Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Load zesty vanilla cupcakes with fresh lemon curd and a silky Italian meringue topping. These gourmet lemon meringue cupcakes are secretly super easy to make!
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 recipe vanilla cupcakes add 1 teaspoon lemon zest to the batter
- 1 recipe lemon curd you’ll have some left over, but there are plenty of delicious ways to use it!
- 1 recipe Italian meringue half a recipe is more than enough. You can use any leftovers to make classic meringue cookies
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen torch to finish the meringue. You can also add them briefly under the broiler
- 1 Apple corer to hollow out a small portion of the center of each cupcake
- 2 piping bags one for the lemon curd and one for the meringue
- 1 Muffin tin
Instructions
- You can easily make the lemon curd a day ahead. Short on time? Start with the lemon curd on the day you’re making the cupcakes, as it needs time to cool completely.
- Next, bake the cupcakes according to the recipe and allow them to cool completely. While the cupcakes are cooling, you can prepare the Italian meringue.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, hollow out a small portion of the center. I used an apple corer and inserted it about two-thirds of the way into the cupcake to remove some of the cake. The little pieces of cake you remove make a great snack!
- When the cupcakes are hollowed out, fill a piping bag with the Italian meringue. I used Wilton tip 1M to pipe open rosettes on top of the cupcakes.
- Use a kitchen torch to lightly toast the meringue rosettes. Work carefully and toast them gradually. It’s better to slowly bring them to the right color than to brown them too quickly.
- Now fill the hollow center with lemon curd. I find it easiest to place the lemon curd in a piping bag as well - it makes filling the cupcakes much easier and neater.
How to store
You can read everything about how to store and freeze cupcakes here