Lemon meringue pie cupcakes
18 May
I can remember my first slice of meringue pie: I was visiting my Grandma Betty in upstate NY for part of the summer and she decided to make a pie. I was probably 9 or 10 and I can still remember the tart bite of the lemon filling and the cloud-like peaks of the meringue. Sunshine and summer in the form of a pie. It was awesome.
I love making citrus curds, but this week’s cupcake was really about finding a solid meringue recipe and then creating a cupcake to shine with it. I queried my taste testers, giving them the vote on either Lemon Meringue Pie or S’Mores … and well, you see, the sunshine of lemons won (I’ll still get around to doing s’mores cupcakes, especially since I found such a stellar meringue recipe to work with.
You see, since my first attempt (wow … it’s already been a year!) at meringue fell flat–to put it politely–I went on the hunt for a good meringue recipe to learn from. Lucky for me, I found one on Cake Journal, which I followed exactly. The result was a slightly sticky, vanilla-y, floating on a cloud of smoothness meringue that piped easily on my cupcakes and torched up beautifully. This will definitely be my go-to meringue recipe, and I’m interested in how I can tweak it to get different flavors (mango meringue, anyone?).
Ingredients
Directions
The night before, prepare the lemon curd. In a heavy medium saucepan (or the top portion of a double boiler, sans bottom), stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk.
Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, let it cool for 5 minutes, then place plastic wrap directly down on the curd's surface to avoid a skin forming. Refrigerate.
For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line cupcake pans with papers.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
Zest the lemons into a bowl, add the sugar and whisk to combine. You should be blasted with a wonderful lemony aroma.
Whisk the eggs for 20 seconds, then add the sugar/zest mixture and whisk an additional 30 seconds until thick and frothy.
Add the oil and lemon extract, and beat until combined. Alternate the flour mixture and buttermilk and beat until combined.
Divide the batter between wrappers in cupcake tins and bake for 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before coring and frosting.
For the frosting, first, make sure all of your equipment is clean and grease-free. Meringue can be finicky, and it certainly will not turn out correctly if there is anything in the bowl or on the whisk.
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer (or favorite stainless steel mixing bowl) and whisk by hand until well combined.
Fill the bottom of a double boiler or pot with water, 1/3-full. Make sure that the bowl can sit on the pot without the bottom of the bowl touching the water.
Bring the water up to a steady simmer, then place the bowl in the pot and whisk the mixture steadily. Do not let the mixture boil. Whisk until all the sugar is dissolved in order to avoid a grainy frosting.
Continue whisking until the meringue reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. The frosting, at this point, should have thickened and look fluffy--almost creamy.
Take the bowl off the double boiler or pot and wipe the bottom of the bowl (just to keep things neat).
Using the whisk attachment of your stand mixer or a hand mixer, whisk the meringue frosting until stiff peaks forms and it has a glossy look. This will take approximately 15-20 minutes (trust me, a stand mixer is VERY handy here).
To assemble, core and fill the cupcakes with lemon curd. Fill a piping bag with the finished meringue and pipe onto the cupcakes. Torch lightly with a hand torch and enjoy.
Really, this batch/variety of cupcake is truly amazing. The lemon curd is perfection! Out of all the cupcakes we’ve had over the last year+, they are generally all quite good, but there are definitely some standouts and THESE ARE STANDOUTS. Lemony delight. That is all.
Great sunny, spring treat.
These are exactly what you’d want them to be. Buttery cake with hints of lemon. The tangy curd cuts the sticky sweet meringue. Love the toasted tops. It hits all the flavor profiles of a lemon meringue pie.
Delicious!
These were love at first bite. The meringue! The spongey cake! The lovely tart filling! Bravo, Melissa. These were fabulous.
The meringue came out great. I’m not usually a big meringue fan, but that was the perfect balance of flavor and fluff. Really good.
The rest of the cake was great too. All of the citrus curd cupcakes have a real pop to them. In this one, the cake, meringue and curd gave it three distinct flavors and textures, and they came together really well.
Woah these look fantastic! I love all things lemon and cupcakes, so I may be trying these out very soon!
Definitely! Run, don’t walk, to your oven and get baking!!!
Wow…I MUST make this…I am a huge fan of any cupcakes involving lemon …and this looks like the perfect version I was searching for!… Thanks for sharing.I had featured U in the post of Seven Classic Pies Every Father Should Enjoy On Father’s Day on AllFreshRecipes.I’ll pay close attention to ur refreshing Eats!
Thanks Sarah! I love these cupcakes…they really capture the flavor of a summery lemon meringue pie. Could you share that link with me? I’d love to check it out. Cheers!