Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes

Let me tell you that our Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes are a real winner.   I mean, they are so yummy that you should make them right away (or at least save the recipe ready for the weekend 😀).

A beautifully sharp lime curd fills each cake which balances so well against the marshmallow-y soft and sweet Italian meringue.  The meringue creates a tempting eye catching swirl of yumminess.  In fact it’s reminiscent of a lemon meringue pie, but better if that’s at all possible!

I mean, just look at how tempting they are as the lime curd slowly oozes out of the cupcake once it’s bitten into!

Feel free to grab my Lime Curd recipe too to create that yummy surprise to the centre of your cupcakes, it’s super easy to make and will produce more than enough needed to fill this batch of cupcakes meaning you could spread some on your morning round of toast.  Surely double yum!

Of course though, these meringue topped cupcakes could be filled with a host of different fillings such as your favourite shop bought lemon curd (though I’m confident that you’ll taste the difference if you make your own batch of  homemade lemon curd), or even something a little bit different and summery like when we made our Rhubarb & Strawberry Meringue Cupcakes.

How to make Italian Meringue.

Italian Meringue is every bit as good as it sounds.  Rest assured it’s not particularly difficult to make either, though you will need access to a sugar thermometer.  I can highly recommend investing in a sugar thermometer.  I like to use Lakeland’s Chocolate Thermospatula (not an affiliate link) which I use for a range of tasks like tempering chocolate, making homemade fudge as well as making sugar syrup for Italian Meringue.

The great thing about this type of Meringue is that the seriously hot sugar syrup (which is boiled to 121℃) cooks the egg whites when it is drizzled into the mixture meaning that it doesn’t need to be baked to be safe to eat.

And if you’re still looking for another reason to top your cupcakes with Italian Meringue rather than a traditional buttercream frosting,  let’s just say that it’s far far far lower in calories!  And still incredibly yummy as well!

How to make Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

LIME CURD MERINGUE CUPCAKES

Inspired by the classic lemon meringue pie, our Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes are equally delicious. A homemade lime curd fills the centre of the cupcakes which are then topped with an Italian Meringue before being briefly toasted to give a tempting colour to the meringue frosting.

Prep Time1 hr

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: Cake

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cupcake

Servings: 7

Calories: 380kcal

Author: Angela – Only Crumbs Remain

Ingredients

For the Cupcake Batter

• 115 g Butter unsalted and softened
• 55 g Golden Caster Sugar
• 60 g Caster Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• 1 Lime zest of all the lime and juice of half.
• 2 Medium Eggs lightly beaten
• 115 g SR Flour
• 2 g 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

For the Lime Filling

• 7 tsp Lime Curd

For the Italian Meringue Topping

• 1 part Water see notes below
• 4 parts Sugar see notes below
• 2 parts Egg White see notes below

Instructions

To make the Cupcake Sponges.

• Preheat the oven to 190℃ / Fan 170℃ / 375℉ / Gas 5. Place the muffin sized cases into the muffin tray.
• Make the sponge. Place the soft butter and sugars into a good sized bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon or electric beaters until very pale and fluffy.
• Add the salt and lime zest and beat again to combine. Gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition, (see note c below). Beat in the lime juice.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Use a spatula or large metal spoon to fold this in gently. Add a little milk (perhaps 1 tbsp) if necessary, you’re aiming for the cake batter to have a nice dropping consistency.
• Using a teaspoon, fill the miffin cases with the batter mixture. You’re aiming for them to be half to two-thirds full. You may decide to weigh each muffin to ensure equal sizes. Each will weigh about 60g – 62g.
• Place the muffin tray in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 – 23 minutes. You may need to rotate the tray after 15 minutes of baking. Once baked, remove from the oven and muffin tray and place onto a cooling rack.

To make the Italian Meringue.

• Prepare to make the meringue. Place the egg whites into a scrupulously clean bowl. A stand mixer would be useful, but if you only have electric beaters available (like us) sit the bowl on a tea towel or a couple of pieces of kitchen roll. This will prevent the bowl from moving around when adding the sugar syrup.
• Make the sugar syrup. Place the sugar and water into a small heavy based pan. Position the sugar thermometer in the pan, ensuring it’s not touching the base of the pan where it will take a false reading. Set the pan on the hob over a low heat to allow the sugar to dissolve.
• Once the sugar has dissolved increase the heat under the pan. You’re aiming for the sugar syrup to eventually reach 121℃ / 249℉. Once it has reached 110℃ / 230℉ start to beat the egg whites into a meringue. You’re aiming for the egg whites to be thick and at stiff peak stage. Stop beating.
• Add the sugar syrup to the meringue. Once the sugar syrup has reached 121℃ / 249℉ take the pan off the heat. Turn the beaters onto the slowest setting. Slowly pour the sugar syrup onto the meringue. AVOID POURING ONTO THE BEATERS AS THIS IS LIKELY TO CAUSE THE SYRUP TO SPLASH BACK AT YOU!
• Once all of the syrup has been poured onto the meringue increase the speed of the beaters and continue beating for at least 5 minutes when the temperature of the meringue will have cooled and the meringue will be very thick and glossy.

To Assemble the Lime Curd Meringue Cupcakes.

• Begin to assemble. Use a small paring knife to cut a cone from the top of each cupcake. (Alternatively, use the wide end of a large metal piping nozzle and twist to remove a plug of sponge.) Use the tines of a fork to gently remove a little more sponge if necessary.
• Add a teaspoon of lime curd to the hollow, avoid over filling. Use the knife to remove part of the sponge ‘plug’ and gently position the sponge over the lime curd to encase it.
• Top with Italian meringue. Fit a large star nozzle to a piping bag. Half fill the bag with meringue. Pipe a generous swirl of meringue on top of the cupcakes. (You will need to refill the piping bag at some point). Either use a cook’s blow torch to carefully colour the meringue. Alternatively, use the grill. (see note d below) .

Notes

SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT:

7 muffin sized cupcake cases & muffin tin.

Large open star piping nozzle.

Piping Bag.

STORE: Store in an airtight container for upto 3 days.

COOKS TIPS:

a) The Italian Meringue will be more successful if the weight of the egg whites are taken. Weigh the egg whites and make a note of the value. Pour half that value of water into a small pan. Add twice the egg white value of sugar to the water. We used two medium egg whites.

b) When making the cupcake batter, consider weighing the cracked eggs first to ensure the batter has equal weight of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Simply weigh the butter, sugar and flour to the same weight as the eggs. Of course, the value may be slightly different to the 115g listed in the ingredients above.

c) Consider warming your lightly beaten eggs over a bain marie especially if they feel particularly cold. Warm them until they feel lukewarm. This should help prevent the batter from curdling and produce a better cupcake sponge.

d) If using the grill, like we did, pre-heat it and position the grill pan in the centre of the oven so the cupcakes aren't too near the grill element. Place the decorated cupcakes under the grill for 1 - 2 minutes allowing the Italian meringue to colour, you may need to rotate them after just a minute. They will colour very quickly. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 5.3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Sugar: 89.6g

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