Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

These cute lemon meringue cupcakes are like a burst of sunshine in your mouth. 

Do you see those perfect peaks?

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Cake Flour Blend

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor (optional, but adds that signature bakery taste)

2/3 cup buttermilk

Lemon Curd

recipe can be found here

Meringue

3 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon Bakewell Cream or cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a 12-cup cupcake or muffin pan with paper liners; spritz the liners lightly with cooking spray.

2.  To make the cupcakes: Place the following in the bowl of your mixer: the cake flour blend, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor. Add 1/3 cup of the buttermilk.

3.  Blend the mixture on medium speed for 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick at first, but will smooth out as you mix.

4.  Add the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and mix briefly, if necessary.

5.  Fill each well of the pan 2/3 full, and bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes, until they're light golden brown on the edges. Remove them from the oven, and immediately transfer them from the pan to a rack. Cool completely.

6.  Prepare the lemon curd according to the recipe, and set it aside to cool and thicken as the cupcakes cool.

7.  Core each cooled cupcake with a cupcake corer (or an apple corer), leaving a small well in the center of the cake. Fill to the brim with cooled lemon filling. Fill all cupcakes, then prepare the meringue.

8.  To make the meringue: In a very clean work bowl, whip the egg whites and Bakewell Cream or cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add the salt. Gradually add the sugar, increasing the whipping speed and continuing to whip until the mixture is light and billowy, and stiff peaks form.

9.  Mound or pipe meringue onto each cupcake, then toast the meringue with a cook's torch; or carefully broil until golden brown. Serve warm, for a flowing lemon lava; or cool for a more set filling.

10. Yield: 12 cupcakes.

Italian Meringue Buttercream

So you want a great buttercream that's not so sweet, Italian buttercream is a go to for me. It's easy to make, takes color and adding not only flavor but I melt chocolate to make it chocolate. All of those factors are a must for me.

Again allow your egg whites and butter to reach room temperature before starting.

Get your sugar and water mixture up to 240. I used a candy thermometer because it's import for the temp to be 240.

When the sugar is at 230 start whipping your eggs with your stand mixer and whisk attachment, getting it ready to combine the sugar mixture when it's ready.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups  granulated sugar

1/2 Cup Water

8 large egg whites

4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar and 1/2cup water to a boil.

2. While your sugar mixture is heating, place egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  When your sugar reaches about 230 degrees on the candy thermometer, begin to whip eggs whites at medium-high speed until stiff but not dry; do not over beat! 

3. Once your sugar reaches 240 degrees, remove it from heat immediately, and with the mixer running, add it to your egg whites in a stream and beat on high speed.  Be careful, it's very hot!

4. Continue to whip your meringue until no heat remains in the bowl. You can place your hands along the sides of the bowl to check - it should feel like it's at room temperature.

5. Now, with the mixer still running, add your butter bit by bit, beating until spreadable, 3 to 5 minutes; then, beat in vanilla. If your buttercream appears curdled, keep beating until smooth.  Makes about 6 cups. 

6. Finally, taste your Italian Meringue Buttercream...delicious, right?  And the best part is, because of the amount of butter in this recipe, it carries flavor incredibly well.  You can flavor your buttercream with anything from coffee to maple syrup to fruit puree!  They sky is the limit! 

Storing And Using Your Buttercream

Your buttercream will keep for up to a week in the fridge, and about a month in the freezer.  I pre-make 3-4 batches of this buttercream recipe and freeze them all the time!  Before using your buttercream to fill or ice a cake, make sure it is room temperature.

Coffee Cupcakes with a Baileys and Kahlua Frosting

So these are two of my favorite things booze and cupcakes.  In the spirit of keeping it simple this is another great recipe I'd like to share. 

If you're not going to dissolve your coffee before adding it to the batter, make sure your instant coffee is fine when adding it in. I would recommend putting it into a coffee grinder, food processor or blender to make it fine.

When you don't dissolve it, you can see the specks of coffee in the batter as pictured above and I love it because it gives you more flavor.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons instant coffee ground finely or dissolved in 3 tablespoons boiling water.

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 350.

2 Sift flour with salt, baking powder in a mixing bowl.

3 Add rest of the ingredients in another bowl except the coffee. Whisk mixture until creamy in texture.

4 Add in the flour and whisk for 10 seconds.

5 Using a spatula, fold in the coffee. Pour mixture in well greased baking pan.

6 Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Frosting

Ingredients

1⁄3 cup butter, softened

2 1⁄4 cups icing sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Kahlua

1 tablespoon Baileys

3 tablespoons instant coffee

1 tablespoon hot water

Directions

1.  In small bowl dissolve instant coffee in hot water.

2.  Beat butter at medium speed in a mixing bowl until creamy.

3.  Add gradually powdered sugar, Kahlua, Baileys and hot coffee mixture.

3.  You can add more Kahlua and Baileys if you want a stronger coffee flavor frosting.

4.  Will frost 12 cupcakes.

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