Lemon Meringue

So...now that I had the book and had salivated over all 300+ pages it came time to actually start baking these little beauties. But where to begin?

I decided going from cover to cover just wasn't as interesting nor as practical (certain ingredients just aren't available or are just better certain times of the year so I first listed all the cupcakes according to season (which ones would be great in the fall, spring, summer, winter). This is not an unusual thing for me to do. Since being a preschool teacher I naturally divide the year up into seasons, months, holidays and each gets their due. Some foods only appear in their given month in my house and my taste buds seem to have acclimated to this cycle.

After looking over the entries in my new spring list I still had no idea which to pick first. (Really, how do you choose?).

Well, earlier that week while preparing dinner I asked my husband to bring home a lemon for the meal I was making. Being of a thrifty sort he bought me a whole bag of lemons. Apparently, it was cheaper to buy the bag than just one. So now I had 10 lemons and, unlike Giada De Laurentiis can't seem to find a use for lemon in every meal. And that's when I decided...I'll make a lemon cupcake.

Flipping through the lemon meringue cupcake caught my eye--more for it's fun swirl than for the taste of lemon since I am not a fan of lemon desserts. But with Jonathan's excited "yes,please" I set out to read the ingredient list and see what else I needed. Besides a whole carton of eggs and the normal stuff that I had, I needed Buttermilk.

Buttermilk adds a moistness to the cakes as well as ups the flavor just a bit.

With all ingredients in hand, I set out. With my sous by my side, grated lemons and separating eggs I began.

Like most things, I picked a complicated one first. There's the actual cake to make, then the lemon curd topping and finally the "7 Minute Frosting" which Martha suggests that acts as the meringue. Just for the record, it takes more than 7 minutes.

Using every bowl I had, and scraping out some egg yolk (need only the whites for the meringue--the yolk adds protein that inhibits the whites from fluffing). We managed to get these babies in the oven and the curd in the fridge and I have to admit, the batter tasted good!

The next day we topped and swirled them and then Jonathan got to play with the torch and fire 'em up. With their green wrappers (bought especially for the occasion) and brown swirl tops they looked great and tasted really good as well.

The cake is denser than most cupcakes but that holds up well to the tartness of the curd and the sweetness of the frosting.

First cupcake, a success.

Last Bite: These are delicious cupcakes that really look incredible when displayed. I would do them again for special occasions but there is so much work that goes into them that I wouldn't keep them in the everyday running.