Recipe: Dessert Capitolios (Meringue-Topped Brownie Cupcakes) (Cuban)

DESSERT CAPITOLIOS
(MERINGUE-TOPPED BROWNIE CUPCAKES)

Carballo describes 1950s Havana's El Carmelo as ''a popular spot for the merienda, the de riguer afternoon snack,'' where offerings included ``a capitolio, a sort of chocolate cupcake with a heavy swirl of meringue on top.''

'After several failed efforts to recreate El Carmelo's capitolios I took the easy and deliciously simple way out: Duncan Hines' divine brownies with walnuts, to which I added more chopped walnuts. The original capitolios did not have any nuts in them, but . . . I think they add an appropriate textural interest. So there.''

1 (17.6-ounce) box Duncan Hines Chocolate Lovers Walnut Brownies
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1/2 cup corn syrup
3/4 cups egg whites (from about 6 large eggs)
1/4 cup sugar

Prepare the brownie mix according to package instructions, stirring in the additional walnuts. Pour into 12 buttered medium cupcake molds (or 16 mini ones). Bake according to directions. Remove from the oven, unmold the cupcakes and cool on a rack.

To make the meringue, heat the syrup to the boiling point, remove from heat and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar and beat the whites to stiff points. Gradually beat in the hot syrup. This will make firmer meringue.

Place the meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip. Start piping the meringue on the cupcakes from the outside rim, building diminishing circles on top of each other to form a spiral, and ending the smallest meringue circle in a peak. You can toast the meringue with a torch if you like, but that is not traditional either.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Source: Havana Salsa by Viviana Carballo