Easter egg hunt cupcakes recipe

These Easter egg hunt cupcakes are a lovely idea to upgrade your Easter egg hunt. These adorable Easter cupcakes feature edible 'grass' and instructions for your own egg hunt. These Easter cupcakes take around 1 hour and 30 mins to make and they require a bit of effort to decorate, but they will be well worth the time when you see the kids faces when they see and taste the cupcakes.

Ingredients

For this Easter recipe you will need:

• 150g caster sugar
• 150g butter
• 140g self-raising flour
• 10g cornflour
• 3 medium eggs
• 30ml milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream icing 'grass':

• 110g butter, room temperature
• 500g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml milk
• Green food colouring (Victoria used Sugarflair's Party Green and Holly Green)

For the egg hunt decorations:

• 610g white fondant icing
• Food colour paste in various Easter shades such as pale blue, pink, mint green and purple
• Brown food colour paste for the small rabbits (Victoria used Sugarflair's Chestnut)
• Round 'confetti' sprinkles for the dots on the eggs (Victoria got hers from thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk)
• Small edible daisies
• Black writing icing

You will also need:

• Piping bag
• Grass nozzle (Victoria got hers from totallysugarcrafts.co.uk)

Optional:

• Small Bunny cutter for the small rabbits on the arrows (Victoria got hers from cakecraftworld.co.uk)
• White mimosa balls from the supermarket baking aisle for the tails of the rabbits
• Tooth pick for the patterned edges
• Rabbit cutter for the large rabbit (Victoria got hers from cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk)

Method

1. To make the Easter egg hunt decorations:
   1. Make the Easter egg hunt decorations the day before you need them, in order for them to set. On a piece of paper, draw an arrow big enough for you to write on to make templates for the arrows (approx 8cm x 4cm) and cut them out. Do the same with the egg shapes to go on the arrows and large white rabbits (they should be approx 2cm x 1.5cm).
   2. Put 110g of the white fondant aside.Divide up 500g of the fondant into 5 x 100g pieces and colour them in various Easter-type colours - pink, pale blue, purple, yellow and green. Colour 10g of fondant brown for the small rabbits and leave the last 100g white.
   3. Once you have coloured the fondant in your chosen colours, cut out 12 arrows. Use a toothpick to make stitch marks around the edges after you cut each one. Cut out 5 rabbits from the brown fondant using a small bunny cutter and lay them and the arrows onto a large piece of greaseproof paper to dry. With a dab of water stick the white mimosa balls (or a leftover blob of white fondant) onto the rabbits for the tails.
   4. Using 75g of white fondant, cut 2 large rabbits and pop them on the paper to dry. Take the leftover pink-coloured fondant and use it to make the rabbit's nose and foot pads. Stick them on with a dab of water.
   5. Using the black icing writing to make 2 black dots for eyes on the large rabbit. Use off-cuts of the white fondant to make the centres of the eyes.
   6. With the off-cuts of the pastel colours and using your egg template, cut 22 eggs in various colours and with a tiny dab of water stick the coloured sprinkles on. You could also use tiny pieces of leftover coloured fondant for the dots.
   7. Stick the rabbits and eggs onto the arrows with a dab of water, and add the daisies. Stick the remainder of the eggs onto the Easter bunny and leave to dry.
   8. The next day when they are dry, use your black icing writing pen to write instructions for the egg hunt on the arrows.
   To make the cakes:
   1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.
   2. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth. Don’t over beat.
   3. Divide the mixture between your paper cases filling to ¾ full. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on your oven. The cakes are ready when they are golden and springy to the touch.
   4. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 mins before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
   For the buttercream:
   1. Add butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl, then beat for about 5 minutes with an electric whisk until smooth. Add a tiny amount of each of the green food paste colours and beat, adding more until you have the desired shade.
   2. Pour in the milk gradually if you need to loosen the mixture.
   3. Add the grass decorating tip to a large piping bag and place the bag in a large glass, pulling the bag down around the glass. Fill the piping bag 2/3 full with the green buttercream, pushing down into the bag as you fill it. Lift the bag up from around the glass and, pushing all the air up out of the bag, twist it shut at the top of the icing.
   4. To pipe the grass, starting in the centre of each cake and applying the pressure to the bag. Squeeze 2cm of buttercream out before releasing the pressure and quickly pulling away. Repeat until the top of the cake is covered and place one of the arrows or rabbit decoration on straight away.

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