It was my brother’s birthday last week, and I wanted to make a special treat for him and his fam. This doesn’t take any special brainstorming because they all absolutely love Lemon Meringue Pie. I wanted to put a bit of a twist on it though, and decided to make a cupcake version.

I briefly contemplated including a graham cracker crust on the bottom (like these S’mores Cupcakes), but in the end, stuck to the recipe from Life, Love & Sugar. It was made up of a lemon-vanilla cupcake, lemon curd filling and toasted meringue topping. I substituted my favourite 7-minute frosting from Baked Occasions, because that’s the only one I can ever get to work.

While I didn’t try one of these myself (not a fan of citrus in desserts, as you know), they got rave reviews from everyone.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Source: Life, Love & Sugar (Cake & Filling) + Baked Occasions (Meringue Frosting)

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup water

Lemon Curd Filling

• 6 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp butter

Meringue Topping

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a cupcake pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, lemon zest and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together. Add the water and whisk again. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge (this makes it easier to carve out the middles).
2. For the lemon curd, first set up a double boiler by bringing a small saucepan of water to a simmer, and placing a heat-safe bowl over top. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, egg yolks and butter to the bowl, and whisk together. Heat until the mixture reaches 160° on a candy thermometer, then remove from heat. Let lemon curd cool for 10 minutes, then apply a piece a plastic wrap directly to the surface of the curd, and place in the fridge to chill.
3. For the meringue topping, add the egg whites to a large bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, add 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar, water and corn syrup and set over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat and add a candy thermometer, bring to 235 degrees and remove from heat.
5. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp sugar over the egg whites, mix on low, and slowly stream in the hot syrup until it is all incorporated. Mix on high and beat for about 7 minutes until thick, shiny and beautiful. Add the vanilla and mix again briefly until combined.
6. To assemble, use a paring knife to carve out the middle of each cupcake (I aim for a hole the size of a quarter). Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon curd and whisk (I strained mine at this point because I noticed a few tiny lumps). Fill the middle of the cupcakes with lemon curd. Add the meringue topping to a piping bag with a large round tip and pipe onto the cupcakes. Use a kitchen torch to toast the meringue.