Bird’s Nest Easter Cupcakes
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Bird’s Nest Easter Cupcakes are the perfect Easter treat! Fluffy vanilla cupcakes, smooth chocolate buttercream frosting, the sweet crunch of toasted coconut, and the adorable mini Cadbury egg bird toppers combine for the show-stealing treat everyone will reach for!
My daughter and I had so much fun making these, and like me, she was thoroughly ecstatic over them. It’s a great family activity to have kids help you prepare these spring cupcakes! We love to have them for Easter Sunday, and would be a huge hit at a spring class party, too.
I also need to tell my husband thanks—he came home yesterday with a bag of Mini Cadbury Eggs and I was ready to eat the entire bag. It’s not just me, right? Mini Cadbury Eggs are everyone’s favorite Easter candy!
Later, I saw these cupcakes when browsing my favorite food sites and it clicked, why not use the blue Cadbury Mini Eggs instead of frosting? You can also use the other Mini Cadbury Egg colors—I just love the look of bluebird blue! Using the Cadbury eggs instead of frosting globs is genius because they are easier, they hold up better and they are one of the best, creamiest chocolate candies of all time. Don’t ever give me a bag, because it’s likely I won’t share with you =).
Bird’s Nest Easter Cupcakes
These cupcakes are enticingly delicious! This is a recipe I will be using often. The cupcake is moist and perfectly tender. I made the frosting to be a gentle and not overbearing chocolate flavor so they complement the vanilla cupcake and toasted coconut perfectly without screaming for all the attention.
Another important factor the chocolate frosting plays is how its color matches the toasted coconut wonderfully. I hope you get a chance to make these cupcakes this spring and possibly even for Easter. They are sure to put a smile on the face of any lucky person who gets one.
Follow Easy Cooking Zone
Bird’s Nest Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 Recipe Vanilla Cupcakes , recipe follows
- 1 cup sweetened , flaked coconut
- 1 Recipe Chocolate Buttercream , recipe follows
- 36 blue chocolate Cadbury Mini Eggs*
- 1 Tbsp Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup salted butter , softened and diced into pieces*
- 1 large egg , at room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks , at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup salted butter , softened
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- Yellow and red food coloring gel
Instructions
Birds Nest Cupcakes
- Prepare cupcakes according to directions listed, allow to cool completely. Then toast coconut by preheating oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut onto a cookie sheet and bake in preheat oven for 8-9 minutes until golden brown, rotating pan halfway through baking and watching closely to prevent over toasting. Allow to cool.
- Prepare Chocolate Buttercream Frosting as well as the orange tinted frosting for beaks according to directions listed. Frost cooled cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Gently press 3 blue Cadbury Mini Eggs into the center of each cupcake with the pointed end facing down (larger rounded side should be facing top). Sprinkle toasted coconut around the Cadbury Mini Eggs on each cupcake (try to work quickly doing this before the frosting sets up so the coconut sticks better).
- Fill a ziploc bag with orange tinted frosting, then using scissors, cut a very small tip off the edge of the bag and pipe beaks onto Cadbury Mini Eggs (you can practice first on a plate, in the recipe I made it so there's enough for practicing. Also, you can use a toothpick as a "paintbrush" for mistakes).
- Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Using a toothpick, paint eyes onto the chicks with melted chocolate. Store cupcakes in an airtight container. Enjoy!
- *It's likely will need to purchase two 10 oz. bags of the Mini Cadbury Eggs if you want to do all blue chicks, otherwise if you only want to purchase one bag you could do half blue and half pink for the girls (or yellow or white). I had enough blue from one 10 oz. bag to make 7 cupcakes with blue chicks.
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in butter, egg, egg yolks, vanilla and sour cream then beat ingredients together with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds until mixture is smooth (don't over-mix, if necessary, using a rubber spatula stir the batter until the flour is fully incorporated after the allotted 30 seconds). Divide mixture evenly between 12 paper lined muffin cups (they should each be about 2/3 full). Bake cupcakes for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
- *Original recipe calls for unsalted butter but I make mine with salted butter.
- Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated, from joyofbaking.com
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, whip together powdered sugar, butter, cream and vanilla for 1 minute until very smooth and fluffy. Scoop out 2 1/2 tablespoons of the frosting (without cocoa powder) into a small bowl and tint it with yellow and red gel food coloring (you won't need much and a tiny bit of red goes a long way so take it easy with the coloring). Add cocoa powder to remaining non-tinted frosting mixture and using electric mixer, whip until well combine.
- Chocolate Buttercream Recipe Source: Easy Cooking Zone