Sunday spoil: Sweetie Pie cupcakes

You’ll need:
For the cupcakes – 3 large eggs; 250ml castor sugar; 250ml full cream milk; 125g butter; 440ml flour; 15ml baking powder; 5ml vanilla extract 

For the meringue – 2 large egg whites (60g); 120g castor sugar; 80ml water; 200g melted chocolate 

How to: 

For the cupcakes: 

Preheat the oven to 180°C and place cupcake liners in two muffin trays. Place eggs and sugar and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high until pale and thick. 

Heat milk and butter until butter is melted. Do not boil. Sift the flour and baking powder. 

Turn the mixer to its lowest setting and add a third of the flour and a third of the milk, repeat with the remaining milk and flour. End with flour. 

Using a 60ml measuring cup, fill the liners ¾ full. Bake for 12 Minutes. Remove from the oven and remove from the muffin tins, immediately. 

Cool on a wire rack. 

For the meringue: 

Place egg white into a stainless-steel mixing bowl. 

Place the castor sugar and the water into a medium saucepan. With a metal spoon, stir the sugar over medium heat until the liquid is clear, and you can’t see any more sugar crystals.  

Use a wet pastry brush to brush any stray sugar crystals down from the sides of the saucepan. Place your thermometer in the sugar syrup and bring the syrup to a boil. 

When the temperature reaches 110°C, begin whisking the egg whites. Keep an eye on the thermometer. By the time it reaches 118°C, the egg whites should be stiff. If the sugar is not hot enough, just stop beating until the sugar is up to temperature. 

Remove the syrup from the heat at 118°C. Start whisking the egg whites again and pour the hot syrup slowly into the egg whites, while you catch it with the beaters, beating it all in. 

Continue to beat the egg whites until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch, about 5 minutes. 

Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe swirls onto cupcakes. 

Drizzle chocolate over each meringue and swirl until all the meringue is covered. 

* Recipe & image by Grace Stevens – TV chef and cookbook author.