LIME CURD MERINGUE CUPCAKES

lime meringue cupcake on stand with more behind on cooing rack

5 from 1 vote

Inspired by the classic lemon meringue pie, our 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 being briefly toasted to give a tempting colour to the meringue frosting.

Prep Time1

Cook Time20

Total Time1 20

Course: afternoon tea, Cake

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cupcake

Servings:

Calories: 380kcal

Author: Angela Entwhistle

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

STORE: Store in an airtight container for upto 3 days.

COOKS TIPS:

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.

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