Easter is a great excuse to have some fun in the kitchen with the kids and cupcakes are the perfect project! So we decided to trawl Pinterest and other online sites for easy Easter themed ideas.
We would love to see what great ideas you come up with so please send us through a photo or two!
Cupcake Nests
These are simple but effective! Ice your cupcake with a vanilla buttercream icing and top with toasted long thread coconut. Add a couple (or three) mini eggs on each nest a voila!
Shaved chocolate can also work if you don’t have coconut threads.
Chocolate Fish Bunnies
We saw these last Easter in a cafe in Coromandel and thought they were brilliant.
Top your iced cupcake with a mini chocolate fish that you have turned into a bunny with some edible icing pens, licorice and a mini marshmallow.
Meringue Bunnies
For these we made an Italian Meringue for the icing. We then used a leaf shaped icing cutter to cut out the ear shape from a basic vanilla cookie dough. Baked these and then iced with white and pink icing to form the ears, which we then stuck into the Italian meringue iced cupcakes. A little licorice and or icing for eyes, nose and whiskers completes the bunnies.
Chopped jumbo marshmallows also make great ears!
Italian Merringue
4 egg white, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
200mls water
Pinch cream of tartar
Put the sugar in a small pot along with the water and bring to a simmer, when the sugar has dissolved increase the heat. Using a candy thermometer measure the temperature, when it reaches 115 degree C start to whisk the egg whites.
Whisk the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until the whites form soft peaks. By this stage the sugar syrup should have reached 130 degree C (or hard ball stage). While you continue to beat the egg whites slowly drizzle in the sugar syrup and continue to beat for a further 20 minutes until the egg white have cooled.
Basic Cupcake Recipe
125g butter
¾ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
1½ cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon natural yoghurt
Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence until pale and creamy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in the flour, baking powder, yoghurt and milk and mix until smooth.
Place spoonfuls of mixture into 12 cupcake cases.
Bake for 15 minutes in pre heated oven @ 180C
Buttercream Icing
150g soft butter
4 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup hot water
Beat the butter and icing sugar together, adding 1 tablespoon of hot water at a time until you get the right consistency.
Put the icing in a piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.