These lemon meringue cupcakes are full of lemon flavor and topped with a toasty marshmallow meringue! Pie in cupcake form!
Man do we love cupcakes. We know this. You probably know this. So we love turning traditionally not cupcake things into cupcakes. These lemon meringue cupcakes are no different!
What are lemon meringue cupcakes
Lemon meringue cupcakes are just that. Lemon meringue pie in cupcake form! The base is a vanilla cupcake with a smidge of lemon extract to give it a hint of lemon flavor. Then these bad boys are filled with lemon curd and finished up with a generous dose of toasted marshmallow meringue.
What you need to make these cupcakes
- Flour
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- eggs
- Sour cream
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- lemon extract
- Milk
- Lemons!
- Cream of tartar
How to make the lemon curd
We suggest starting with the lemon curd as it needs to chill in the refrigerator. You will want to fill a medium saucepan with about an inch of water and place a heat proof bowl on top. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water! Add all curd ingredients to the bowl and bring the the water to a simmer. Constantly mix the mixture until it thickens. You will know it is thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon. You should be able to coat a spoon, run your finger across the spoon, with the curd staying in place and not filling into the line you just made with your finger.
Once it’s thick, run it through a mesh sieve to get out any cooked egg bits. No one wants those. Place plastic wrap on top of the bowl and push the wrap down so it is touching the curd. This will prevent a skin from forming. Place in the fridge to cool and thicken!
If you would like your curd to thicken faster, pour it onto a baking sheet before placing in the fridge. You’ll still cover it with saran wrap though.
How to make the cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tray with liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla, lemon extract, sour cream and vegetable oil. Mix until combined and smooth. Add in the flour slowly alternating with the milk (flour, Milk, flour, milk, flour). Mix until smooth.
Divide your batter between your liners and bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean! For perfectly filled cupcakes we recommend using a 2 inch cookie scoop to fill the liners with batter. This provides the perfect amount!
How do you make marshmallow meringue
Take your egg whites and place them in the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugar. Whisk until combined. Place bowl over pot of simmering water (about an inch, make sure bowl doesn’t touch the water). Bring water to a simmer and whisk mixture constantly until sugar is completely dissolved – 5-10 minutes. To tell if sugar is dissolved, run some of the mixture in between your fingers. If you still feel granules, keep whisking. If not, take the mixture off the pot and transfer to your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip on high speed.
Once white and opaque, add in the vanilla and cream of tartar. Keep whisking until thick, glossy and stiff peaks. To tell if you have stiff peaks, lift the whisk attachment out of the mixture and stick right side up. If the peak bends, you need to keep whisking.
Assembly
Once your lemon curd and cupcakes are completely cool it’s time to assemble! Take a small pairing knife and cut a small circle in the top of each cupcake. Do not take the hole all the way to the bottom of the cupcake but more like 2/3 of the the way to the bottom. Take out the circle piece and set aside.
Place your lemon curd in a piping bag. Pipe lemon curd into each of the cupcakes filling the hole you made in the center. You can plug the top of the hole with the cake piece you cut out if desired but it is not necessary. If you choose not to plug the hole save your tops as a snack!
Place your marshmallow meringue in a piping bag fitted with a round tip and pipe a mound of meringue on top of each cupcake making sure to cover the hope of lemon curd. Take a kitchen torch and lightly toast the meringue on each cupcake! Simple as that.
How do you store these
You can store these at room temperature for up to a week or in the refrigerator. Keeping them in the fridge will make them feel more like a pie as the curd and the meringue will be cold!
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Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the vanilla cupcakes
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2/3 cup whole milk
Lemon Curd
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 tbsp butter
Marshmallow Meringue
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- Start by making the lemon curd as it needs to chill in the refrigerator.
- Fill a medium saucepan with about an inch of water. Place a heat proof bowl on top making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Remove the bowl from the pot once you know it is the right size and mix together all lemon curd ingredients until smooth and combined.
- Bring the water in the saucepan to a simmer.
- Place bowl of ingredients on top of simmering water and stir constantly until the mixture has thickened. About 10 minutes. You will know it is thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon. You should be able to coat a spoon, run your finger across the spoon, with the curd staying in place and not filling into the line you just made with your finger.
- Once thickened, run the mixture through a mesh sieve to get out any egg bits.
- Place plastic wrap over the lemon curd and press the plastic wrap so it is touching the top of the curd. This will prevent a skin from forming. Let the curd chill in the fridge until completey cool and thick. About 1.5-2 hours.
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line a cupcake pan with liners and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachement beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each addition.
- Beat in the vanilla, lemon extract, sour cream and vegetable oil. Mix until combined and smooth.
- Add in the flour slowly alternating with the milk (flour, Milk, flour, milk, flour). Mix until smooth
- Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners filling each one 2/3 of the way full. A 2 inch cookie scoop gives the perfect batter amount for each cupcake.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
- Let cool completely.
Marshmallow Meringue
- Add egg whites and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer
- Place bowl over pot of simmering water (about an inch, make sure bowl doesnt touch the water). Bring water to a simmer and whisk mixture constantly until sugar is completely dissolved – 5-10 minutes
- To tell if sugar is dissolved, run some of the mixture in between your fingers. If you still feel granules, keep whisking. If not, take the mixture off the pot and transfer to your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
- Whip on high speed. Once white and opaque, add in the vanilla and cream of tartar. Keep whisking until thick, glossy and stiff peaks. To tell if you have stiff peaks, lift the whisk attachment out of the mixture and stick right side up. If the peak bends, you need to keep whisking.
Assembly
- Take a small knife and cut a small hole in the center of each cupcake.
- Place your lemon curd in a piping bag and pipe lemon curd into the hole of each cupcake.
- Place your marshmallow meringue in a piping bag and pipe on top of the cupcakes. You do not need to place the cake piece you cut out of the cupcakes back on top of the lemon curd but you can if you would like to cover the curd before piping the marshmallow.
- Take a kitchen torch and toast the top of the marshmallow lightly
Cupcake base recipe from If you Give a Blonde a Kitchen