Lemon Meringue cupcakes, revisited

I have made these several times and they have appeared on the blog occasionally, but it's always good to revisit a favourite.

Shell is an old school friend of mine and she wanted to make some lemon meringue cupcakes for Christmas, but she needed a bit of a hand. Shell came over today and we spent the afternoon cooking up a storm.

We made the cheat's version using premade lemon butter (we used Masterfoods') but if you have more time/the inclination you can make your own lemon curd (search for my lemon curd recipe using the search bar at the top of the page).

Lemon cupcakes

125g butter, softened & cubed

3/4 cup caster sugar

Juice and zest of half a lemon

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups self raising flour, sifted

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan forced) and line cupcake tins with papers. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add zest and juice. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add half the flour and half the milk and mix until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Do not overmix as the cupcakes will lose their fluffiness.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers and bake for around 15 mins until cakes spring back when lightly touched.

Wait for the cupcakes to cool before cutting a cone out of the top of each cupcake. Spoon lemon butter/curd into top of cupcake and replace top of cone (you may need to cut the bottom of the cone off for it to fit back in the cupcake).

Meringue

4 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and beat until glossy. Test the meringue by rubbing some between your thumb and forefinger; if it is gritty, keep beating.

Pipe or spread meringue on top of cupcakes. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the meringue. If you do not have a kitchen torch, you can brown the meringue under the grill.

Enjoy!