Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
A bright, sunny taste of Spring, these Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes are incredibly simple to make. Moist, light lemony cupcakes are filled with a creamy lemon curd and topped with a fluffy meringue frosting. Perfect for any spring party or occasion.
It’s finally Friday! Who has fun plans for the weekend? I’ll be working again but that’s cool because today….I’m taking most of the day off to go see The Jungle Book! I think I’m more excited than my little guy because it looks amazing and I’ll get to eat crap food in a big comfy chair at The Movie Tavern. After that…I’ll be hanging in the kitchen most of the day watching my dog like a hawk for signs of Lyme disease. The poor guy can’t catch a break. I haven’t shared much about my pets lately after the whole Sookie heartbreak and our continued bad luck with pets. We even, recently, had to put both of our cats down. So, this whole Lyme diagnosis is just another slap with the bad luck stick. So far, he doesn’t seem to be in bad shape but we’ll know better next week. Fingers crossed that a heavy dose of antibiotics will do the trick. He’s a good guy and it would be so sad to see him suffer.
So, from Lyme to lemons…..I made some Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes that are sure to brighten up anyone’s day. They’re beautiful and bursting with real lemon flavor. And I cheated just a bit to make the process easy and simple so you can stuff your face with them as soon as possible. I had everything done within two hours and that included some time away from the kitchen with the usual distractions like fixing Lego toys and fixing Landon his 37th snack of the morning.
I started with my favorite box cake mix…yep, that’s right…box cake mix. I am partial to Pillsbury Moist Supreme® White Premium Cake Mix and added just a touch of my favorite lemon extract from Nielsen-Massey. The combination created the most wonderfully moist cupcake with a tender crumb and just a hint of lemon. They’re amazing on their own but I went one step further and filled them with a simple lemon curd. Yep, I’m a genius. AND then I topped them with the easiest meringue frosting. It’s like a marshmallow cloud sitting right on top of your cupcake. You can toast it like I did with a kitchen torch or leave them as is, they’re simply stunning either way.
These Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes are really the bees knees. They’re so spectacular you will want to make them all the time. And they certainly clinched the spot for my most favorite cupcake ever….even better than these chocolate/peanut butter lovelies or this caramel apple version I was eating by the dozen. Happy Spring, friends!
Get the Recipe: Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 15.25 ounce white cake mix (I like [Pillsbury Moist Supreme®http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/classic-white-1293]
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract (I use Nielsen-Massey Lemon Extract
- 1 cup lemon curd
- For the frosting:
- 8 large egg whites
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, eggs, water, oil and lemon extract with a hand mixer until well blended, approximately 1-2 minutes. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and fill each liner halfway with batter. Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
- While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting.
- Fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to a boil. Fit a mixing bowl in the pan and make sure it's not touching the water. Remove the bowl and whisk the egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and zest, cream of tarter and salt in the bowl by hand. Place the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture until the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until meringue has cooled and holds stiff peaks have formed, about 5-7 minutes.
- Using a melon baller, remove the center of each cupcake and save the tops. Fill a zip top bag with the lemon curd and cut off a corner. Fill each cupcake with lemon curd so the top is level, do not overfill. Place the reserved cupcake tops over the meringue.
- Fill a pastry bag with the frosting and pipe the frosting onto the cupcake (or use an off-set spatula to frost your cupcakes.) Lightly toast the frosting with a kitchen torch, if desired.
10 Comments on “Easy Lemon Meringue Cupcakes”
I too see that your recipe is missing the amount of lemon zest and juice. I’ve re-read each line, and no mention of lemon juice or zest. Yet, your instructions with the frosting says “…”whisk the egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and zest, cream of tarter…” It would definitely help to know how much you used so we can gage our own. Thanks!!
The Jungle Book is already out in the cinemas there? It’s just started to be advertised here. Can’t wait to go see it.
And these cupcakes look amazing. I love how refreshing lemon cakes are, and the tall meringue topping looks perfect. I might even take a few of these along to the cinemas when it’s out here. 🙂
It is! It’s so good too! Thank you so much!
Your recipe is missing important information. If these women actually made your recipe they would not know how much lemon juice or zest to add to the frosting as lemon juice and lemon zest are not even listed in the ingredients.
It is also confusing when your directions state to place the reserved muffin tops over the meringue. Isn’t your meringue also your frosting which is extruded onto the muffin tops not under the tops?
If you are going to do this professionally you need to write with more precision, & improve your proof-reading before publishing.
Thank you for your comment, Julie. I’m not sure what you mean regarding the lemon juice and zest missing….I call for a lemon curd (which I have a link to on my site) so I don’t instruct readers to make it during the recipe. A simple lemon curd from the store would work just as well. And the reserved cupcake top is like a plug to cover the curd so the meringue doesn’t melt into the cupcake. It’s just a safeguard…you can skip this step if you find it confusing. I don’t have an editor but I also don’t see the error your calling to my attention. It’s common to have typos…unfortunately, this also happens in large publications and cookbooks. We are all human.
its’ just that no where in the recipe that it says about removing the cupcake tops. How do we put them on if they were never off in the first place?
Step five says to scoop out with a melon baller and set aside.
Love this idea! So clever to make individual meringues! Beautiful!
These cupcakes look so good! I could definitely use a batch in my life this weekend since I’ll be trapped inside because we’re expecting a big snow!
I hope you enjoy the Jungle book–it looks like it is going to be good! And these cupcakes–OH MY WORD!! Tasty!