowl and set it on top of the pan of simmering water. Make sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl, as this will cook it too quickly. Mix everything together and add the eggs.

Keep stirring everything as the butter melts and the curd thickens, make sure the water is still just simmering underneath or you will cook the eggs *. You want the curd to be able to thickly coat the back of your spoon, I find this takes at least 20 minutes and has taken longer, so don’t be discouraged.

When ready, pour into sterilised jars and allow to cool before sealing with a clean lid (or just cling film).

This recipe makes the perfect amount to fit in two bonne maman jam jars

*If you are a little enthusiastic in the cooking stage and find that you have small lumps of scrambled eggs in your curd do as the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy tells you, DONT PANIC! Just strain the curd through a sieve and voila! Disaster averted.

Vanilla Cupcakes

120g self raising flour

120g butter (at room temperature)

120g sugar

2 eggs (at room temp)

½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

If you are anything like me and rarely organised enough to take the butter and eggs out of the fridge in time, then I have two little tricks. For the eggs, fill up a bowl/jug warm (not hot) water and let the eggs soak for 5 minutes. Hold them in your hand for a minute after you take them out the water to feel if they’ve warmed up enough. For the butter, weigh it then grate it straight into the mixing bowl. It’ll be soft and distribute itself easily.

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases*

Cream together the butter and sugar and vanilla until it is pale and fluffy. In my kitchenaid it takes about 5 minutes, more is more at this point!

Break the eggs into a bowl/jug/mug and beat them with a fork.

Add the eggs in three stages, beating them in fully before adding the next bit.

Sift the flour into the bowl and fold it in until it is JUST mixed in. Any more will develop the gluten and result in a chewy cake.

*aren’t these ones just gorgeous! I absolutely love the way they look but they’ve taken a bit of playing with to get them right. Unfortunately, despite what they might tell you they are definitely not greaseproof or non stick. What I do is line them with normal cupcake cases (in a light colour) pushing the case all the way to the edge and bottom. This way the cake is easy to get out without losing half of it to the case and they don’t look all greasy when they are cooked.

To finish the cakes off I just whipped up some cream until it reached the soft peak stage, no sugar because the sweetness of the vanilla and the strawberry curd is more than enough, and then smeared that on top and drizzled with strawberry curd. Unfortunately these will only last an hour or two before the cream weeps so they really can only be assembled just before serving. Doesn't take long though!

I'd love to hear what you think about the recipes, do let me know how you get on if you try them.