Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

How do you make a lemon meringue pie even better? Turn it into a cupcake, of course!

These heavenly little cupcakes consist of a sweet lemon sponge, filled with tangy lemon curd and topped with silky smooth marshmallowy meringue on top. Seeing as it’s my birthday this week, I’ve added a bit of alcohol in there too, by using my gorgeous Limoncello Curd.

These little cupcakes look divine, taste divine and are well worth the effort to make!

Feel free to use shop-bought lemon curd if you like, but honestly, my Limoncello Curd is really easy to make, and gives the cupcakes an extra je ne sais quoi.

The meringue topping is a simple recipe, taken from my oldest cookery book The Dairy Book of Home Cookery (see my About Page for more info). Sometimes, the oldest recipes are the best, and other than not sprinkling granulated sugar on top at the end, I haven’t changed it at all.

If you’re worried about making meringue, don’t be. the trick is to have spotlessly clean equipment. Wash your bowl with hot soapy water (even if it’s clean, wash it again), dry it with clean kitchen roll, then put a few drops of lemon juice in the bowl. Spread the lemon juice around the whole bowl, right up the sides as well, using another clean, dry sheet of kitchen roll. This ensures the bowl is completely grease-free, and will make it much easier to get light, fluffy, firm meringue. Then, just get a good whisking action going, and your meringues should come together no problem.

Ready in 45mins + cooling (10mins prep, 20mins bake, 15mins to decorate ) – makes 24.

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

200g of caster sugar
200g of unsalted butter at room temperature
½ a teaspoon of vanilla extract
The rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
200g of self-raising flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
3 free-range eggs
The juice of ½ a lemon

Limoncello Curd (see my recipe here) or shop-bought lemon curd

For the Meringue:

The whites of 4 free-range eggs
125g of caster sugar

Method:

If you are making your own curd, do that first, and set it aside to cool. (recipe here)

Then make the sponge:
Pre-heat oven to 180c / 160c fan / gas mark 4.
Cream together the caster sugar, butter, vanilla and lemon rind until light and fluffy.

Mix together the flour and baking powder.
Add the eggs, one at a time, along with 2 heaped tablespoons of the flour mix into the creamed butter mix. Then add the lemon juice in the same way.

Mix in the remaining flour and spoon evenly into 24 cupcake cases in muffin trays (they should only be half full)

Bake for 20-25mins, or until golden brown, well risen, and a cocktail stick inserted into the middle of one comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the Meringue topping:
In a completely clean and dry bowl (see my tips above), beat the egg whites until stiff and peaky. So that when the bowl is turned upside down, the whites stay where they are.

Gently fold in the caster sugar with a metal spoon, and carefully spoon into a piping bag.

Now, asemble:
Turn oven up to 230c / 210c fan / gas mark 8.
Place the cupcakes back into the now cooled muffin tray, and using a sharp knife, cut a hole in the top of each cupcake.
Pour in a teaspoon of Curd.