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 :)

Foodalog: Banana "pancakes"

Hello all you awesome people!

Do you always crave for sweet stuff but yet always feel sad that you can't eat them?

Don't worry! You don't always have to stick to overnight oats!

Bananas always make awesome replacements for carbs/flour!

And one of it is the banana "pancakes"

First, add in one banana and an egg.

Sorry, I know this banana is too ripe and ugly!

But a ripe banana is soft and it makes it easier to mash it up! :)

Just mash until the egg and the banana is nicely combined!

Something like this, it's ok if there's some small lumps, but just makes sure that most of the banana is mashed up.

Then, heat up a pan, put in a tiny bit of olive oil and pour the mixture in :)

Wait for a bit for it to cook and solidify then it'll flip nicely.

If you flip it too early, it'll look like an omelette/scrambled egg more than a pancake

This is the product!

I didn't wait long enough for the mixture to solidify in the pan, that was why it turned out in pieces.

This, I waited and see! It really does look like a pancake :)

You can eat it with savoury sides (like sauteed mushrooms/grilled tomatoes) or with fruits & yoghurt!

If I want to eat it with savoury sides, I'll add a pinch of salt to the mixture to give a sweet & savoury taste. If not, it itself is sweet and yummy ^^

It's about 200 calories! :)

Of course, add healthy sides to make you fill fuller or just drink more water 

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Now for the unhealthy part!

I went to Hot Tomato with my dad and my youngest bro for dinner from super long ago!!

Minestrone with garlic bread

Ice lemon tea

(made from syrup, of course, but still prefer this over coke/sprite)

Mango salsa salmon!!! :)

Mine was $11.90, added on $5 for the drink + soup of the day.

I was quite pleased that the salmon was cooked the proper way!

Most of the time, salmon cooked outside gets too tough and dry and gross.

This was just the way I liked it, cooked on the outside, slightly raw centre and crispy skin

YUMMSSS

Oh yes! My brother ordered fish & chips, and the tomato salad was awesome!

It had cherry tomatoes and onions.

*drools*

Foodalog: Rainbow Cake Pops!

Have you seen the rainbow cake pops that I made?

It's so pretty and delicious!

But I warn you first, it is a tad tedious :(

Here are the ingredients!

I couldn't find the Betty Crocker's cake mix hence I had to resort to baking the cake from scratch.

I got the cake recipe from here :)

I used 1 and 3/4 cups of sugar because I don't want my cake to be too sweet since I'm adding chocolate coating. But you like it sweet, then add the full 2 cups :)

I attempted to crack the egg with one hand and I succeeded! 

It'll be good to add in oils with lesser taste, don't add oils like olive oil because your cake is going to taste like olives LOL.

Vegetable oil is the safest!

Add in the flour bit by bit and the mix continuously :)

You can skip this step if you're just baking the simple, one coloured cake :)

I just like rainbows, so I made my life hard by doing this hahahaha

Then bake for 30-40 min (Oh yes! Remember to preheat your oven before you start making the batter, read the recipe link!)

Keep adding cream cheese/frosting until you can mould a ball out of the crumbled cake.

Don't add too much cream cheese though. I used one block of cream cheese for the entire cake, but you can use slightly more :)

Then freeze the cake pops.

At this point, you can add the lollipop sticks if you want. 

Just dip the lollipop sticks into the chocolate, and stick it into the cake pop.

Then put the cake pops back into the freezer to chill.

If you don't want to put in the lollipop stick, move on to the next step! :)

This small jar was for my friend!

I baked for his 21st because I had no idea what to buy.

OOPS :(

But it looks gorgeous! Especially the non coated ones!

Okay! This is enough!

I hope this is simple enough.

Although it is tedious, but the steps are rather simple ya?

It's a good family activity I think :)

But maybe, you don't have to trouble yourself with the colours la. Just one colour will do :)

I'm think of doing more Let's Float series, like the common misconceptions.

I'm no expert, but I just want to share what I know.

So yes? HAHAHA

Been so busy with caroling, my site and work. 

I hope I don't die hehe.

OK BUYBYE!