My relationship with this blog is akin to that of a good friend whom you don’t see often but don’t miss a beat when you get back together. I do this blog as a creative outlet. I have no aspirations to turn this into a business, make profit, or even network with others. I just simply do this for fun, and so when life gets too hectic and this little fun thing becomes a source of stress, I step back knowing I can return anytime without missing a beat. Much has changed in my life since my last blog post allowing me to dedicate more time to my little old blog.
The inspiration for this post came from the grocery store itself. I was out doing my weekly groceries the when I saw the bags of beautiful cherries. I have wanted to make a clafoutis for a long time and so what better time than this. Clafoutis-pronounced cla-fou-tee is a French custard-like cake baked with cherries-though you can basically use any fruit. In her book Julia Child calls it a cherry flan.
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
I’m sure it is obvious that cupcakes are my culinary weakness. Every time I want to bake something I come up with another cupcake recipe I must first try. I woke up this morning with the intention of making lemon bars-Ina’s lemon bars to be exact, but somehow I ended up making Martha’s Lemon Meringue cupcakes instead. In hindsight, I maybe should have stuck to my lemon bars because I ended up spending far more time in the kitchen than I had anticipated. However, the effort was well worth it. These were some serious good cupcakes. My husband took a bite and said ‘oh my god’. Enough said.
These cupcakes are made in several stages. The cupcakes must baked, the lemon curd and seven minute frosting must be made, and then the cupcake must be assembled together. The cupcake recipe is pretty straightforward. Remember if you don’t have buttermilk you can substitute it with milk and vinegar. I never have buttermilk on hand so I make this substitution almost everytime a recipe calls for buttermilk. The cupcake is actually a cupcake unlike many recipes where the cupcake is more a muffin. This recipe yields a light fluffy cake-just how a cupcake should be. The lemon curd is a little more time consuming to make because you have to stand at the stove and constantly mix the mixture to avoid the eggs curdling. The seven minute frosting is also pretty straightforward and simple especially if you have a stand mixer. The great thing with this recipe is that the cupcakes and lemon curd can be made in advanced and assembled with the frosting when you are ready. The cupcakes can also be frozen until you are ready for them. And you didn’t hear this from me but you can always buy jarred lemon curd to make life easier, but I do suggest you try to make your own at least once.
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