Cynful Bakes: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Hello! I've finally found some time to post a recipe on my blog. I have always been a huge fan of sour/tart foods. When I order smoothies, I'll always go for something with passionfruit, and I'll always order a scoop of fruity & sour ice cream/sorbet to go with the other scoop of rich creamy ice cream. It's a taste that never bores you y'know, aka you'll never be gelat (Singaporean slang for "sick") Anyway, I digress. As you can read from the title, it's on lemon meringue cupcakes! Yes, not the pie because I didn't have a 9" pie tin ugh.

There's 3 parts to this recipe: lemon curd, lemon cupcake, meringue

Lemon curd

1 egg, lightly whisked
50g butter
4 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar

Step 1:
Combine the egg, butter, lemon rind and juice and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat.

Note: Stirring is extremely important to prevent the egg from scrambling too much. Mine had a little bit of whites that got cooked but it's okay because you'll strain it eventually. You can add more/less lemon zest/juice/sugar based on how tart/sweet you like it to be.

Step 2:
Strain through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool and thicken more, so don't worry if it isn't too thick when you're cooking it.

This lemon curd can fill more than 12 cupcakes :)

Zesting 2 lemons would give you enough zests for the curd and cupcake. 60ml of juice is 1 lemon's worth :)

Here's the end product! 

Lemon cupcakes

100g butter, softened
1 cup (200g) caster sugar
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour (If you only have plain flour, check here on how to turn it into "self-raising flour")
1/2 cup (125ml) milk/almond/soy milk (I used almond milk)

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line twelve 1/3-cup (80ml) muffin pans with paper cases.

Step 2:
Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sugar and lemon rind until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the flour and milk, in alternate batches until just combined.

Step 3:
Spoon mixture evenly among the lined pans, about 3/4 full, and smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 4:
Core the cupcakes with an apple corer or simply use a knife to cut a well in the middle of the cupcakes. Fill it with the lemon curd you've made previously.

I'm super proud of my rather smooth looking cupcakes :)

Meringue

I picked this up from Ben at Sorted Food and it's super easy to remember. The ratio is just 1:1:1.

2 egg whites
Caster sugar (of equivalent mass as whites)
Icing sugar (of equivalent mass as whites)
1/2 teaspoon of white wine vinegar (optional)

Step 1:
Wipe bowl and whisk with rice vinegar to get rid of any possible oil that would prevent the meringues from rising. Add in egg whites and beat on high until stiff peaks are formed

Step 2:
Add in caster sugar and beat till dissolved, then add in the icing sugar.

Step 3:
Add 1/2 teaspoon of white wine vinegar if you like your meringue to be soft and chewy in the middle. (you can skip this part if you don't want it) Then beat until all the sugar has dissolved and glossy stiff peaks are formed.

Glossy stiff peaks of meringue omg. <3

Step 4:
For a rustic look, just scoop it onto the cupcakes and create random peaks and swirls.
For a neater look, scoop the meringue into a piping bag with any piping tip of your choice (I used Wilton 1M tip)

Step 5:
To brown the meringue, either use a torch or use your oven/grill, but be sure to keep an eye on it to prevent it from burning.

Final product!

Just look at that filling oozing out of the cupcake omg haha. The problem I have with this recipe is that the lemon taste in the cupcake isn't that strong, but the lemon curd makes up for it. The sweet meringue compliments the tartness, so it's a good balance. Of course, if you don't like sweet things, you can always reduce the sugar to your own preference. This however, was given the stamp of approval by both my parents, who don't like overly sweet foods.

This recipe is adapted from here

Also, I'll be posting a few recipes that I've kept for a while. So stay tuned :)