We have to admit these cupcakes are an indulgence but they were worth every calorie.
You will love them and they are the perfect way to bring the beauty of lemon meringue pie into your life without messing around with pastry!
Cupcake Ingredients
One lime
Two lemons
100g butter
Two large eggs
165g castor sugar
One teaspoon of vanilla extract
200 g of self-raising flour
100mls of low fat or full fat milk
Method
Prepare a cupcake tin with paper cupcake cases and preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a bowl (or food processor) cream together the butter and the sugar.
Once creamed, add the zest of the two lemons and one lime (keep one tablespoon for lemon curd).
Add the vanilla extract.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix gently.
Next, add the flour and gradually fold the flour into the mixture, followed by the milk.
Divide the mixture evenly between the moulds.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove when the buns are golden.
Lemon Curd Ingredients
Two large eggs
Juice of two lemons and two limes
150g granulated sugar
One tablespoon of lime and lemon zest
40g butter
Method
Place a saucepan of water on your stove and bring to a simmer.
In a stainless steel bowl, lightly mix three eggs with a hand held metal whisk.
Add the sugar to the mixture before pouring in the lemon juice.
Place the bowl ontop of the saucepan of simmering water and stir constantly
The mixture will thicken after five minutes on the heat. When this happens remove the bowl from the heat and slowly incorporate the butter and lemon zest.
When the mixture has cooled, gently cut the tops off all of the cooled cupcakes as in this picture
With a teaspoon, hollow out the inside of each bun.
Place a teaspoon of lemon curd into the middle of each cake.
Replace the top of each bun before icing with meringue.
Meringue Icing Ingredients
Three large egg whites
150 g granulated sugar
One teaspoon of cream of tartar
One teaspoon of vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Method
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil.
In a Pyrex bowl, whisk the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt together.
Place this bowl over the pot of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot to touch and is smooth and thick. This will take about three minutes.
Take the bowl off the heat and keep whisking at a high speed until the meringue is cool and holds a soft peak
Change the speed of your mixture to low and add the vanilla extract. Keep whisking until mixture is glossy and holds a stiff peak (hold it over your head if you are a daredevil 😉 the mixture should stay in the bowl)
