lemon meringue cupcakes.

Lemon meringue: It’s just one of those things. You’re either in, or you’re out.

You either like lemony-tart action happening in your desserts, or you don’t. Clearly, I’m into this sort of thing, as a lover of these lemon meringue tarts that I consider to be one of the greatest desserts ever created. But, as it turns out, there’s more to lemon meringue than just pies and tarts.

There’s lemon meringue in cupcake form! And it’s a total sock-rocker.

Spring just makes you want to run out and bake a lemon meringue cupcake or two, doesn’t it? As you can imagine, recipes for these types of cupcakes exist. Lots of them. There aren’t, however, any lemon meringue cupcake recipes that make sense – or should I say, there didn’t used to be … until now!

{Remember a couple of weeks ago when I got to talking about developing recipes that make sense? It’s kind of a new hobby of mine}

Here’s the thing: I’m not trying to have 6 egg yolks here and then 2 egg whites there and then 4 more egg yolks for this part of the recipes and then 4 egg whites over here – no, no, and no. This is not my idea of fun. If I’m making a recipe with three different components – lemon curd, cupcake batter, and meringue frosting – all of them involving eggs, I’d like them to add up to a whole number. And if.at.all.possible, I’d like to make jussssst enough curd and frosting to top the number of cupcakes I’m making.

Is that even possible? You wouldn’t think so, if you started to search this crazy world-wide-web we call the internet for a solution to this problem.

But, yes – yes, it is possible! How? Well, I made some stuff up and with some stroke of genius luck, it worked.

We’re all well aware of the fact that baking and cooking are not the same, right? Generally, people who like baking and people who like cooking are not cut from the same cloth. And then, there’s me. I love them both equally, and so this leads me to believe that I’m a strange bird. Among other reasons.

Yes, people ask me all the time, “Oh, so you cook and you bake? Which do you prefer?”

…. Hmph.

I can never pick, though I must say, I slightly want to go with cooking because it’s more socially acceptable to crack open a bottle of wine while, say, roasting a chicken than it is to enjoy a glass while knee-deep in streusel-coffee cake batter. Unless said wine is sparkling – in which case it’s appropriate to drink, like, always.

With cooking, it’s very easy to adapt recipes and be flexible and, hell, just throw some things into a pot and see what sticks. Baking, in theory, doesn’t work that way – but I have to admit, it’s been working for me.

I can’t act like I literally just dump some flour and sugar and eggs into a mixing bowl and it works, because that would be a lie. I do a lot of reading, I take something from here and something from there, and I put it together in my wacky brain that this part will work with that part of this idea, and what if I tried using this many eggs – would I still need this much buttermilk? I’ll probably need some more … and so on and so forth, I make a bunch of semi-educated sort of guess until finally, I end up with a recipe that produces just enough curd  and just the right amount of frosting to top exactly 18 cupcakes. That doesn’t end with a plethora of leftover egg yolks.

And all is right with the world.

One day, I’m sure it won’t be so easy. Something will probably explode at some point, or fall – I think I’ve heard that’s a thing that cakes do. And I’m totally okay with that.

As long we can drink wine.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Like we’ve heard before, Daniel has deemed these cupcakes to be the best he’s ever tasted. Lemon-buttermilk cupcakes are topped with a spoonful or buttery, lip-puckering lemon curd and a heap of marshmallow-y seven-minute meringue frosting. Okay, fine – so maybe he speaks the truth.

Lemon Curd

• 4 large egg yolks
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan; whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the pan), until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, 8 to 10 minutes, and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Lemon-Buttermilk Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk (low-fat is fine)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely.

Seven-Minute {Meringue} Frosting

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in corn syrup and salt, and fit a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan. Continue boiling for about 15 minutes, without stirring, until syrup reaches 242 degrees.

Meanwhile, beat egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until very foamy. Slowly pour in hot sugar mixture; continue to beat on high for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and mix until combined.

To assemble the cupcakes, top each with a rounded teaspoon of curd and spread gently. Transfer meringue frosting to a pastry bag (or a plastic baggie with the tip cut off) and dollop the frosting decoratively onto each cupcake. Use a kitchen torch to gently brown the frosting.

Makes 18 cupcakes. The meringue frosting is best when served immediately, though you should be okay to serve the day of assembly.

Cake recipe {very loosely} adapted from Martha Stewart.