Inspired by the classic lemon meringue pie, these lime curd meringue cupcakes are equally delicious. A homemade lime curd fills the centre of the cupcakes which are then topped with an Italian Meringue before they're briefly toasted to give a tempting colour to the meringue frosting.
Let me tell you that these Lime meringue cupcakes are a real winner. I mean, they are so yummy that you should make them right away (or at least save the recipe ready for the weekend).
A beautifully sharp lime curd fills each cake, which balances so well against the marshmallow-y soft and sweet Italian meringue.
The meringue creates a tempting eye-catching swirl of yumminess. In fact, it's reminiscent of a lemon meringue pie, but better if that's at all possible!
I mean, just look at how tempting they are as the lime curd slowly oozes out of the cupcake once it's bitten into!
The filling
You could just buy a curd to fill these cupcakes but you will get the best results if you make your own. So i urge you to make my Lime Curd recipe to create that yummy surprise to the centre of your cupcakes.
It's super easy to make and will produce more than enough needed to fill this batch of cupcakes meaning you could spread some on your morning round of toast. Surely double yum!
And of course, these meringue topped cupcakes could be filled with a host of different fillings such homemade lemon curd), or even something a little bit different and summery curd used to fill these Rhubarb & Strawberry Meringue Cupcakes.
How to make Italian Meringue.
Italian Meringue is every bit as good as it sounds. Rest assured it's not particularly difficult to make either, though you will need a sugar thermometer. I can highly recommend investing in a sugar thermometer.
The great thing about this type of Meringue is that the seriously hot sugar syrup (which is boiled to 121℃) cooks the egg whites when it is drizzled into the mixture meaning that it doesn't need to be baked after piping on the cake to be safe to eat.
Instead, the cakes are placed briefly under a hot grill to brown the meringue or you can use cooks blow torch meringue.
And if you're still looking for another reason to top your cupcakes with Italian Meringue rather than a traditional buttercream frosting, let's just say that it's far far far lower in calories! And still incredibly yummy as well!
How to make Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes.
📖 Recipe
LIME CURD MERINGUE CUPCAKES
Ingredients
For the Cupcake Batter
- 125 g (4oz) butter softened
- 125 g (4oz) golden caster sugar
- 1 lime zest of all the lime and juice of half.
- 2 Medium eggs lightly beaten
- 125 g (4oz) self-raising flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
For the Lime Filling
- 9 teaspoon Lime Curd
For the Italian Meringue Topping
- 2 medium egg whites
- 125 g (4oz) caster sugar
- 3 tablespoon water
Instructions
To make the cupcake sponges.
- Preheat the oven to 190℃ / Fan 170℃ / 375℉ / Gas 5. Placethe muffin tray with 9 cases.
- Place125g (4oz) butter and 125g (4oz) caster sugar together until very pale and fluffy.
- Add the grated zest of 1 lime and beat again to combine. Gradually add 2 beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the juice of ½ a lime.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Use a spatula or large metal spoon to gently fold in. Using a teaspoon, fill the muffin cases half to two-thirds full with the batter mixture.
- Place the muffin tray in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 - 23 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the Italian Meringue.
- Place 2 egg whites into a very clean bowl. Place 125g (oz) sugar and 3tbsp water into a heavy based pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved . Increase the heat and boil the sugar syrup until it has reached 110℃ (230℉). Remove from the heat.
- Whisk the egg whites until standing in stiff peaks. Then, continue heating the sugar syrup until the mixture reaches 121℃ ( 249℉) take the pan off the heat.
- With the whisk on its lowest setting slowly pour the sugar syrup onto the whisked egg whites. AVOID POURING ONTO THE BEATERS AS THIS IS LIKELY TO CAUSE THE SYRUP TO SPLASH BACK AT YOU! Once all of the syrup has been poured onto the meringue increase the speed of the beaters and continue beating for at least 5 minutes until the temperature of the meringue has cooled and is very thick and glossy.
To complete
- Using a small paring knife cut a plug of cake out from the top of each cupcake. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the curd into the hollow.
- Fit the large star nozzle to the piping bag and spoon in the meringue. Pipe a generous swirl of meringue on top of the cupcakes.Either use a blow torch to carefully colour the meringue. Alternatively, use the grill.
Notes
- When making the cupcake batter, consider weighing the eggs first to ensure the batter has equal weight of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Simply weigh the butter, sugar and flour to the same weight as the eggs. Of course, the value may be slightly different from the 125g listed in the ingredients above.
- Consider warming your lightly beaten eggs over a bain-marie especially if they feel particularly cold. Warm them until they feel lukewarm. This should help prevent the batter from curdling and produce a better cupcake sponge.
- The Italian Meringue will be more successful if the weight of the egg whites are taken. Weigh the egg whites and make a note of the value. Pour half that value of water into a small pan. Add twice the egg white value of sugar to the water. We used two medium egg whites.
- If using the grill, as we did, pre-heat it and position the grill pan in the centre of the oven so the cupcakes aren't too near the grill element. Place the decorated cupcakes under the grill for 1 - 2 minutes allowing the Italian meringue to colour, you may need to rotate them after just a minute. They will colour very quickly.
Kat BakingExplorer says
That meringue looks amazing! And I bet it's perfectly sweet against the zingy curd - yum!
Eb Gargano says
These look incredible - what a fantastic dessert mashup!! You are so inventive. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare 🙂