Recipe: Lime Custard Cupcake with Meringue Frosting

Custards like this are normally baked off in ramekins in a water bath. In this case, they were baked in a cupcake pan with liners set in a jelly role pan which is then filled 1/2 way full with boiling water.

The Result
The Good: Tasty. Not too sweet by any stretch. Subtle lime flavor. Very moist.

The Bad: Too moist. I wanted a cakier and yolkier result. It was too egg-whitey... hopefully, with these made up adjectives, you know what I mean.

Cupcakes
makes nearly 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

6 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
zest of 2 limes
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from approximately 3-4 limes)
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

It's best to prepare the ingredients in advance of starting the recipe. Separate the eggs, measure out the sugar and flour, zest then juice the limes, measure out the milk, and get the salt handy.

1. preheat oven to 350°, boil a kettle of water, and line the cupcake pans with liners.
2. in a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light yellow
3. whisk in the flour
4. gradually whisk in the lemon juice
5. whisk in the milk and zest
7. with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form
8. add to lemon batter and gently whisk together
9. transfer into a container that is easy to pour from (i used a plastic pitcher)
10. pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pans, just about filling each cavity with batter
11. pour the boiling water into the jelly role pan, until just about half full
12. *carefully* place the pans into the oven


mise en place


whisking flour into egg/sugar mixture


pouring liquidy batter into cupcake pan


setting up hot water bath


Meringue Frosting

1 cup egg whites (from approximately 7-8 eggs)
2 cups sugar
3 drops lime juice

1. combine the ingredients into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer and set over a bain marie (water bath)
2. whisk by hand for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved or preferably until the mixture reaches 110 degrees fahrenheit
3. beat on medium speed for 10 minutes
4. beat on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form, about 5 to 10 minutes more


Assembly
1. dollup a heaping tablespoon of meringue on top of a cooled cupcake
2. using your finger poke the frosting to make a nice shape and some interesting peaks
3. using a blow torch, brown the meringue.


fun with fire

NOTES: You need to move quickly with the frosting. Don't even start making it until the cupcakes are cool. If you must hold the frosting for any period of time, keep it going on slow speed in the mixer so it won't get stiff. This stuff is sticky... I got it pretty much all over me. When browning the meringue, move the flame quickly as the meringue can burn (even light on fire). I used paper liners as that's what I had, but I recommend the silver ones in this case.