So, because it has been WAY too long since I last posted (or even baked, really) I decided to make you something special.
And you're so so welcome.
I've spent a week thinking about making lemon meringue pie. I'm not sure why. And then, yesterday, I decided to make lemon meringue cupcakes because apparently I can't resist making fun-sized things.
THEN, I decided I wanted to do something a bit more original and decided on Apple Meringue Cupcakes. My best friend once presented me with a pudding (I think she called it Eve's Pudding but when I googled that it comes up with a more spongy pud) which was basically Lemon Meringue Pie but...with Apple. And I decided to base some cupcakes on that because, frankly, it was wonderful.
Ingredients:
For the cakes:
- 80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
- 280g (10oz) caster sugar
- 240g (8 and a half oz) plain flour
- 1tbsp baking powder
- Quarter of a tsp of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 large eggs
- 240 ml (8 and a half fl oz) whole milk (although I used semi-skimmed!)\
- 1.5 eating apples
For the meringue:
- 200g (7oz caster sugar)
- 4 egg whites
- Preheat the over to 190°C (375°F), Gas mark 5, and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.
- Using a hand-held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon on a low speed until the ingredients are well incorporated and resemble fine breadcrumbs...
- Measure the milk in a jug and add the 2 eggs. Whisk together by hand. Pour three-quarters of the milk and eggs into the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed to combine.
- Increase the speed to medium and keep beating until smooth and thick.
- Peel, core and chop the apples into 1cm chunks.
- Coat them in flour to stop them sinking to the bottom of the cakes.
- Add the apples to the mixture and fold in.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, filling each case by about two-thirds.
- Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until risen and springy to the touch. You can check that they're done by poking one with a skewer or a knife; if it comes out with some residue, then your cakes need a few more minutes.
- The cakes will need to cool for 30-60 mins before you frost them.
- The recipe I followed uses Italian meringue. This is meant to be notoriously tricky, but I found it to be fine as long as I kept an eye on the sugar.
- Add the 200g of caster sugar to a saucepan and cover with water (about 150ml/5 and a half fl oz) and bring to the boil. Don't stir it!
- While this is happening, separate your four egg whites into a clean, dry bowl and whisk them with a handheld electric whisk or a freestanding mixer until they are just foamy.
- Allow the sugar to boil for 5-10 minutes or until it has reached the soft ball stage. The soft ball stage is when you use a spoon to drop some of your syrup into a bowl of very cold water. If the syrup has been cooked to the correct heat, it will form a ball in the bowl of water. When you remove this ball with your hand, it will flatten.
- Once the sugar has cooked for long enough, turn your mixer up to medium and carefully (really really carefully!!) add it to your egg whites.
- When all the sugar has been added, turn your mixer up to high and whisk it until the mixture has quadrupled in volume, is very white, smooth and quite shiny.
- You just made Italian Meringue (I was ridiculously proud of myself after this stage...)
- Spoon the meringue mixture on top of your cakes with a spoon (you can also pipe it!) and use the back of the spoon to make a cool-looking swirl.
- If you're fancy and have a cook's blowtorch then you can use this to brown the top of the cupcakes.
- I, however, am not so fancy, so I stuck my cakes under a hot grill for a few seconds. Keep a very careful eye on them - they don't take long to turn golden at all!
That's it! Cupcakes with tasty chunks of apple and posh Italian meringue = done!
Now excuse me while I enjoy mine in front of angsty Kenneth Branagh.
