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 :)

Double Chocolate Gateau with Lime Cream and Chocolate Ganache

This recipe is originally by Gordon Ramsey found in the BBC Good Food magazine (which my mum has old copies of stashed away - my goldmine), which I have altered in certain places such as the topping. My recipe for the chocolate curls was found in my trusty Chocolate Bible by Christine McFadden and Christine France. For a teenager like myself it takes a lot of stress - you may have to try out the ganache a few times as it separates easily. Keep clear of your mother for this one - the mess caused mine a bit of a head ache.

Ingredients:

120g Dark Chocolate

5 Eggs, Separated

220g Caster Sugar

200g Butter, Softened

90g Plain Flour, Sifted

Filling:

284ml Pot of Double Cream

200g Pot of Half Fat Creme Fraiche

Grated Zest of 2 Limes

Ganache:

150g Dark Chocolate

142ml Pot of Double Cream

25g Grated Dark and White Chocolate

Curls:

100g Dark Chocolate

4tsp White Vegetable Fat (Margarine)

Recipe:

1. Grease and dust a 24cm cake tin. Heat oven to 160C/gas 3. Melt 120g dark chocolate. Cool for 5 mins. Beat in yolks. In a bowl, beat the butter and 100g sugar until soft and creamy. Mix in the melted chocolate and yolks.

2. Whisk the egg whites to firm peaks then beat in remaining 120g of sugar in 3 batches and continue whisking until stiff. Beat a third of the meringue into the chocolate mix. Then gently fold in alternate spoonfulls of flour and remaining meringue.

3. Spoon into tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Test center with metal skewer, it should come out clean. Remove, cool for 10 minutes, before turning it out of the tin. When cooled completely, cut in half carefully with large serrated knife.

4. To make filling: in a bowl beat the double cream until thickened, then mix in the creme fraiche and zest. 

5. Spread one half of the cake with all the zesty cream and sandwich together with the other half.

6. To make the ganache icing: break up the chocolate into a pan and add the double cream. Melt over the lowest heat, stir continuously until smooth. Then cool and pour over cake. 

7. Spread icing evenly over the top of the cake and around the sides using a palette knife. While the icing sets, sprinkle the grated chocolate on top and around the sides. 

8. Making the curls: Melt 100g of chocolate with 4 tsps of white vegetable fat and pour into a lined ramekin. Put in fridge to set.

9. Remove chocolate from ramekin and use a swivel-bladed peeler to produce short, chunky curls.

10. Once the icing has set, place a large ring cutter in the center of the cake and fill with chocolate curls. Carefully remove the ring and allow the curls to cascade gently out.