Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes

A nice twist on a classic dessert; these zesty cupcakes should blow your taste buds away. It's comprised of lemon cupcake, lemon curd, swiss meringue and a little biscuit. If you're lucky enough to have a blowtorch, then you can use it to finish the cupcakes, otherwise they will need to go under the grill. Makes 12 Cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes.

 Ingredients

For the Lemon Cupcakes

100g Butter, Softened

200g Caster Sugar

4 tsp Lemon Zest

2 Eggs, Beaten and at Room Temperature

225g Self-Raising Flour

125ml Milk

For the Biscuits

112g Plain Flour

55g Butter, Cubed

40g Sugar

1/2 a Large Egg, Beaten

2 tsp Lemon Zest

For the Swiss Meringue

2 Egg Whites

125g Caster Sugar

Lemon Curd, Store-bought or homemade

Method

1.Start with the biscuits. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F, and line a baking tray. Place the flour, butter and sugar into a mixing bowl, and rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix in the lemon zest and the egg to form a dough, and wrap in clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes. After chilling, roll dough on a floured surface to about 1cm thickness, and using small cookie cutters or a knife (depending on the size of cupcakes you're making), cut out the biscuits, and place on the baking tray. 

3. Place the baking tray in the fridge for about 10 minutes to ensure the biscuits hold their shape, and then place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Take out and cool on a wire rack, and keep the oven on.

4. For the cakes; grease/line cupcake trays, and cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a freestanding or hand mixer until cream in colour, and then gradually add the beaten egg, mixing well after each addition, being careful not to add too much to make the mix curdle. 

5. Sieve 1/4 of the flour into the mix, and fold in with a large spoon. Add in 1/4 of the milk and do the same. Alternate between folding in flour and milk until finished, and then divide between cupcake holes. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean (beware - they are lighter than normal cupcakes, so be careful not to overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. In each of the cupcakes, cut a small cylinder out of the centre with a sharp knife, and cut of some of the bottom of the cylinder you have just cut out, to form almost a lid for the hole. Fill a piping bag with lemon curd, and using a fine nozzle, or a cut a small hole, and pipe the lemon curd into the cupcakes and cover with the 'lids'. 

7. For the meringue, set up a bain-marie by putting water in a saucepan, and keeping it at a temperature where it's not bubbling on the surface at all, but steaming. Place the egg whites and sugar in a plastic bowl, and place on top of the pan. Using an electric hand mixer, whisk, making sure to touch the bottom of the bowl. Once you start to see pretty defined waves created by the mixer, mix for about 2-3 minutes more, where you should have a pretty thick consistency that holds a peak. Take the bowl off the saucepan and leave to cool.

8. Using a piping bag with a star nozzle, or even a round one, pipe the meringue onto the cupcakes in any design you want. If you have a blowtorch, heat around the top of the cupcakes until browned as much as you want, otherwise place the cupcakes under the grill, keeping an eye on how brown they are getting. Once done, place a biscuit on top.

Enjoy :)