Description
If you want to serve some cupcakes for Easter you can use one basic recipe and turn it into many different decorated cupcakes. Easy peasy ;)
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
3 tbsp. butter, melted
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
2/3 cup (170ml) milk, at room temperature
2 medium eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 2/3 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Optional for the batter:
1.8 oz. (50g) chopped nuts or chocolate
For the vanilla buttercream:
2/3 cup (170g) butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups (290g) confectioners‘ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2–4 tbsp. heavy cream
if necessary, some orange food coloring
For the filling/decoration:
1–2 tsp. jam/compote per cupcake
1–2 tsp. nougat cream or chocolate ganache per cupcake (alternative)
small chocolate Easter Bunnies
small chocolate Easter Eggs
small jelly Easter Eggs
edible paper grass*
some crushed Oreos (without the filling)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175°C). Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners and set aside. Melt the butter for the batter and let cool down a bit.
2. Add the melted butter together with the oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix until well combined. Add the sugar and mix until you get a pale and fluffy mixture. Mix the flour with baking powder, and salt and gradually add to the bowl – mix in until just combined. If you like, you can fold in either chopped nuts or chopped chocolate as well here to customize the cupcakes. You can add that to the whole batter or half of the batter (all optional).
3. Divide the batter between the paper liners and bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Take out of the oven, remove from the muffin tin and let cool down completely on a wire rack.
4. For the buttercream add the butter to a large bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners‘ sugar and vanilla extract and mix slowly first, then on high speed for several minutes until you get a creamy and fluffy texture. Gradually add some heavy cream to get a consistency that can be piped easily. If you want to make cupcakes with carrots (see photos), you should color some of the buttercream with orange food coloring.
5. The cupcakes can now be decorated and customized in various ways. You can hollow out all (or just some) of the cupcakes with a cupcake corer* or knife and add a filling. This can be jam, compote, nougat cream, or a chocolate ganache. You can then pipe some buttercream on top with a round or star tip and further decorate the cupcakes with Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, edible paper grass, and/or some chopped chocolate. Take a look at the photos for this and you’ll see what combination works ;) If you want to decorate cupcakes with carrots peeking out, you should first coat the cupcakes with a thin layer of buttercream or nougat cream, then press them into crushed Oreos, pipe on some orange buttercream with a round nozzle, and then finish the decoration with some green edible paper.
Notes
Enjoy baking!