Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

🧂 Ingredients

• 230 g plain flour
• 200 g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 175 g soft unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 150 ml Greek yoghurt
• LEMON CURD
• 1 egg

  plus 1 egg yolk
• 90 g caster sugar
• 40 g butter
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• MERINGUE TOPPING
• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Yellow gel food colouring

  optional

Instructions

• 1 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and line a 12 hole
  muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. Remove the butter and eggs from the
  refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature before making the
  cupcakes.
• 2 Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and process until
  you have a smooth, thick batter. Divide the batter between the cupcake liners.
  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked and remove from the tray and place on
  a wire wrack to cool.
• 3 To make the lemon curd place the egg, egg yolk and sugar in a saucepan and whisk
  until smooth. Add the butter, juice and zest and place over a medium low heat.
  Whisk until thickened, this will take between 5 to 10 minutes. The mixture will
  be ready when you can see a slight trail from the whisk in the mixture. It will
  thicken further when refrigerated. Refrigerate overnight.
• 4 Cut a circle in the top of each cupcake and scoop out some of the cupcake from
  the center and fill with lemon curd. Trim the circle you removed earlier and
  then replace on the cupcake. Repeat with each cupcake.
• 5 Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
• 6 To make the meringue topping, place a saucepan of water over a medium heat and
  bring to a simmer. Place the bowl of a mixer over the heat and add the eggs,
  lemon juice and sugar and whisk by hand until the sugar is dissolved. Remove
  from the heat and attach to a stand mixer and whisk at a medium speed for 10
  minutes, or until thick and glossy and stiff peaks form.
• 7 Prepare a piping bag and paint stripes of food colouring along the piping bag
  (you can use a small paint brush or cotton tip for this) and fill with the
  meringue mixture. Pipe the mixture on top of the cupcakes and bake for 5 to 7
  minutes, or until firm and lightly golden. Alternatively use a hand held torch.

Nutrition Info