Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

How could it have got so long without me blogging! I've been busy with school events & then the summer holidays. This summer I gave myself the challenge to master icing cupcakes ... well... at least get them looking half decent.

So I started by watching youtube & discovered my pipping nozzles were all to small for the look I wanted. New nozzles bought I decided to seek the wisdom of those with experience& asked on facebook if anyone knew a good buttercream icing recipe & what butter was best to use. My friend Deb gave me this link which she uses for Lemon & Poppyseed cupcake. Sandie from Itchifingers kindly tagged her friend Pauline saying she's the cupcake queen. Pauline answered it was more like she was the Buttercream Queen; Hooray! exactly what I needed!!! The best advice she gave me was that she uses Anchor butter for her buttercream. Now, I dont know about you but I have tried all sorts of spreads for making icing. Some go to soft, some are too over powering in taste, others split & curdle, so to have someone actually point one out that works for them is a HUGE help.

I decided to dive straight in & give lemon meringue cupcakes a go.

I started off with a simple sponge cake mix with the zest & juice of 1 lemon added to create 12 cakes.
DOH! I meant to put 1/2 the mix in each, then a dollop of lemon curd, & then add the rest of the mix. No worries, I cut a cone shape out of the centre of each cupcake, spooned a small amount of lemon curd in & popped the cone back on top .... shhh, no-one will know it was meant to be any different.
I then made lemon buttercream following the recipe from the lemon & poppyseed cupcake, & popped it in the fridge until the cake had cooled.
I also set about making meringues which I havent done for about 10 years or so... I didn't realise how long they took to cook!!!! So I decorated the cakes without them initially so everyone could have one for pud.

Once the meringues had cooked I crushed them ... unfortunately they had baked perfectly for dessert meringues, crisp on the outside while still slightly chewy inside. Great to eat as meringues, not to crush over cakes. So I had to carefully break off crunchy bits and crush those. Once done I sprinkled them over the cupcakes.

Verdict:
My piping is greatly improved by having the correct nozzle & consistency of the icing.
The lemon cake hating other half of mine adored these cupcakes! They weren't tooooo lemony, & the anchor butter gave it a lovely creamy flavour. The meringue added another texture to the cake, a nice contrast to the soft buttercream.

Pop back tomorrow to see how I got on with CHOCOLATE MARMITE CUPCAKES!!!