Easter Nest Cupcakes

Aren’t these cute?! They are so easy to make and would make a lovely little gift for Easter (the cost of Easter eggs is crazy!) or an easy bit of themed baking to take into work or have on hand for unexpected visitors over the long weekend.

To make them I just used my Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake recipe and divided it between 20 cupcake papers. You could easily use Mel’s recipe for the Easter Chicken Cupcakes and just decorate your cupcakes differently so you have a bit of variety. To decorate I used a basic buttercream and added 2 tablespoons cocoa (you can add more or less and make it to your own tastes). I spread the frosting thinly over the top of each cupcake with a knife, piped a circle with a Wilton 2D tip so it looked like a nest, inside the nest I placed 3-4 mini eggs and a chick.

Buttercream and decoration:
125g butter softened
2 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
2-3 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Mini eggs (I used M&M’s speckled eggs) – you will need 3-4 eggs per cupcake.
Mini chicks

Cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar/cocoa alternating with hot water and vanilla essence. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with.

Are they good?! Max thought so, barely got through snapping photos before the baking thief struck.