Lemon meringue cupcakes

The husband kidnapped a lovely IT man one lunchtime last week, drove him to our house, sat him in front of my computer and asked him to fix it. He did. After making some not-so-subtle enquiries to his wife, the Husband learnt that IT man's tastes lean towards lemon meringue. These cupcakes are an apology for the kidnapping.

Never having made lemon meringue anything I tested a batch out on some friends at a picnic last Sunday. Got the thumbs up all round with the Child declaring them equal ever favourite with her beloved brownies.

They look a bit fiddly but are in fact easy peasy to make if you have a stand mixer. Here's how:

Best to make lemon butter the day before. Do so by mixing all the following ingredients in a small bowl over simmering water until the back of a spoon is coated and then cover and pop into the fridge for next day.

Lemon butter
. 4 eggs yolks
. 1/3 cup caster sugar
. 2 tsps finely grated lemon rind
. 1/4 cup lemon juice
. 40g butter

Cupcakes
. 125g softened butter
. 2 tsps finely grated lemon rind
. 2/3 cup caster sugar
. 2 eggs
. 1/3 cup milk
. 1-1/4 cups plain flour
. 3 tsps baking powder

Beat butter, rind, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time. Add milk. Add sifted flour and baking powder. Put batter into a pan that holds 12 cupcake papers and bake for about 20mins at 180C.

When cool, use a small knife to cut a 2cm hole into each cupcake and remove the 'plug' of cake. Fill holes with lemon curd. Discard plugs.

Meringue
. 4 egg whites
. 1 cup caster sugar

Whip the egg whites till soft peaks form and then slowly add the sugar. Beat until thick and glossy. Use a piping bag or plastic bag snipped at a corner to make a 1cm hole and swirl meringue over cupcakes. Bake in 200C oven for 5 mins so the meringue is lightly browned.

Hand around and be prepared to make a second batch, as these were extremely popular in our house.

Tip: As anyone who watched Masterchef last night will know, meringue is at its glossiest best when beaten for about 15 mins until sugar dissolves.

Thanks for the enquiries as to why I went missing towards the end of last week. Anyone with a Blogger account will already know, of course. For those who don't, I hadn't, unfortunately, skipped off to Positano at a moment's notice or, fortunately, been hit by a bus. Blogger crashed and burned last Friday, often deleting Thursday's posts and comments and leaving blogs in read-only mode until Saturday.