One of the cupcakes for the upcoming order was for a lemon coconut cupcake. Ok, I hate coconut (except in the Zagnut candy bar!!), but that doesn't stop me from making delicious food. I've made ham hocks and collard greens. I like the ham hocks, but the collard greens? Blah. But that doesn't stop me from making it. Oh and chicken livers - make the best!! Never ate them!! Know your cooking ability.
Anyway, I digress. Time to come up with the BEST lemon meringue cupcake, sans coconut - which will be added for the order. If you know what works in a cake recipe and the general structure you can search recipes that you know have potential and those that will be too dry. Fresh ingredients and the highest quality ingredients you can afford are essential to a fabulous cake. I found an absolutely awesome recipe that turned out better than I could have imagined. I'll still look for others but in the meantime...
After the cupcakes finish instead of cutting the cupcake in half (to simulate a layered cake) I used an apple corer and took out the center of each cupcake and filled with lemon curd, filling it over the top.
According to my husband there was too much lemon curd. Okay, maybe not filling it over the top. The way the meringue frosting was laid out, doesn't make much sense. You're placing everything, cream of tarter, sugar, egg whites and water in all at once. Everything you read states you don't do this. Then place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Didn't work too well, maybe it was something we did wrong, oh did I mention my husband was helping me? Anyway, we got it. Not sure what it was. I learned so much about egg whites this weekend. Not only about the reason to use a copper bowl but about the protein function in the egg white and what happens when you're mixing and why you stop when you do. Research it. It's interesting.
After applying the meringue, it looked.....boring. Okay, maybe needing some coconut. NOT! Sprinkle with different kinds of sprinkles. Since I do not have a, for lack of a better word right now, blow torch, we broiled them. We didn't want to cook them too much because it will just dry out the cupcake. The rack was moved up (too high I think) broiled, just a little too long. Some look burnt, but it wasn't quite burnt. Tasted good despite the look. However, with the coconut applied broiling won't be necessary.
Oh I should have taken a picture of the cupcake cut in half! Ah well, next time.
Anyway, I digress. Time to come up with the BEST lemon meringue cupcake, sans coconut - which will be added for the order. If you know what works in a cake recipe and the general structure you can search recipes that you know have potential and those that will be too dry. Fresh ingredients and the highest quality ingredients you can afford are essential to a fabulous cake. I found an absolutely awesome recipe that turned out better than I could have imagined. I'll still look for others but in the meantime...
There might have been too much of it, but that lemon curd was aces! My mom liked it too, said she could taste the fresh lemon in it!
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