I first made these cupcakes for a baby shower in early March. They were gorgeous at the time, so when my Nana said her favourite dessert was lemon meringue pie and I was assigned the task of baking her birthday cake, I knew I had to make these beauties again. The pics are from the first time around - the second time the cakes came out much neater and prettier, but I didn't bother with the silver cachous or flowers, so they didn't look quite so fancy.The recipe is mostly taken from the Australian Women's Weekly Cupcake cookbook.
The Recipe
Cake
about 4 Nice biscuits (not sure what the American equiv would be)
125g butter
2t finely grated lemon rind
2/3c caster sugar
2 eggs
1/3c milk
3/4c desiccated coconut
1 1/4c self raising flour
Curd
4 egg yolks
1/3c caster sugar
2t finely grated lemon rind
1/4c lemon juice
40g butter
Meringue
4 egg whites
1c caster sugar
Preheat oven to 180C and thoroughly grease a 12-hole muffin tin. Crush the Nice biscuits (in a processor is quickest and easiest) and place a few teaspoons in each muffin hole. Shake the pan around until the base and most of the sides are coated in crumbs.
Combine all ingredients for the curd in a small saucepan. Stir constantly until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, cover, and refrigerate until cold (ha, I didn't do this either time and it worked just fine).
For the cake, beat butter*, rind, sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in milk and coconut, then sifted flour. Spoon into pan and smooth surfaces. Bake for about 25mins, then turn the cakes out on a rack to cool, and turn the oven up to 220C.
*The second time I made these I was softening the butter in the microwave and accidentally melted it completely. HOWEVER, the texture of these cakes was AMAZING - and the only thing I did different to the first time was the melted butter. So I recommend melting the butter ;) Just make sure it's cool before you combine it with the egg - you don't want to curdle the eggs!!Cut a 2cm (2/3inch) hole in the centre of each cake and fill with curd. "Discard" the cake tops - which obviously means eat them. Make meringue (beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form; gradually at sugar and beat until thick and glossy) and spoon it into a piping bag. Pipe the meringue onto each cake. Place cakes on a hot tray and bake for about 5 mins, until meringue is lightly browned.
Devour!! :D
