These Easter Egg Cupcakes are decorated for the kids (of any age), but the flavors will satisfy the adults. I was recently sent a box of fresh passion fruit, some candied mini eggs, and passion fruit-flavored white chocolate, so it just seemed obvious that I’d make the Chocolate Devil’s Food cake from Zoë Bakes Cakes and passion fruit flavored buttercream. You can go with whatever flavor combinations get you excited. The little nests are actually super simple to create and I have a video in my highlights, a link in the recipe, on how I did it. Any flavor chocolate will do. The grass is the result of a special piping tip, but otherwise, nothing extra is needed to make these.
When my boys were little we’d spend Easter at my dad’s house and he and my stepmom would set up elaborate egg hunts. A tradition my dad took very seriously and had started when I was little. One year he rented a giant bunny suit and he came lumbering out of the forest behind our home in CT. What he hadn’t anticipated is how the sight of a 6-foot-tall bunny, enthusiastically bounding out between the trees would impress a bunch of children. We were terrified and ran for the house! It is a story that will never stop giving in my family and these Easter egg cupcakes remind me to tease my dad about it again! We all have funny memories of good intentions gone a little wrong.
Ingredients
- 1 batch Devil’s Food baked as 24 cupcakes
- 8 oz Passion fruit chocolate*, melted (to make the nests) can use white chocolate or any flavor you want
- Candied mini eggs**
American Buttercream
- 6 cups (720g) confectioners' sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (330g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup (60ml) passion fruit juice juice of two passion fruits****
Instructions
American Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the confectioners’ sugar and butter and beat on low speed until combined.
- Turn the mixer speed to medium and beat until a thick paste forms. Scrape down the bowl and paddle, then add the vanilla, almond extract and salt and beat for a few seconds more.
- Remove 1/3 of the buttercream from the bowl and cover. This will be your grass and you'll be adding green food coloring to it and using a Grass Piping Tip***. For the remaining 2/3 buttercream, with the mixer on low speed, add enough of the passion fruit juice, a little at a time, to make the frosting spreadable. Use immediately.
I just found your show on You Tube and was so impressed with the simplicity of your skills in bread baking. Being a novice I bought both your books, Artisan bread Baking and Zoe Bakes. I look forward to watching your new shows (and old) on Magnolia Network.
Love your hand expressions and sweet personality.