Even my picky-picky husband ate several of these this afternoon and he is NOT known to be big on snacking (so that is quite the thumbs up at our house).
The cupcake is super moist, ultra light and fluffy and definitely going (immediately) into my "make again soon" recipe box.
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons caster sugar(divided)(see note below)
1/2 cup CAKE FLOUR (no substitutions)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites (at room temperature) (see note below)
2 1/2 tablespoons warm water (not hot)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350° and put paper cupcake liners in your cupcake pan (makes 18).
Sift together 1/2 cup castor sugar (reserve the rest) + 1/2 cup cake flour + salt and set this mixture aside. (*Make sure you use only 1/2 cup of the castor sugar in this step)
With electric mixer and a large bowl (I use my stand mixer), beat the egg whites, warm water, vanilla, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the reserved caster sugar. Beat until its very foamy, then while the mixer is still going, sprinkle in the reserved final two tablespoons of caster sugar and beat on high till stiff peaks form. If you are using a hand mixer, this can take as long as 5 minutes, but I had stiff peaks in only 2-3 minutes with my stand mixer.
After egg white mixture reaches stiff peaks, turn mixer off and use a spatula to GENTLY FOLD IN the cake flour mixture (about 1/3 of it at a time).
Divide the batter (it will look like meringue) evenly between 18 cupcake papers. Stack the batter high above the top of the cupcake papers.
Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or till top is light golden. Remove from oven and cool in the pan. When they are completely cool to the touch when you hold your hand against the underside of the cupcake pan.....then you can frost or top with whipped cream and berries.
NOTE: If you do not have caster sugar(which is fine sugar but NOT powdered sugar) you can make it by putting it in the food processor for about 15 seconds. Just make sure you measure it AFTER it comes out of the food processor.
NOTE: To get "room temperature eggs", I put mine in a bowl and then cover them with (almost) hot tap water and let them sit for 15 minutes.
NOTE: Make sure you stack the batter in a well rounded mound above the top of the cupcake paper. When you first take them out of the oven, they will look tall, but they collapse as they cool so that the final cupcake is even with the top of the cupcake paper.
ENJOY !!!