These lemon meringue cupcakes are ultra soft vanilla cupcakes filled with a tart lemon curd and decorated with a torched swiss meringue!
These soft & moist vanilla cupcakes are filled with a tart lemon curd and decorated with a torched swiss meringue for a freshly toasted look. They're such a fun riff off of the iconic lemon meringue pie! It never gets old when you take a bite and get this bright lemony surprise in the center. Plus the toasted meringue makes these spring cupcakes just absolutely irresistible!
For more lemon recipes, try Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf, Lemon Curd Cookies, Lemon Macarons, Lemon Blueberry Jam Cake, and Small Batch Lemon Bars.
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Ingredient Notes
- Cake Flour: Though it's not essential to make these cupcakes, cake flour achieves the softest crumb!
- Sugar: The cupcakes, lemon curd, and meringue require granulated sugar.
- Leavener: You'll need just baking powder to give these cupcakes the perfect rise & texture.
- Fat: To make these cupcakes super moist while maintaining that classic buttery flavor, this recipe uses an oil-butter combo. You'll also need butter for the lemon curd.
- Dairy: For optimum flavor and texture, use full fat greek yogurt and milk.
- Eggs: The cupcakes and meringue need four egg whites total, while the curd needs 2 egg yolks.
- Cornstarch: You'll need cornstarch for thickening the lemon curd.
- Lemons: You'll need the juice of about 2 lemons for the curd.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
STEP 1: Make the cupcake batter by beating the butter into the dry ingredients, the mixing in the wet ingredients. Fold in the whipped egg white at the end.
STEP 2: Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners and bake.
STEP 3: Remove the centers of the cupcakes, fill with lemon curd, and decorate with meringue!
STEP 4: Decorate with meringue and torch, if desired.
Recipe FAQs
The reverse creaming method is the process of beating room temperature butter into the dry ingredients. The fat coats the flour and inhibits the gluten from developing. With this method, the cake is sure to bake up flat without becoming too golden around the edges or on top. In contrast, the creaming method involves beating the sugar and butter together, which adds a lot of extra air into the batter. This is a great method for other bakes, but not with a white cake. With the reverse creaming method, the cake will bake up with an ultra fine, velvety crumb.
- Electric mixer: A stand mixer or a hand-held electric mixer is necessary to make the cake batter and the meringue.
- Kitchen scale: You'll need a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below)!
Store leftover lemon curd in the fridge for up to one week.
These cupcakes are best the day that they are made, however they could be stored in the fridge for a couple days. Technically they can last longer, but it does not take long for the meringue to start weeping, which does not look or taste good. If you're hoping to make these cupcakes ahead of time, I would recommend holding off with the meringue until the day you serve them!
Baking in grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other lemon recipes you'll love
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📖 Recipe
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 180 g (1 ½ cups) cake flour
- 170 g (¾ cup + 1 ½ tbsp) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 76 g (5 ½ tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temp
- 65 g (⅓ cup) neutral oil*
- 113 g (½ cup) whole milk greek yogurt, room temp
- 113 g (½ cup) whole milk, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 egg whites
For the lemon curd:
- 66 g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar
- 6 g (2 teaspoon) cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 22 g (1 ½ tablespoon) unsalted butter
- 66 g (⅓ cup) lemon juice
- 2 egg yolks
For the swiss meringue:
- 70 g (about 2) egg whites
- 100 g (½ cup) sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Add cupcake liners to a muffin pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Cut up the butter into small cubes and add to the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until it resembles wet sand.
- Add the oil, yogurt, milk, and vanilla, and mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently fold it into the batter with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely before decorating.
For the lemon curd:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt until no lumps remain.
- In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the butter.
- Whisk in the sugar mixture, then the lemon juice and egg yolks until fully combined, about 1 minute.
- Use a rubber spatula to constantly stir the mixture for another 2-3 minutes or until large bubbles form in the center. Immediately remove from heat.
- Strain the lemon curd into a bowl. Press plastic wrap up against the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
For the swiss meringue:
- In a double boiler, heat the egg whites, sugar, and salt, whisking frequently until it reaches 160 degrees F or until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites do not feel grainy.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until soft peaks form, then add the vanilla.
- Continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Decorate the cupcakes immediately.
For Assembly:
- With a small (about ½") round cookie cutter, remove the centers of the cupcakes, pressing about ⅔ of the way into them.
- Cut the very top of the centers off and reserve them.
- Fill the cupcakes with lemon curd and place the top of the centers back on.
- Pipe the meringue as desired and use a kitchen torch to give them a toasted look. Enjoy!
Notes
- Use any neutral oil, such as light tasting extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil.
- These cupcakes are best enjoyed the day they are made. If you would like them to last longer or to make them ahead of time, hold off with the meringue until the day they are served.
Aruna says
Best cupcake recipe I've tried so far. Thank you so much for this! I'm yet to make the meringue and assemble the cupcake. I'll be coming back to this comment after that. But definitely worth the time so far!! 🤩