Lemon Poppy Seed Meringue Surprise Cupcakes!

At the beginning of March I had great plans and was really getting into a groove. One of those was a concoction for March’s Iron Cupcake theme of Nuts and Seeds. I came, I baked, but again did not conquer because I was unable to get my post up before the 24th. Oh well.

When contemplating the theme, while hazelnuts certainly tugged on my tongue it was lemon that tenaciously stalked my taste buds. For some reason I’ve had citrus on the brain for a couple of weeks now. This predilection wasn’t chastened with March’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection of the French Yogurt Cake, which optioned making it a layer cake with lemon curd. But what to do with a lemon on your mind when you need a nut or seed? Turn to poppy seeds of course!

Now I can’t create a recipe from scratch to save my life so I turned to my trusty books. Thankfully I still had Tish Boyle’s The Cake Book from the library. I think this is probably the best cake book I’ve ever come across although I do like Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes a whole lot too.

The only lemon poppy seed recipe in Tish’s book was one for a pound cake that just wasn’t going to work for me as a cupcake. Thankfully Tish didn’t leave my proverbial lemon twisting in the wind. Her “Lemon Lust” cake seemed to fit the bill of a soft-crumbed, airy delight that would respond well to the cupcake format. I decided to use the cake layers from this recipe as a foundation. Essentially it’s the same recipe except for the addition of a couple of tablespoons of poppy seeds.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, lemon poppy seed…meh, big deal. To be honest with you, the whole inspiration of going with something lemon at all was the lemon curd that I had added to my French Yogurt Cake. I can’t tell you how many batches of the stuff I went through between the cake and these cupcakes, but I have at least three containers of left-over egg whites floating around in my fridge as evidence, and that’s after using two batches worth for the fluffy meringue frosting. I’m addicted. Seriously, I can’t make lemon curd anymore otherwise you’ll soon be hearing about an egg shortage on the news. That and I’ll need a chainsaw to widen the door to my house so I can leave.

Lemon curd was always the best thing about any lemon meringue pie I’ve ever attempted. I say attempted because I’ve yet to have a success. Alton Brown’s recipe is pretty much the standard for me mainly because of the flavor if not the consistency. If you are intent on making a pie with this curd, make sure you cook the hell out of it. The version I’m including here is for one that results in a creamier texture, not suitable for cutting into slices, unless you like your pie slice to run for the border of your dish. Still, if you follow Alton’s recipe exactly you would get lemon soup, that while is delicious requires a bowl and spoon to eat. Be warned. The technique I use in this particular version won’t hold well as a slice, but won’t leak out of your cupcake either.

One thing to note, I halved the cake (NOT the curd or frosting) recipe when I made it. I ended up with 10 cupcakes exactly (although one was a wee short). Given that, this recipe should make about 20 cupcakes, or at the very least 19. I believe that the lemon curd and frosting recipes as given should be able to cover a full recipe of the cake, as I had a TON of curd and frosting leftover (I didn’t mind though!) after filling and frosting my 10 cupcakes. One nice thing about the combination of lemon curd and meringue frosting recipes, is that neither egg yolk or white will go to waste since each recipe requires the other.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:

3 cups (12oz/342g) cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds (or 4 if you like) when I halved the recipe I include two tablespoons which I found to be a bit much, but you might not that’s why I included using 4 as an option
1 cup (2 sticks/8oz/227g) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup (12.3oz/350g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup (60ml) strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Line your pan with cupcake liners.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds. OR, if you are standing mixer-less just beat with your trusty handheld. Gradually add the sugar and beat at high speed until well blended and light, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and mixing until blended. I probably beat the mix for at least 30 seconds after each egg addition. Add the vanilla extract. Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice until blended. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the milk in two additions and mixing just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are golden brown around the edges. Cool the cakes in the pan for 15 minutes then remove from pan and cool to room temperature.

Lemon Curd:

4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup lemon juice

For those of you who would like to try this in a pie, see italicized instructions interspersed.
Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, water, sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine. Turn heat on medium and, stirring frequently, bring mixture to a boil.

Boil mixture for two minutes (not less, if it’s a bit more no big deal), whisking constantly. It will have reached the proper stage once it looks kind of like a thick melted plastic. IGNORE THE FOLLOWING 2 SENTENCES IF MAKING CUPCAKES: If using in a pie boil for at least three minutes, still whisking constantly. You’ll want to whisk it at the thick melted plastic consistency for at least a minute.

At this point you’ll want to remove the mixture from the heat. One whisk-full at a time, add hot mixture to egg yolks and stir until you have added at least a third of the mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan.

Bring to a slight simmer. Turn heat down to low and cook, whisking constantly, for another two minutes. IGNORE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE IF MAKING CUPCAKES: If using in a pie, cook for at least three minutes.

Using a rubber spatula add the lemon juice and butter.

Mix on low heat until the butter has completely melted and become incorporated into the mix. Continue stirring with the spatula for another minute to two minutes.

Transfer mix into a heat proof bowl and cool to room temperature. If not using immediately, refrigerate in an airtight container. IGNORE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE IF MAKING CUPCAKES: If using in a pie, pour mixture directly into pie shell half-baked or otherwise depending on your recipe.

Meringue Frosting:

4 large egg whites
Large pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup

Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Combine the egg whites, salt sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk by hand, just to mix together.

Regulate the heat under the pan of water so that it boils gently and place the bowl on the pan. Whisk gently just to keep the mixture moving until it is hot (about 130 F/55 C) and all the sugar is dissolved.

Place the bowl on the mixer with the whisk and whip the icing until it has cooled and become white and fluffy. It should hold extremely stiff peaks.

To assemble:

Once the cupcakes have cooled you can fill them with lemon curd a number of ways. I chose to actually cut the middle of the cupcake out, fill with lemon curd, then replace a portion of what I removed on top.

Cover with frosting and you should be good to go. The cake, curd, and frosting together is a fantastic blend of flavors that my entire family really enjoyed, and this inludes my more finicky cousin.

Tagged as: Cupcakes, Frosting, Lemon, Recipe!