It's no secret that I love to bake so I thought I'd use Easter as an opportunity to cook up some chocolate-y goodness and decided to bake some yummy Mini Egg and Creme Egg cupcakes.
Ingredients
For the sponge:
70g unsalted butter
210g caster sugar
105g soft light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
255g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2tsp baking powder
240ml whole milk
Milk chocolate chips
Frozen Cadburys Mini Creme Eggs
For the frosting:
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter
50ml whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Yellow food colouring
Dark Chocolate
Cadburys Mini Eggs
1.First of all pre-heat your oven to 190ºc/Gas mark 5 and fill your muffin tins with cases, this recipe usually makes around 16 cupcakes.
2.Using an electric whisk or freestanding mixer cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs one at a time on a medium speed, followed by the vanilla essence.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients and add a third to the mixture, mix on a low speed, then add a third of the milk and continue to mix on a low speed. Repeat twice until the flour mixture and milk has all been used, then raise to a medium speed until the batter is smooth and well mixed.
4. Fill half the cases with the chocolate batter and put a frozen mini creme egg in each case. Freezing the creme eggs overnight before hand helps them to keep their shape whilst the sponge bakes so it doesn't melt into the batter. Mix half of the pack of milk chocolate chips into the remaining batter and fill the rest of the cases and bake in the oven for 18-20 mins.
Whilst the cupcakes cool on the side you can make the frosting.
1. Mix together the butter and icing sugar with an electric whisk until fully combined and has a sandy consistency, then mix in the milk and vanilla essence. Whisk on a high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
2. Separate the mixture into two bowls and add yellow food colouring to one half of the mixture little by little until you reach your desired colour. Fill a piping bag with a large star tip nozzle with the yellow icing and pipe onto the Creme Egg cupcakes.
3. Break the dark chocolate into pieces in glass bowl and place over a pan of simmering water to melt. Drizzle over the Creme Egg cupcakes and leave to set. Whilst they are setting, add the rest of the melted chocolate to the other half of the frosting and mix well. Then pipe the chocolate frosting around the edge of the chocolate chip cupcakes to create a nest and then pipe a small dot into the middle to sit the Mini Eggs in. You have to work fairly quickly when doing this as the chocolate cools and sets the frosting faster making it harder to pipe.
Here is the end result...
Let me know if you decide to give these a try, I'd love to see how yours turn out, or if you have any yummy Easter recipes of your own to share.
