Easter Bakes

I know Easter is still a couple of weeks away but I thought I’d get into the spirit a bit early and make some festive cupcakes – it also helped that it was Sean’s birthday a few weeks ago so that was a good enough excuse to make something jam-packed with calories for his birthday present.

The recipe for the Cupcakes is one by Mary Berry and everyone knows how much I love her so of course I had to try it out.

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cupcakes

• 4tbsp of boiling water
• 40g Cocoa Powder
• 3 eggs
• 175g Butter (unsalted) softened
• 165g Unrefined golden caster sugar – I used normal caster sugar.
• 115g Self-raising white flour
• 1tsp Baking powder

For the Chocolate Icing

• 60g Butter (unsalted)
• 30g Cocoa powder
• 3tbsp Milk (whole) – I used semi skimmed.
• 250g Unrefined golden icing sugar – I used normal icing sugar.

I tested out the recipe for the Chocolate Icing but I didn’t like the way it turned out, so I just used a simple butter cream icing recipe that I’ve been using for years.

Method

1. Line a muffin tin with paper cases. Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl, pour in the boiling water and mix into a thick paste. Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix with an electric whisk (or beat with a wooden spoon).
2. Divide the mixture equally between the 14 paper cases. Bake in a preheated oven at 200c, 400F, Gas Mark 6 for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and springy to touch. Cool in cases on a wire rack.
3. To make the chocolate icing, melt the butter and pour into a bowl. Sift in the cocoa powder and stir in the icing sugar a little at a time to make a glossy and spreadable icing. If the icing is too thick, gradually add the milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Pipe over the cupcakes.

For the decorations, I decided to make little nests with Creme Eggs and Malteser Bunnies sitting on top. I had never made these as a decoration for a cake before so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out because I thought they might be a bit too heavy and squash the icing altogether – but thankfully, they turned out really well and I was extremely happy with myself. I came across some miniature cake cases in Waitrose and I thought they’d be great for making the nests.

You need two ingredients to make the nests – chocolate and Weetabix. All you have to do is melt the chocolate down in a bowl over boiling water. Once it has melted, you need to add the Weetabix and ensure it’s covered completely. Once everything is covered, you need to put the mixture into the cupcakes and then place the Creme Egg or Malteser Bunny on top. I made these a couple of hours before I iced the cakes so I could decorate them straight away.

Why don’t you give it a go? Leave a photo in the comments if you do!

Love,
Emily xo