Lighter Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

I found this recipe in a magazine a while back, and loved that it was a "lite" version of the traditional Lemon Meringue Cupcake (after all, a girl's got to watch her weight sometimes!):

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. yellow cake mix ( or use the basic yellow cake mix recipe)
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3 egg whites
1 egg
3 Tbs. oil
l2 Tbs. + 2 tsp. grated lemon zest, from 3 lemons
1/2cup cold water
12 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. meringue powder
lemon zest strips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 24 muffin cups with liners.

On low speed, beat cake mix, 1 1/3 cups water, sour cream, egg whites, egg and oil until just combined--about 30 seconds or so.

On medium speed, beat about two more minutes.

Stir in 2 Tbs. zest

Divide batter among liners.

Bake 18-20 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Cool about 10 minutes.

Increase oven temp to 425 degrees

On medium speed, beat water, 6Tbs. sugar and meringue powder until combined.

On medium-high speed, beat 5 minutes or until soft peaks form.

Gradually beat in remaining sugar until stiff and glossy, 5 minutes.

Stir in remaining zest.

Frost cupcakes, then bake on pan 4-5 minutes or until lightly browned;

Cool and garnish with zest.

This recipe has 33% less fat and 20% fewer calories than an average lemon meringue cupcake recipe!