Coconut-Lime Meringue Cupcakes

I bet you are thinking, Wow have her photography skills ever improved since last post! Nope, I just had to borrow a picture from another, much more talented food photographer as I did not get a chance to take a picture of my cupcakes before they were inhaled by coworkers. I did have one lonely cupcake to bring home, but well there was a sudden sunshower, a lack of umbrella, and a fear of ruining hairdo so my cupcake carrier ending up subbing as umbrella and the poor last little cupcake got a little mangled in the process. Just imagine this is what my cupcakes looked like, except greener...for St. Patty's Day!

These cupcakes were a huge hit. Everyone raved about the lime curd, which was my own invention. The cupcakes were inspired by a fellow food blogger's Lemon Merigue Cupcakes, and a love of that song that goes "put de lime in de coco-nut". Lime and coconut, what a delicious combo! So I morphed together a modified lemon curd recipe from Cooking Light magazine, a recipe for Swiss meringue from Martha Stewart, and a recipe for low-fat chocolate cupcakes that I modified to coconut instead. Lots of modifying, which can end up distastrous, but these were pure success! The lime curd was the big star, so tart and tangy and a perfect foil for the coconutty cake and sweet meringue. So much taste got packed in there it pushed out lots of calories ;)...they ended up being just 147 per sweet delicious wonderful cupcake. A few people commented that the petite size was the perfect amount.

Coconut-Lime Meringue Cupcakes

For the cake batter:
1 2/3C cake flour, preferably whole wheat
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2C raw sugar
1/4C applesauce
1 egg, separated
1 egg white
1 T oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C light coconut milk
1 C skim milk
2 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 muffin cups with liners (I use silicone ones). Combine flour, baking powder and soda, and salt.

Beat the sugar with the applesauce, egg yolk, oil and vanilla.

Beat egg whites until fluffy.

Stir in flour mixture into applesauce mixture alternately with milk until just combined. Fold in egg whites. Pout the batter into the 12 muffin cups and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until golden on top and toothpick comes out clean.

For the Lime Curd:
1/3C raw sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
pinch salt
1/3C freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 large juicy lime. It's hard to tell which ones will be juicy, so I'd have back-up limes just in case.)
2 egg yolks
2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp lime zest

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy saucepan andwhisk in juice and egg yolks. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, a simmer one minute (it should thicken nicely). Remove from heat, add butter and lime zest. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature before using.


For the Swiss meringue:
1/4C raw sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp lime juice

Combine the ingerdients in the metal bowl of your mixer, andsuspend over a pan of simmering water, stirring until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat and transfer to mixer stand, beating wit whisk attachment on medium for 10 minutes then on high for 10 to 15 minutes, or until glossy and high peaks form.

Assemble: Cut a shallow reservoir into the top of each cupcake, removing a 1/2 cm disc. Fill each reservoir with about 1 Tbsp of lime curd. Put meringue into piping bag and pipe onto each cupcake, or simply spoon a dollop on and form into peaks by whacking lightly with the back of a spoon. If you have a blowtorch, singe the meringue a bit, if not just leave them white. They are super-cute either way!Refrigerate until ready to devour.

Did you make it through all these steps (whew!)? Trust me, it's worth it.

Nutritional values per cupcake: 147 calories, 3g fat, 3g protein, 27g carbs, 1g fibre, 120mg sodium.