HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

My Valentine's Day gift to you is this adorable cupcake. Not a cupcake at all, but a meringue confection masquerading as a cupcake. Delishishly decadent and sweet. Totally impractical, hideously fattening and difficult to resist.

Pink Meringue Cupcakes with Raspberry Curd
Martha Stewart Living Magazine, February 2010

Ingredients:
cooking spray like Pam
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
Gel-paste food coloring (I used food coloring I already had)
2 cups crème fraiche
1 container (6 ounces) fresh raspberries
Raspberry curd (recipe follows)


Method:
Preheat oven to 225°. Line every other cup of 2 non-stick muffin tins with baking cups. Just before filling with the meringue, spray the muffin liners with Pam.
Beat the whites, vinegar, vanilla and salt in a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add 1-3/4 cups sugar one tablespoon at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, making certain the sugar dissolves. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Mix in 6 drops of food coloring.

Spray your muffin cups now.
Tranfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a plain coupler (no tip) and pipe into the prepared muffin liners, filling to about 2 inches above the rims, ending with a peak in the center.
Bake, rotating half way through, for 3 to 3 hours and 20 minutes. Cupcakes should be dry on the outside and when you stick a toothpick in horizontally at the base of the top, it should come out with moist but cooked crumbs on it.
Transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely. Beat the creme fraiche and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar on high speed until soft peaks form. Carefully slice the tops of the cupcake off using a serrated knife. Top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons of raspberry curd (recipe follows), a few raspberries and 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche. Replace tops and serve.
Makes 1 dozen.


Raspberry Curd

Ingredients:
1 container (6 ounces) fresh raspberries
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Method:
Stir all ingredients together well in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until slightly thick, about 8-10 minutes. Strain, refrigerate until cold and thick.