Well hello there! Let me introduce myself, I'm English Mum and can usually be found lurking here. Today, though, I have taken over Rosie's blog as part of Little Mummy's fantastic Guest Post Day, where tons of different bloggers can be found taking over other people's blogs. Guest posting is a great way to cause as much havoc as you can reach new audiences and discover new blogs.
Now, onto the post. And seeing as Rosie holds you all very dear, I thought I'd lavish some special cupcakes upon you. These little beauties were originally my Valentine's Day present for my beloved. I can't write him a poem (because I run out of rhymey words) and I can't paint him a picture. I can, however, bake him a cake or 12.
I know he's partial to lemon meringue pie, so I thought I'd make him a little cupcake version. And I must say they turned out rather well. I used a very basic cupcake recipe, but you can jazz it up with some dark chocolate chips, which would go nicely with the lemon and the very sweet meringue.
You will need:
170g softened butter
170g caster sugar
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
170g self raising flour
So firstly, then, beat the butter and sugar until very pale and creamy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, giving the mixture a good mix in between. Add in the vanilla extract, then gently fold in the flour until well combined.
Dollop the mixture into 12 muffin cases and bake at 180/gas 4 for 15-20 mins until they're just springy when touched.
Now you need to make some lemon curd (you can buy it, but home-made is just so much nicer, and very easy):
100g butter
2 lemons, zested then juiced
150g caster sugar
2 whole eggs plus one yolk (keep white for the meringue)
Take a saucepan and put in the butter, lemon juice and zest and caster sugar. Melt it all together slowly, stirring until the sugar is all dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until well combined. Now, take your warm, lemony, butter mixture and gently pour a little bit into the egg, whisking all the time, then a bit more, then a bit more, until you've combined about half of it with the eggs.
Now bung that lot back into the saucepan and keep whisking and simmering until the mixture thickens. Turn off the heat and leave to cool. It will thicken a bit more when cooled. Oh and remember to stir it occasionally to keep it from getting a skin on. When it's about room temperature, and the cakes are cooled, you can add about a tablespoon (or as much as you can balance without it dribbling off the edge of the cupcake) onto each cake:
Now, just make a basic meringue mix. If you want to go mad and pipe them in an exuberant, English Mum-type fashion, you'll probably need 4 egg whites and 225g caster sugar. If you're just going to dollop some meringue on each and fluff it into a peak, you could probably use half these amounts.
So using a food processor, or just a very clean bowl, a whisk and lots of elbow grease, whip up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Now you can start to add the sugar, a spoonful at a time, while continuing to whisk. Check occasionally that all the sugar has 'melted' into the meringue. It shouldn't feel gritty to the touch. I added a bit of pink food colouring paste here, but of course you don't need to.
Then when it's all lovely and glossy, just pipe, or dollop your meringue mix onto the cupcakes, making sure you enclose the lemon curd so it doesn't ooze out.
And finally, just give your meringues a very quick go either (carefully!) under a hot grill, or give them a blast with a kitchen blowtorch, just to 'set' the meringue and very gently brown the tops.
Decorate the cupcakes with any sort of silly, glittery, hearty, pink stuff, or just leave them as they are. Oh and make sure any leftover lemon curd is refrigerated and used up within a couple of days (although I never have that problem).
Present to your beloved with a flourish. And try to take 'oh, um ... thanks, they're very ... erm ... pink' as a compliment. Or just snatch them back and eat them all yourself.
If you are looking for me, I'm guest posting over at English Mum's. Do click over and take a look!
