Mary Berry’s lemon meringue cupcakes are soft lemon sponges with freeze-dried strawberries folded through, filled with lemon curd and topped with a glossy Italian-style meringue browned with a blowtorch, baked at 180°C (160°C fan) for 18-20 minutes. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes and the sponges freeze well without the topping.
Berry describes these as “strawberry pavlova and lemon meringue pie combined in a little sponge” in Everyday (2017). Three desserts in one cupcake. The lemon curd goes inside, not on top, hidden in a scooped-out hollow so every bite has a sharp, citrus burst under the sweet meringue.
The detail that makes these work is not overfilling the paper cases. Berry warns you need extra space above the sponge for the meringue topping. Fill the cases two-thirds full at most, so the risen sponge still sits below the rim. That gap is where the meringue sits, and without it the topping slides off.
Mary Berry Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy12
servings25
minutes20
minutes295
kcal45
minutesFrom Berry’s Everyday (2017), a sticky toffee pudding turned into cupcake form with a muscovado and treacle sponge, homemade toffee sauce and buttercream icing. Prepare ahead up to 2 days.
Ingredients
- For the sponges
100g (4 oz) baking spread
150g (5 oz) self-raising flour
150g (5 oz) caster sugar
3 tbsp milk
2 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
7g (¼ oz) freeze-dried strawberries
- For the filling:
½ jar homemade or shop-bought luxury lemon curd
- For the meringue:
2 egg whites
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
Directions
- Prepare: Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4 (350°F). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Make the sponges: Measure the baking spread, flour, sugar, milk and eggs into a large bowl and add the lemon zest. Beat with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy, then fold in three-quarters of the freeze-dried strawberries. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, dividing evenly and filling no more than two-thirds full.
- Bake: Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden, risen and springy to the touch. Set aside to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Fill with lemon curd: When the cupcakes are cold, use a small sharp knife to cut a circle about the width of a £2 coin in the centre of each cake. Scoop out a walnut-sized piece of sponge to leave a hole. Spoon 1 teaspoon of lemon curd into each hole, making sure the curd is level with the top of the cake.
- Make the meringue: Whisk the egg whites in a large, spotlessly clean bowl using an electric hand whisk until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, a little at a time, whisking on full speed until you have a stiff, glossy mixture.
- Top and torch: Use a small palette knife to spread meringue on top of each cupcake, or pipe using a piping bag. Brown the tops with a blowtorch, or heat briefly under a hot grill, watching carefully as it only takes a minute. Sprinkle over the remaining freeze-dried strawberries and serve.
FAQs
Can I use a grill instead of a blowtorch?
Berry gives both options. She says to “use a blowtorch, or heat briefly under a hot grill, to lightly brown the tops.” The grill works fine but you need to watch them constantly because meringue goes from golden to burnt in seconds. Put the cupcakes back in the muffin tin moulds so they sit upright under the heat.
A blowtorch gives more control because you brown each cupcake individually. They cost about £15 from any cookware shop and Berry uses hers across several recipes. If you’re choosing between the two, the blowtorch is quicker and more even. Either way, let the meringue cool for a minute before sprinkling the strawberries on top so they stick to the surface.
What are freeze-dried strawberries and can I skip them?
Berry says to buy “little morsels of freeze-dried strawberry in a see-through plastic tube at any good supermarket.” All the moisture has been removed, so the flavour is concentrated and they stay crunchy in the sponge rather than going soggy like fresh fruit would.
You can skip them and the sponge still works as a straight lemon cupcake. But they add pink flecks through the crumb and a sharp strawberry hit that justifies Berry calling these a pavlova-meringue-cupcake hybrid. Fresh strawberries are not a substitute here because they release moisture and make the sponge heavy.
How far ahead can I assemble these?
Berry’s freeze note says the sponges freeze well without the topping. But she doesn’t give a prepare ahead note for the assembled cupcakes, which tells you they’re best finished close to serving. The meringue softens and weeps after a few hours at room temperature.
I bake the sponges the day before and keep them in an airtight tin. Then I scoop, fill and meringue them an hour before serving. The lemon curd can go in up to 4 hours ahead, but the meringue should be the last thing you do.
How do Berry’s three cupcake recipes compare?
Berry has three cupcakes in her books. These Lemon Meringue and Strawberry Cupcakes from Everyday (2017) are the most ambitious, with three separate components. Her Toffee Cupcakes in the same book are simpler but indulgent, with muscovado and treacle in the sponge and a toffee sauce buttercream on top.
Her Red Velvet Cupcakes in Foolproof Cooking (2016) are the quickest to make because everything goes into one bowl and the cream cheese frosting is just whizzed in a food processor. If you want to impress, make these. If you want something fast, go for the Red Velvet.
Can I use shop-bought lemon curd?
Berry says “homemade or shop-bought luxury lemon curd” so yes, and she’s not precious about it. The word “luxury” matters though. Cheap lemon curd is mostly sugar and thickener with very little lemon. A good one has butter, eggs and real lemon juice, which gives the sharp citrus punch you need against the sweet meringue.
You only need half a jar, about 6 tablespoons total, so one teaspoon per cupcake. Don’t overfill the holes or the curd spills over when you pipe the meringue on top. I keep the scooped-out sponge pieces and crumble them over ice cream rather than throwing them away.
