Lemon Lime Meringue Cupcakes – Tartelette
Lemon Lime Meringue Cupcakes
02.10.2007
Helene Dujardin
(Senior Editor)
44 Comments
I wish I could tell you I am sitting right here enjoying one of these lemon lime cupcakes as I type my post but truth is I am trying to write in a room where English and French are mingling with hand gestures and strange sounds, and my brain is not sure this post is going to make sense by the time you read it. I tried isolation, taking one cupcake to the office room, sitting down at the computer with a cup of tea but I keep being interrupted because it seems that nobody understand my house, kitchen and pantry set-ups, hmmmm….really?….and I thought I was Ol’ Deat Martha!! Anyways…back to the cupcakes.
Laurie from Quirkie Cupcake posted a Cupcake Hero Event focused on lime and as a new September Daring Bakers I wanted to give her full support, except that I am late….I can’t lie…It’s funny how I can think so much (three weeks) that it almost seems real, like I already made it, and then I wake up the morning of the deadline to realize that it was all in my head, a nice pretty dream, full of lemon and lime and soft meringue…
We have a saying in French that goes like this: “Il n’a pas invente la poudre” translating as “he surely did not event gunpowder”, which is pretty much what I did when I made these the other day. They had been on my “must try” list for a long time and this month I finally had the opportunity to play around with them and my blow torch. I used a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Cupcake Bakeshop. Cheryl’s site is not only amazing to look at but I admire her adventurous spirit when it comes to pairing ingredients and flavors, creating recipes and styling them with the most relevant details. I fell in love with her meringue cupcakes ever since they jumped at me through the screen. I followed one of her recipes for the cupcakes adapting it to fit Laurie’s challenge, except I can’t remember which one as I scribbled it in my blue notepad one day I was in a hurry. I used lime oil as an added boost of flavor. The lime curd inside is my usual foolproof recipe that I make time and time again and probably make you guys sick ad tired of it….but if it ain’t broken why fix it? As for the meringue, well, if you have a blow torch it does make the job easier. I have not tried the broiler in my oven for these so far, but if you do, please let me know the outcome.
Lemon Lime Meringue Cupcakes:
Makes 12
Cupcakes:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lime oil
½ cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
zest of one lime
In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively to the butter/eggs mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add the lime juice and zest. Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Lemon Curd:
grated zest of 2
1/2 cup strained lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
Combine the zest, sugar, juice in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, beat the eggs until light.Beat some of the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it thickens up, about 5 minutes. Remove the curd from the heat, let cool completely.
Lime Meringue Frosting:
1 cup egg whites
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. lime juice
Combine egg whites and sugar into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer and set over a water bath. Whisk by hand for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved or preferably until the mixture reaches 110F . Transfer bowl to electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 10 minutes. Add lime juice Beat on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form, about 2 to 5 minutes more.
To fill the cupcakes: with a sharp knife cut a small hole in the cupcake, not cutting all the through. Fill the cavity with the lemon curd, and put the top back on. Spread the meringue and brown with a blow torch.
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