Katrina's Chocky Easter Cupcakes

It’s almost Easter and once again we’ve gone a bit Baking Mad! We decided to run a little competition in the club this month – to bake and blog about an Easter themed recipe. The favourite recipe(s), as voted by our club members and a few special guest judges would win a bundle of baking goodies. We’ve also submitted all of these recipes to BakingMad.com, to join their excellent selection of Easter recipes, such as Hot Cross Buns, EasterCakes, Cake Pops and more!

Easter Goodness in a Bite!

My entry for the Easter  Bake Competition.

When I think of Easter, chocolate, mini eggs and chicks come to mind. So... I thought I would bring them together for extra indulgence!!!

Serves 12-14 (Depending on the size of your cupcake cases)

To make the cupcakes, you'll need:

175g    Plain flour

1/4      Teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2         Teaspoons baking powder

75g     Cocoa Powder

           A pinch of salt

3         Tablespoons butter

300g   Caster Sugar

2         Free-range eggs

250ml  Milk

2         Oranges zest

2         Tablespoons orange juice

For the Butter-cream you'll need:

110g   Butter

240g   Icing sugar

2-3     Tablespoons milk

For the Topping:

1 Family pack size of  chocolate Mini Eggs

1 Pack of matlesers

1 Bar of dark chocolate ( Shaved to make the nests)

Method:

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat your oven to 180°C or Gas mark 4 and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake casings.

Cream the butter an sugar together until the colour becomes pale.

Gradually incorporate both eggs, one at a time.

Then fold in all dry ingredients, the milk and the orange zest and juice into the mixture until smooth.

Using an ice cream scoop fill the cupcake cases with the mixture. 

(The scoop helps to make sure each cupcakes has the same amount of mixture)

Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Once removed allow them to completely cool before adding the butter-cream on top.

To make the butter-cream:

Place the butter, Icing sugar and milk into the mixer and mix until a thick dropping consistency. You can put this on anyway you wish. I used a piping bag!

I also made little Easter chicks for the first time from sugar paste, dyed yellow!

 And used a black and red icing to make their cute little faces. 

I just rolled 3 small round balls for their heads. Then 3 slightly larger ones for their bodies and pointed one end to resemble their tale feathers and then I rolled out 6 balls around the same size as the heads and moulded them to look like wings. I just used a simple icing mixture to stick them together.

They all have their own characters.

The middle looks ready to go for a dive!

Also, for a cheeky added extra I shaved some chocolate. It's so simple and cheap to do! Just place a knife on top of the chocolate bar and repeatedly pull towards yourself.

Once your butter-cream is added, either decorate with the little chicks, mini egg nests or they are just as nice with the butter-cream beautifully piped on top.

Enjoy!

PS - this recipe will also be submitted to http://www.bakingmad.com/ideas/easter-baking  - so keep an eye out for it there!