Unusual Cupcakes

The Hummingbird Bakery very kindly provided me with my next baking experiment. This time I decided to attempt something called "S'moreanne Cupcakes". These intriguing little cakes are topped with meringue, which only added another level of tricksy-ness to the recipe. In the past, I have had little-to-no-success with meringue, for some reason they always failed miserably. I think I tended to mess up adding the sugar to the egg whites. This time things would be different.

The cakes themselves were simple enough to make; a nice milk and cocoa-based sponge, with biscuit and chocolate embellishments prior to adding the meringue. The bake turned out ok, which was a relief, but then came the meringue stage. Doing my research, I'd found out that the method suggested by the Hummingbird Bakery was for Italian meringues, where boiling sugar is added to the egg whites. These are apparently a more stable meringue form, so I was mildly optimistic as well as slightly terrified.

Having no sugar thermometer, I had to go by timing and look when it came to boiling the water and sugar mixture. Luckily for me, I got it right this time. The meringue held it's form very well, and because the method means that boiling sugar is mixed into the egg whites, it results in the sugar actually cooking the egg immediately, meaning it can be eaten straight away, if you really want to. Instead, though, I topped the cakes with the meringue, and lightly toasted them under the grill in the oven.  The cakes were then topped-off with a piece of dark chocolate.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Next time I'd love to use a blowtorch though, so I may have to invest in one along with a sugar thermometer. 

Beckie.