Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Lovely lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd and topped with Italian meringue

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cupcake

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 5

Servings

Calories 330kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the sponge

175 g Baking spread or butter softened, unsalted
175 g Caster sugar
3 Eggs large
2 Lemons zest only
175 g Self raising flour

For the filling

200 g Lemon curd good quality shop bought or homemade

For the italian meringue

2 Egg whites large
½ tsp Cream of tartar or 1tsp of lemon juice or white vinegar
115 g Caster sugar
65 ml Water

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 140C Fan/160C/325F/Gas Mark 3, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases
For the cupcake sponge, mix together the baking spread and caster sugar, ideally using an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, for 5 minutes until smooth and fluffy
Add the eggs and mix them in
Then gently whisk, or fold in, the self raising flour and lemon zest
Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, and bake them for 25-30 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Put them on a rack to cool completely
Using a cupcake corer, apple corer or a knife, make holes in each cupcake and fill with the lemon curd. You can do this using a spoon or put the lemon curd into a small piping bag, snip the end off and pipe it in
To make the Italian meringue put the caster sugar and water in a pan, stir them together then bring to a boil. When the mixture reaches 112C (235F), take it off the heat and pour the sugar syrup into a jug
While the sugar water is coming to a boil, in a stand mixer or using an electric whisk, whisk up the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they reach soft peak stage (foamy and they are just starting to holding their shape on the whisk but not quite)
Then, keeping the mixer running on a medium speed, pour in the hot sugar syrup slowly. Be careful not to let the sugar syrup hit the side of the bowl too much. Turn the mixer speed up to high and mix until the meringue is white, shiny and holds its shape, and the bowl of the mixer feels cool
Put the meringue in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe it on top of the cupcakes. Or spread on with a spoon. Use a kitchen blowtorch to brown the meringue all over
Serve immediately, store leftovers in the fridge and and eat within 2 days

Video

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
For the best flavour, make sure to use a good quality lemon extract and not an essence.
I used a baking spread for the cupcakes, you can also use unsalted butter.
If you would like to make your own lemon curd for the cupcakes, check out my Homemade Lemon Curd recipe.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition