Passionfruit and Coconut Meringue Cupcakes

• Baking
• Dessert

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line 2 cupcake trays with 15 patty cases.
2. Place the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Mix on high until it pales and becomes fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the milk and whisk well to combine. Stir in ½ cup of shredded/desiccated coconut.
3. Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter into the pre lined cupcake trays.
4. Optional - sprinkle the additional ½ cup of shredded coconut on top of the cupcakes for a bit of extra toasted coconut crunch.
5. Bake for approx 15 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

1. Once your cupcakes have cooled begin the icing.
2. Heat an inch of water in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add all of the ingredients to a heatproof bowl and set over the saucepan. If you have a stand mixer, use your stand mixer bowl here.
3. Heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Test that the sugar has dissolved with your finger or a spoon; the mixture won’t be too hot. This process is designed to make the eggs safe for eating, no danger for salmonella.
4. Take the bowl off the heat and transfer to your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for 8-10 minutes or until stiff peaks have formed.
5. This icing needs to be piped or spread onto your cupcakes straight away. After a short time this icing will lose its stiff peaks so best to work quick and not make too far in advance.

1. Using an apple corer, core out the centre of the cupcakes once they have cooled.
2. Fill up a piping bag with 1 jar of Barker’s Passionfruit Butter and pipe into the centre of the cupcakes until they are filled.
3. Once you have made your icing, you can either pipe the icing on in a neat swirl or a bit more rustic like I have done here. To get this effect, fill a piping bag with icing and cut a 1.5cm hole in the end of the piping bag. Pipe rough peaks onto the top of the cupcake; this doesn’t need to be neat. Use a spatula to pull up different sections of the icing to form peaks. Have fun with this step, it doesn’t need to be perfect we are going for rustic.
4. Use a culinary torch to toast the icing to your liking. I think the more toasted the better, this adds flavour!
5. These are best to be enjoyed the same day.