Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Last night was my grandfather's retirement dinner. It was a small get together for the family and a lot of people from his work that came out to celebrate his many years of serving the United States. My grandfather worked as a police officer and an emergency help for the military I believe. He did so many great things for this country and served for all of its citizens. I'm very lucky to have him as my grandfather. For his retirement dinner, I wanted to do something for him, and so I made Lemon Meringue cupcakes. A few people approached me during the dinner and told me they were very delicious. I was very happy with them :-)

To make these cupcakes, you will need:

1. 1 box of lemon cake mix

2. A jar of Lemon curd (I used 1 and 1/2 jar, but it depends how much you fill the center) The lemon curd can be found in pretty much any supermarket near the jellies.

3. 4 Egg Whites

4. 6 Tablespoons of sugar

The steps:

1. Follow the cake mix ingredients and procedures to make the lemon cake. Spoon the batter into cupcake papers and bake as directed on the box. 

2. While the cupcakes are baking, get a piping bag together with a piping tip so you can fill the center with the lemon curd. After the cupcake come out of the oven, let them cool. After they cool get either a spoon or a knife (I used a knife) to carve out a hole in the center of the cupcake. The first photo shows how big the cupcake hole should be. While making a hole in the center, don't go too deep in the cupcake where your knife or spoon goes through the bottom, leave the bottom have some space.

3. After you make the holes for the lemon curd filling, pipe the curd into the hole that you made before. I come to learn that if you don't have a piping bag/decorating bag, just use a zip-lock bag and cut a little bit off one of the corners at the bottom, it works just the same! 

4. After piping in the lemon curd, it's time to make the meringue. Whip the 4 egg whites together on high speed with a hand blender or a mixer. After the egg whites show a soft peak, start adding the sugar in a little bit at a time while its still mixing. You'll see that it gets very fluffy and sticky. I would taste check and add more sugar if you need too. I ended up adding a little bit more than what it called for. 

5. Pipe the meringue onto the tops of the cupcakes. Once you pipe all of them, put the cupcakes on a sheet tray and place them back into the oven on 350 degrees for approximately 5-7 minutes so they can get a little stiff on top and brownish, not too brownish but where it looks like a toasted marshmallow. Then take them out and let them cool.

**And then there you have your Lemon Meringue cupcakes! Enjoy!**