Eton Mess Cupcakes

And the second cupcake from my to do list is Eton Mess Cupcakes - Yellow Cake with Cream, chewy meringue, and fragrance strawberries. Who wouldn't fancy that?

This is a traditional English dessert, very simple and easy to make recipe. 

  Even if the recipe is simple,  the homemade meringue convinced me . I haven't made it in a long time and I got really excited. I had fun making all those tiny meringues.
At first you'll think that you won't use all of them, but once you start to decorate the cupcakes, they will just... disappear.  The hard part was to put them on the cupcakes because they were a little bit sticky; I guess I should have left them longer in the oven, but I loved that they were so chewy.

If you want, you can add some fresh chopped strawberries in the batter or even jam.

In the original recipe, the cupcakes were decorated with whipped cream, but I don't like the idea. You can use it only if you serve the cupcakes right away and they have to be cooled down (otherwise it will melt). If you want to serve them in a few hours, the whipped cream won't resist and will transform in a watery thing that will ruin your cupcakes.

What I used for my cupcakes was a vanilla icing, made from cream cheese, confectioners sugar, a splash of milk and some vanilla essence  It has a great taste and works perfectly with this recipe. The great part is that you don't have to use lots of sugar, you can make it as sweet as you like ;)

Another thing that I like about these cupcakes is that you don't have to put a lot of effort into make it look perfect.  They have to have a ''messy'' look , as the name says.

And now the recipe for 12 cupcakes.


Ingredients

For cupcakes:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk

For meringue:

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt

For topping:
whipped cream
chopped  fresh strawberries

My new colorful measuring cups

Directions:
In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium until light and fluffy. 

Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and eggs. 

Add milk and flour mixture alternately while still mixing. 

Pour the mixture into lined cupcake pan. 

Bake at 350F/ 180C for 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let them cool completely decorating.

To make the meringue:

Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.

Gradually add sugar and vanilla and beat until mixture is stiff and glossy. 

Using knife or pastry bag, make meringue shapes on parchment or aluminum foil.

 Bake at 225F/110C until shapes are crisp and firm. 

Frost cupcakes with whipped cream, and pile with strawberries and meringue as I did in the pictures.

For a splash of color I added some fresh mint. Cause was mint to be ;)

Envoy!