Mini Egg cupcakes recipe

These Mini Egg cupcakes are one of our cutest Easter bakes - topped with Mini Eggs and little yellow chicks.

The cupcakes are perfect for an Easter spread because they look so impressive - but they're not difficult to make. Each cake is topped with a layer of buttercream, then a swirl over the top to look like a nest. They're perfect for taking along to a bake sale or laying out at an Easter afternoon tea buffet. They only take 10 minutes to prepare, another 20 to bake, and another 20 or so to decorate. We've used vanilla cupcakes for this recipe, but if you wanted to double up the chocolate, you could use this chocolate cupcake recipe (opens in new tab) instead.

Ingredients

For this Easter recipe (opens in new tab) you will need:

• 275g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 100g butter, melted
• 300ml milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1tsp vanilla essence

For the icing:

• 225g icing sugar, sifted
• 100g butter, softened
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp hot water

For the decorations:

• 2-3 Mini Eggs per cupcake (24-36 eggs)
• 2 Cadbury Flakes, crushed
• 12 yellow Easter chicks

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
2. To make the muffins, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix the butter, milk, eggs and vanilla together and stir into the flour mixture. Beat until the mixture is just smooth - do not overbeat.
3. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins or until risen and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
4. To decorate, beat the icing sugar and butter together. Blend the cocoa and water to a smooth paste and beat into the butter mix. Divide the mixture into two equal portions. Spread one portion in a smooth layer over the top of each of the 12 cupcakes.
5. Put the remaining buttercream icing into an icing bag with a thin, round nozzle. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in rough circles so it looks like a twiggy nest. Crumble a little crushed Flake chocolate over the top to look like more twigs. Place two or three Mini eggs and one little yellow chick in the centre of each 'nest', and serve.

Top tips for making Mini Egg cupcakes

Swap the Mini Eggs for other Easter themed chocolates instead like Creme Eggs or hollow mini eggs instead. If you want to make these cupcakes extra chocolatey, push a Mini Egg or two into the cupcake mixture before baking.

You might also like…

Mini Egg recipes (opens in new tab)

Mini Egg Cookies (opens in new tab)

Hot cross buns (opens in new tab)