Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Retro Recipe Day 5

I haven't had Lemon Meringue Pie for years. I distinctly remember the flavour like it was yesterday though, as I am sure many people can. I simply had to make it for retro week. However, The Bloke and I would never get through a whole pie so I had to downsize. And bring it up to date. So here we have my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.

You can easily buy lemon curd in a jar. It makes this recipe take no time at all. But I have also added the recipe for homemade lemon curd too, as its just a nice thing to make yourself if you have the time.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

For the meringue:

Whisk together two egg white until stiff peak stage and slowly add 100g sugar in 3-4 stages, continuously whisking until glossy. Set to one side while you make the cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
zest of 1 lemon

Cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and incorporated. Mix in the first egg and then the second whisking well. Whisk in the vanilla essence and lemon zest and fold in the flour. Note: This is a basic cupcake mix (excluding the lemon zest) that you can make with any added flavour or topping.

Fill the paper cases about two thirds up and cook at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Pipe the meringue on top of the cupcake and put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes, until browned on top.

There are two ways to incorporate the lemon curd. One is to put a teaspoon in the middle of the cupcake batter. You add a couple of teaspoons of the batter into the paper cake, then a teaspoon of lemon curd, topped with another couple of teaspoons of batter. Then cook for 20 minutes before topping with meringue and using the grill to brown the meringue. But personally, this way I find the curd gets a bit lost.

The way I did it was when the meringue topped cakes came out of the oven after its second 10 minutes, I let them cool for an hour, and simply lifted off the meringue top (it comes away easily). Added the curd to the top of the cupcake and put the meringue back on top. This way you are guaranteed a generous amount of the lemon curd!

The recipe for the lemon curd is:

175g sugar
110g butter, cubed
2 eggs
juice from 2 lemons

Put the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Keep whisking until it thickens. It takes about 20 minutes so have faith. When its thicker, put into a sterilised jar ready for use. You can use any leftover curd to put on toast. Delicious!