3 Cups Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
2 Cups Sugar
4 Large Eggs
Zest of 3 Lemons + 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 Cup White Wine (I used a Citrus forward Pinot Grigio)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325F Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla to the butter mixture. Add flour mixture and the buttermilk, alternating 1/2 cup of each, mix after each addition. Add wine to cupcake batter. Line muffin tin with paper liners and fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Makes approximately 24 cupcakes.
To finish each cupcake, using a filling piping tip and pipping bag, fill piping bag with lemon curd ( recipe below), and insert into cupcake. Fill cupcake and as you pull out of the cupcake, pipe a small amount of lemon curd on top of the cupcake. Using a star tip and a clean piping bag, pipe seven minute frosting (recipe below) on top of lemon curd. Using a kitchen/pen torch, brown the meringue.
Lemon Curd
8 Large egg yolks
Finely grate lemon zest of 2 lemons
1/2 Cup Lemon juice
1 Cup Sugar
1/8 Tsp Salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold cut into chunks
DIRECTIONS
Combine yolks, zest, lemon juice and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, while scraping sides of pot to ensure mixture is well blended, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of spoon. Approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter, one chunk at a time. Add salt and mix till smooth. Strain through fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover surface of lemon curd with saran wrap to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate about 1 hour till set.
7 Minute Frosting
1 1/2 Cup+ 2 Tbsp Sugar
2/3 Cup water
2 Tbsp Light corn syrup
6 Large egg whites, room temperature
DIRECTIONS
Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Now continue boiling WITHOUT stirring until candy thermometer reaches 230 degrees. Meanwhile, whisk egg whites with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. While still mixing egg whites, add the 2 tbsp sugar to egg whites until combined. Soon as syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. While mixer is on medium low speed, pour syrup down the side of bowl in a slow and steady stream into egg white mixture. Raise speed to medium high speed until mixture is cooled and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use IMMEDIATELY.
Originally published in The Wine Cellar March 2017.
