Saturday Night Lemonade Meringue Cupcakes

I'm not going to pretend that my life is non stop parties and excitement. In fact it is almost the exact opposite, I'm a homebody. I love a night out with friends and family but most weekends you'll find me at home, particularly on stormy, cold miserable nights like tonight. To make my life even more exciting than usual this weekend I am dog sitting, so I am spending my night alone with six precious dogs. So what does one do on such a Saturday night you ask? Bake of course. This is an idea I have been toying with for a while now, so after surfing the web and reading several recipes I put together this recipe and tested it tonight and can I just say it is just as tasty as I thought it would be. So being the nice person I am I thought I would share it with you.

Lemonade Meringue Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

100g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemonade rind
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk

Lemon Curd

1 egg, lightly whisked
50g butter
1/4 cup lemonade juice
1/2 cup caster sugar

Meringue

3 eggwhites
3/4 cup caster sugar

N.B. Lemonade's are very similar to lemons but sweeter. If you can't get any or would rather use lemons just substitute them in.

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line muffin or cupcake tray (it's up to you) with cases. You should get about 12 muffins or 20 cupcakes (I made cupcakes today).

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sugar and lemon rind until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the flour and milk, in alternate batches, and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture evenly among the lined pans. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Meanwhile, to make the lemon curd, combine the egg, butter, juice and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat. Transfer into a new dish, cover top and place in the fridge to cool and thicken.

Use a small knife to cut a triangle or circle into the top of each cake. You can discard the cake you cut out, save it for some thing else (like cake truffles) or if you are like me you can eat it, naughty I know!

Spoon the lemon curd evenly among cupcakes.


Place eggwhites in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric mixer to whisk until firm peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating well between each addition. Continue beating for 2-3 minutes or until sugar completely dissolves. Spoon or pipe meringue on top of each cake enclosing the filling. Transfer cupcakes to an oven tray; place under a preheated grill until lightly golden (or if you have a butane torch you could brown them with that).

Now all that is left is to enjoy! I ate one just to test them but the rest are packed ready for morning tea with friends tomorrow. Now just to hope they last through the night and everyone enjoys them tomorrow!

So tell me what is your favourite cupcake?