six.

So this past weekend, one of my good friends had a holiday-cookie-share party. I am constantly making food for my friends (partially so I won't eat everything myself) The hardest part about baking for me is figuring out what I want to bake. The options are endless…cookbooks line my shelves and delicious looking Pins taunt me every time I open my laptop and fire up Pinterest. Do I want to make cookies? Cupcakes? Brownies? After browsing my "Yummy" Pinterest board for quite some time, I settled on a fancy looking lemon cake encased in a toasted meringue. It sure looked fitting for a party.

I wouldn't suggest making these tasty treats if you are in a rush as they are quite time consuming. But if you have a couple of hours on your hands, these are a lovely treat for any occasion.  Just set aside some time to relax and bake these cute little cakes.

 The first step in this recipe is to make the cakes. It starts off like any other cake..butter, sugar, eggs.

Once you have those ingredients ready, it's time to start working with the lemon. I am lucky to have a lemon tree in my yard that basically produces dozens of perfectly ripe lemons year round. I zested a whole lemon and then squeezed it's sour yet somehow invitingly-sweet juice. 

I then added the zest to the butter and sugar and creamed it all into a sweet smelling concoction. Once it was combined, I added the flour, baking powder, milk, and lemon juice. All looked (and tasted) good! Into the oven they went! The recipe said to use standard cupcake pans, but it would only yield six. I decided to make mini cupcakes instead so that I would have enough to share with my friends. 

After these guys were fully baked and cooled, I used a pearing knife to carefully (emphasis on carefully) cut little holes out of the tops of the cupcakes to make room for a tiny dollop of vanilla ice cream. YUM! This step is fairly tedious and I am not exactly sure if the ice cream in necessary… I feel like the cakes would turn out just fine without it. Anyways, as it was my first time making the recipe, I followed each step. 

 I melted the ice cream for 20 seconds in the microwave so it would be easier to spoon out into the cupcakes. This step doesn't have to be neat or precise, you won't see it once you spread on the merengue.

After filling the cupcakes, I popped them in the freezer for 30 minutes while I started working on the meringue. While meringue can be slightly daunting, I actually find making it to be very fun! Basically you just whip everything up and voila! Heaven!

Once I had the meringue ready, I took the hardened cupcakes out of the freezer and "frosted" (more like smeared) the merengue all over the tiny things. You don't have to make it look perfect, peaks and bumps actually make the final product look better than if the it was completely smooth. 

 The final step is to toast the cakes. I used the low setting on my oven broiler and I caution you all, don't leave the kitchen while these are in your oven! They toast up in about a minute so I would stand by the oven waiting to see that lovely golden color creep up the tiny cakes.

After letting them cool, serve immediately. I took these to the cookie swap and they were a huge hit! The simple lemon cake was delicious and the merengue added the perfect touch to this pretty dessert.


-Ali


{meringue-encased lemon cakes:}

125g butter, softened
1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
1/4 cup finely grated lemon rind
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1/2 cup (80ml) milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 scoops vanilla ice-cream
basic meringue mixture {see below}

preheat the oven to 160°c (320°f); place the butter, sugar and lemon rind in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy; gradually add the eggs and beat well; fold in the flour, baking powder, milk and lemon juice; spoon the mixture into 6 x 1 cup-capacity (250ml) lightly greased muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer; cool in tins for 5 minutes; remove and cool on a wire rack

using a tablespoon, scoop out a hole in the top of each cake and fill with a scoop of ice-cream; place the cakes on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes; spread the basic meringue mixture over the cakes and place on a baking tray; cook under a preheated hot grill (broiler) or in a preheated 200°c (390°f) oven for 2-3 minutes or until the meringue is set and golden; serve immediately; makes 6

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{basic meringue mixture}

150ml eggwhites (approximately 4 eggs)
1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar

place the eggwhites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until stiff peaks form; gradually add the sugar and vinegar and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy; use immediately