Cupcakes

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Oh, and if you want the recipe you can have it. Xx

Umm (raises hand) ... can I have the lemon meringue cupcake recipe too? Pretty please? I have a daughter who would LOVE some of those on her next birthday. If I could order them from you, I would. xx

[Aliantha]

ok, I will just post it here. But don't you lot tell anyone about my super secret recipe!

I assume you can all make a basic vanilla cupcake. If not, I can post a recipe for that too.

Once they're baked, simply cut a hole out of the middle as if you were making fairy cakes. Add the filling, then top with meringue.

The filling is as follows:

2 egg yolks
1 Can of condensed milk
Juice of one or two lemons

beat the egg yolks into the condensed milk, then slowly fold in the lemon juice till it sets. It goes quite thick. Don't worry if it looks like the lemon wont fold. It will. Just keep adding a little at a time till the mixture goes thick. Don't add any more juice after it sets or your mix will go runny again. Also, you may not need the juice from two lemons. It depends how tart the lemons are.

This is so much easier than making a lemon curd, but you could do that if you prefer.

To make the meringue, simply beat your egg whites till they're fluffy, then add several tablespoons of castor sugar. You may need an extra egg white. I used 4 whites to do a dozen cupcakes and had just enough. Again, it depends how big the eggs are. Try to use extra large ones.

You will have too much of the filling for 12 cupcakes, so you may want to just eat the leftover.

When you've put your meringue on the top of your filled cupcakes, you can either put them in a really hot oven for a couple of minutes, or under a griller, or you can blow torch them if you have one. You don't really want to cook the meringue too much. I think it's nicer if it's fairly soft still. If you cook it too much, the other issue is drying out the cake.

Have fun, and show pics!

[orthodoc]

Yum! Thanks, Ali!!

My pics may not happen until July, but when the lemon meringue cupcakes happen, I'll post.

[Aliantha]

Excellent!

[Sundae]

I assume it was only my ignorance which stopped me realising that the lemon mixture should be heated? I Googled other recipes in the end and saw that this was part of the procedure. I honestly thought that some chemistry in the ingredients would cause it to thicken; hey, some things do, right? If it really was supposed to thicken cold, then I've no idea what I did wrong, because I added the lemon juice by the teaspoon and with every teaspoon it just became more dilute.

I very nearly gave up, but the egg count and the cost of the condensed milk was already so high I had to carry on. Note, high by my standards five days before payday.

I went for an Italian style meringue in the end.
I was a little wary of knowing how much sugar to add, having already proved myself an incompetent baker. So I picked an online recipe with detailed amounts. Sadly I couldn't find any which used 4 egg whites, and I'd already separated them, so I had to double up on the other amounts and was left with a mountain of meringue (and I know you said this might be the case anyway, Ali.)
Ditto lemon custard stuff.
Yes I could have made another batch of cakes to use it up but by then I was too weary. I hate to fail at things. And I'd been up since 04.45.

Mum said she likey, but if I made again I would SO use lemon curd (shop bought!) and a traditional meringue. Which is what you suggested Ali.

Leftover lemon sauce and meringue mix.

[Sundae]

Not everything was wasted; I had a lovely yolky omelette for tea (one egg I failed to separate properly and two other yolks from baking)

Cakies:

[Aliantha]

Yay! Good job Sundae.

I dont usually heat it to thicken it. Just room temp. Were you using real lemons? It should thicken. Sometimes it just takes a little more stirring, although folding is more the action you want. Easy does it.

[Sundae]

I just don't get it then.
I did suspect you wouldn't have left out an important point like that and that it was just me.
Perhaps I gave up too soon...

Mum has been much more effusive in her compliments this morning.
Yesterday she had a huge row with Dad over the remote control.
She spoke to him as if he was a child and he swore at her. Cue screaming rant.
Thinking about it, this almost immediately preceded me making the lemon filling. No wonder I started with the expectation of failure!

I will try again now I know it's possible.
After payday and with less meringue.

[Aliantha]

Yeah, i probably had twice as much meringue on mine. I will put a pic up. Do give it another go. It's really so much easier than lemon curd when you master it. You may have given up too soon. It does take a little while.

[glatt]

Wow. That looks so delicious.

[Sundae]

If I survive this move and find somewhere to live, I really must learn piping.
Glatt's right, those look wonderful.

Oh, rereading my post, I sounded almost accusatory. I didn't mean to come across that way, as it's not what I felt. I was just grumpy and unsure of myself.

[Aliantha]

Thanks glatt. . They were popular.

Not at all Sundae. I knew what you meant. Xx

[xoxoxoBruce]

Peter Gordon's Hellfire Pudding.

[Aliantha]

That looks yummy, except I don't like liquorice, so I might make chocolate meringues instead, or some such thing for the dark colour. Can't go wrong with berries, cream and meringue though.

Here's my taco cake.

[BigV]

It looks delicious, but who's Hicole?