Lemon Meringue cupcakes

115g softened butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
grated rind of 2 lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/(I used 175C fan)/375F/gas 5. Arrange 18 paper cases in muffin tins (pans).

2. Put the butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Add 115g of the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition, until the mixture is smooth.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder over the creamed mixture, add half the lemon rind, all of the juice and beat well until thoroughly combined.

4. Divide the mixture between the paper cases, filling to about two-thirds full.

5. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks. Stir in the remaining caster sugar and lemon rind.

6. Put a spoonful of the meringue mixture on top of each cake. Cook for 20-25 minutes (mine took 20) until the meringue is crisp and brown.

Leigh bought me a cupcake book recently and this is the first recipe I've tried from it. I keep meaning to actually take some time to sit down and look through it because it's got lots of information on ingredients, techniques and decorating, but I haven't managed to do that yet.

The cupcakes are delicious! Although the meringue didn't come out quite as expected. To be fair, as I was making them I was thinking that it seemed a slightly odd way to make the meringue - I would usually whisk the egg whites a bit, then add the sugar and whisk more to give it a chance to dissolve. Anyway, I persevered with this recipe, tried to pipe the meringue on (to give it a nicer shape), but the consistency would in no way allow this!!! Still, the cakes are tasty and nothing burned, so I can try it next time.

Also, I need to read the intro to the book to see if they give any indication about cake case sizes. I wish everyone would use the same terms for the same size cakes - the book describes using 'paper cases in muffin tins.' I would assume these to be muffin-size cases, but I only managed to get 11 cakes of that size, whereas the book seems to think I could make 18 cakes! Need to read on...