Tag Archives: lemoncurd

Lemon cupcakes with lemon Italian meringue buttercream

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Ever since I ate a cupcake with  Italian meringue buttercream, I knew I had to learn to make it. It was so creamy and light and grown up – less like icing and more like the nicest mousse in the world. The thing is, it really difficult to make – it uses Italian meringue (boiling sugar poured and whisked into egg whites to cook them), you need a sugar thermometer and to handle boily sugar without melting your skin off.  On the surface of it, these cupcakes look pretty simple but actually the icing has taken a lot of fiddling and practice to get them right. The first test I did, there seemed to be too much butter in the recipe I used and I poured in the boiling sugar incorrectly so it clumped at the bottom. The second attempt (this one) was much better.

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To make the buttercream you are going to need a stand mixer – I think you might be able to try it with a hand whisk but I needed two hands to get the boiling sugar in safely whilst whisking all the time. I have a Kenwood KMix (a beautiful white one which goes with my shiny white kitchen) which is probably my most used kitchen item, I turn it on at least 3 or 4 times a week. We do bread, pizza dough, biscuits, cake, brownies etc. in it.  It had been a toss up between that and an Artisan but I think the Artisan looks a bit twee, it is much more expensive for almost no additional benefit and my granddad worked for Kenwood his whole life so I have some deeply rooted brand loyalty,  Isn’t it beautiful? I still tell it that I love it from time to time.

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Anyway on to the cake – I made lemon sponge with a lemon curd centre, lemon italian meringue buttercream and homemade chocolate buttons on top.

For the buttercream (this makes enough for about 24 cakes; it is worth making lots and then freezing the rest if you are doing less cakes)

Basic Recipe

  • 375g white caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup
  • 100ml water
  • 6 egg whites
  • 600g soften unsalted butter in 2cm-ish chunks

For lemon curd buttercream add:

  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • Juice of two lemons
  • 3 tbsp of Lemon Curd

Method

  1. Put sugar, golden syrup and water in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan and stir until totally combined.  Brush the inside of the saucepan with clean water on a damp pastry brush to dislodge any stray grains. Set over high heat and bring to a rapid boil. When the sugar mixture has come to the boil add a sugar thermometer and keep cooking until it reaches will into soft ball stage, 121°C.
  2. Meanwhile put the carefully separated egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer (with a whisk attachment) and whisk the egg whites to soft peaks – be careful not to over whisk. Then slowly pour a steady stream of sugar syrup into the egg whites, being careful not to hit the whisk while doing so – I find pouring down the side of the bowl is the easiest way of doing this. Continue whisking until sides of the bowl feel cool. Add the softened butter chunk at a time one by one at a time and whip until fully incorporated and smooth
  3. Mix in zest, juice and lemon curd for lemon flavour icing.

For the cake (makes about 16)

  • 250g unsalted softened butter
  • 250g golden caster sugar
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 4 eggs
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of 1 lemon

For the filling

  • Jar of Lemon Curd

For the buttons

  • White chocolate

Method:

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c (I have always used an oven thermometer to check because most ovens are way out – except my brand new oven. That is perfect) and put some cases in a muffin tin or two
  2. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each one. Sift in the flour and then add the lemon zest and the juice of one lemon and mix until well combined.
  3. Spoon it into the cupcake mix into the cases for about 2/3 full. I use an ice-cream scoop (I have 3 in different sizes and this ensures they are all exactly the same)
  4. Bake for about 15 – 18 ish minutes but keep an eye on them from around 12 minutes
  5. When they are beginning to look golden and are springy to the touch they can come out
  6. For the filling, core out your cupcakes using either a corer or a sharp knife, put a teaspoon of lemon curd in each one and replace the tops
  7. To make the chocolate buttons, gentle melt the white chocolate and pour into silicone button mold like this one from Amazon 

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Triple Lemon Cupcakes

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There is nothing nicer than lemon drizzle cake, except lemon curd filed lemon drizzle cake with lemon curd icing (I am saying icing here rather than frosting because, you know, I am British and we say icing) – Triple Lemon.

Triple Lemon

Having said I rarely make the same cupcake twice, I have made this one 3 times probably because it is less sickly sweet than some of the others and it is really good for using up lemons (and they look pretty!)

Lemony

The recipe (makes about 16)

For the Spongey bit

  • 225g unsalted butter, softened
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • finely grated zest 1 lemon
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 225g self-raising flour

For the Drizzle

  • Juice of about 1½ lemons
  • 85g caster sugar

For the filling:

  • Jar of Lemon Curd (save some for drizzling over the top to decorate and some for the icing)

For the icing:

  • 80g unsalted butter, softened
  • 250g sifted icing sugar
  • 100g Lemon Curd

Method:

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c (I have always used an oven thermometer to check because most ovens are way out – except my brand new oven. That is perfect) and put some cases in a muffin tin or two
  2. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each one. Sift in the flour and then add the lemon zest and the juice of one lemon and mix until well combined.
  3. Spoon it into the cupcake mix into the cases for about 2/3 full. I use an ice-cream scoop (I have 3 in different sizes and this ensures they are all exactly the same)
  4. Bake for about 15 – 18 ish minutes but keep an eye on them from around 12 minutes
  5. While they are in the oven make the drizzle – mix together the lemon juice and sugar until combined
  6. When they are beginning to look golden and are springy to the touch they can come out
  7. Let them cool in the tin for about 10 minutes and then poke them with a skewer and drizzle over the lemony mixture
  8. Now leave them to cool properly and the top to crisp up
  9. For the filling, core out your cupcakes using either a corer or a sharp knife, put a teaspoon of lemon curd in each one and replace the tops
  10. To make the buttercream, beat the softened butter in a big bowl and add the lemon curd and combine. Add the icing sugar gradually until it is at the right consistency. Use more icing sugar or a couple of drop of milk if it needs to be dryer or wetter
  11. Pipe on to the cakes. I have done them with both a ‘rose’ piping (start from the inside and work your way out) and standard icing (work from the outside in and up)
  12. I like to finish mine with a bit of lemon curd drizzle. Stick some lemon curd into a disposable piping bag or small plastic bag and cut the very tip off the corner and swish it over the top.

Rose piper variation:

Rose Piping

I thought rose piping would be really tricky, but it isn’t. There is a good tutorial on how to do it here:
Also I always fill my piping bag up using a large glass (kind of like they do in the video), so if you find you end up getting messy – fold the top of the piping bag over the lip of the cup so it holds it out for you and fill it that way so you can use both hands to get the icing in the right place and out of the bowl.