Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Why I Love This Recipe
Someone asked me to make them cupcakes that were lemony. I have this weird fear of certain cooking/baking methods and one was to make a meringue. So I decided to suck it up and make these cupcakes. It's the first time I've ever made a plain meringue. I've made swiss meringues and italian meringues but never plain ol meringues. I searched and found this recipe online at http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/ and made a few modifications.
Ingredients You'll Need
Cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup whole milk
Meringue
3 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Lemon curd
I used store bought from Trader Joes.
Directions
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 375F
Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your fingers until the sugar takes is lightly yellow. Add butter and cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla and lemon extract until combined. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with the milk - beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Evenly divide batter between paper-lined muffin cups. The original recipe got 24 but I only got about 18 out of it.
Bake for 14 -20 minutes. Original recipe said 16-20 but by 14 mins mine were ready to be taken out. The tops will get become a light golden brown in spots.
Once the cupcakes are cool, cut a cone shape from the top and fill with lemon curd. I filled mine with about 1.5 teaspoons of curd. I also did this when the cupcakes were still a tiny bit warm so the curd would "melt" into the cake part.
Meringue
Heat oven to 400F.
Beat the egg whites and cream of tarter in a mixer until foamy. Slowly add the sugar a little bit at a time and beat on med-high until stiff peaks form.
Pipe the meringue onto the tops of the cupcakes. I used a closed star tip and piped peaks around the edges and then one big one in the middle. Place the cupcakes on a baking sheet and into the oven on the upper middle rack for 4-6 mins. Don't walk away, watch them. If you want them darker, just increase the time in 30 sec increments.
Let the cupcakes cool.
I did some research on refrigerating these and everything I read said that if you put meringue in the fridge it will sweat. The first time I made these, I didn't put them in the fridge and I felt like they smelled too eggy the next day. The second time I made them I put them in the fridge and they seemed to hold up well. No sweating. If you are making these for a pregnant lady though, use meringue powder or pasteurized egg whites.
Enjoy!
