Something Sweet

It's something I've heard a friend talk about a lot. In fact it's something I've even tasted time after time over the last year. And it's something I've wanted to try my hand at making given the last twelve months of developing my new found love of cooking and baking.

But it's finicky. And it takes time. And it requires just the right hand to make it come out the way you want it.

It's Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

And after a bit of huming and hawing, I decided to tackle it not long ago. Besides, what else was I going to do with the endless lonely hours Hubby's busy season gifts me every winter?

So out came the egg whites and the sugar, and they were whisked together in a sort of makeshift double boiler - a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.

And once combined they were dumped into my KitchenAid mixer (love!) where they where whipped into a frenzy for many minutes until they formed some of the most beautiful, glossy, meringuey peaks I've ever seen.

Then came the part that made me realize just how good this icing was going to taste and just how bad for me it was going to be - the butter. Almost a pound of it, and that was just for half the recipe. Oh, and a little vanilla for flavoring, too.

As the butter went it, those beautiful meringue peaks broke down into a gross looking curdled mess. It started to seem like I had ruined it, but by some sort of mixing magic, it slowly started to pull together in a smooth and delicious mound of buttercream icing.

On it's own, it was pretty delicious, and I could have happily slapped it on some cupcakes right then. But I had some yummy almond-flavored cupcakes that seemed to demand more than just plain buttercream, so I broke my cardinal rule of first-time recipe testing. I played with ingredients.

Out came the food processor, in went some frozen raspberries and within seconds I had a scrumptious puree to add to the icing. Let me tell you, the experimenting paid off. The cupcake itself left a little to be desired - too dense. But that first attempt at Swiss Meringue Buttercream with raspberry in it? A bit of bliss on a spoon.