Week 23: Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Filling and Meringue Frosting

Hello Cupcake Lovers! It's time for another blog posting from me, Sarah! Yay! This time I made the Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Filing and Meringue-esque Frosting. First, let me tell you that I was slow to jump on the cupcake wagon, such that I didn't sign-up for specific cupcakes; I just took them potluck, like my freshman roomie. Then, to make matters more complicated for the Amazing Kate (Founder of CC), I asked for cupcakes that didn't have chocolate. (I work with this weird-o who is "allergic" to chocolate). Kate was awesome and obliged. BUT GUESS WHAT, the allergy kid didn't even try these cupcakes! What!?!? I know!

Anyway, for this grand adventure I did not have to scour the globe looking for any unique ingredients, which my husband was very happy about.

The cupcake recipe looked easy enough, until I realized that there was Lemon Filing I made but it never goes into the cupcake. Hmmm….Ming! Why do you do this to me?!?!? I am not a pastry chef. I had no idea when or where to put the goo in. Sad. So, I made it up. I pretty much just followed her filing instructions from my first cupcake (even though that had "preserves" instead of "filing.").

I, again, made a test batch, since I had no idea what I was doing. They were yummy, but all of the filling disappeared into the cupcake batter! So on the next two batches—that's right, I said two—I tried different techniques…less cupcake, more goo…then ¾ full of cupcake, then I put the goo in. Every time it came out exactly the same! (for the most part – some of them were huge and had to be sacrificed to the neighbors.) They were also very dense and heavy, but they tasted yummy enough. I didn't take pictures so here is a creative interpretation of my cupcake and what Ming thinks my cupcake should have looked like.