These vanilla Easter cupcakes are light and fluffy, and utterly delicious. Topped with creamy whipped vanilla buttercream, and with a hidden chocolate surprise inside, these are easy to put together and make the perfect alternative to chocolate eggs.
Hands up, who loves a bargain?
Oh good, you do. So do I!
I’m forever on the hunt for baking bargains. Long gone are the days when cupcake supplies were limited to a few sprinkles and white cases in the baking section of your local supermarket. You can find them pretty much everywhere nowadays.
Whilst I was running my cupcake shop here in Cirencester, I made it my mission to hunt down beautiful cupcake decorations and kits for my customers. At that time I came across Meri Meri, and I fell in love with their cupcake sets. Moving forward 8 years, and Meri Meri
Over the last 12 months I’ve discovered the wonder of Home Bargains! Now, I know you’ll be sat there thinking, how on earth did she not know about the home of all bargains to be had. Well, the High Street takes a slower pace here in Cirencester, and Home Bargains has finally landed here.
I’ll happily admit that at first I was sceptical; but on a pop-in visit for an offer on dishwasher tablets I found myself in the kitchen equipment aisle and from that moment on my eyes were opened.
Cupcake bargain hunting
Now, I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting much from the cupcake decorating equipment – I thought the cases would be a bit on the basic side and maybe the sprinkle selection a bit hit and miss. I’ll happily proved wrong.
They have a huge range of basics, including small packets of coloured
And the best bit, they won’t break the bank!
So where am I going with this…
Quite simply… Vanilla Easter Cupcakes all decorated with one of these fabulous cupcake kits!
I stumbled on these adorable Easter kits on another detergent shopping mission, quite possibly washing powder this time, and I had to have them. Popping a set into my basket, my eyes continued to scan up and down the shelves and low and behold, what should jump out at me? Matching presentation boxes, Easter sprinkles with the most adorable bunnies and carrots, and wafer butterflies. Well, there was no way I was leaving without them. Oh and more Easter chocolate as well.
These vanilla Easter cupcakes with a hidden chocolate surprise didn’t take long at all to bake. Don’t they look so cute with the sprinkles and decorations that I picked up? And hidden deep inside each of these fluffy cupcakes is a Cadbury’s Creme Egg Twisted.
Top tips for vanilla Easter cupcakes
- Always use butter that has been brought up to room temperature rather than straight from the fridge. The softer butter is easier to beat and gives a lighter and fluffier cake batter and buttercream.
- To help prevent the Cadbury Creme Egg
Twisted from melting into the cupcakes as they bake, pop them in the freezer the night before and take them out when you need them. That way when they bake, they hold their shape. - Use a wide enough nozzle when you’re piping your buttercream frosting; that way you’ll get good coverage and a nice looking swirl. I like using the Wilton 1M nozzle.
- I decorated the cupcakes really simply, and you can win a set of the cupcake decorations to make your own below, or you might just want to eat the Creme Egg Twisted instead.
- Keep an eye on your local baking supplies store for all year round bargains, and spend some time in the kitchen with little ones teaching them to bake.
- Relax and enjoy it – baking is a great way to chill out on a weekend. So what if your cupcakes aren’t picture perfect, I bet they still taste amazing!
Recommended equipment
Looking for more inspiration
How about taking a look at these other deliciously easy Easter treats…
Vanilla Easter Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 200 g Butter unsalted
- 200 g Vanilla Caster Sugar
- 2 tbsp Creme Fraiche optional
- 4 Eggs Medium
- 200 g Self Raising Flour
- 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- 12 Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted Chocolate
For the Buttercream Frosting
- 250 g Butter Unsalted
- 400 g Icing or Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
- Yellow Food Colour Gel
Instructions
- For the Cupcakes
- The night before place the Twisted in the freezer to chill.
- Preheat oven to 180C and line a deep muffin tray with 12 cupcake cases.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until softened. Alternatively, you can make the cake batter, in a large mixing bowl, by hand or with an electric hand whisk.
- Add the sugar and creme fraiche to the softened butter and cream until light and fluffy. If you do not want to use creme fraiche, you can use full-fat milk.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture. Beat well between adding each egg.
- Add the vanilla bean paste and mix through well.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together, and add to the mixture. Gently mix together until the cake batter is soft and smooth.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the cupcake cases, approximately 1 scoop per case.
- Remove the Twisted chocolates from the freezer and place one in the centre of each cupcake case, pushing down until it is halfway in the batter.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- To Make the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and the vanilla bean paste. Beat until smooth. You may need a drop of full-fat milk to help combine.
- Add the remaining icing sugar. Beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting as it will slacken and maybe runny when piping.
- To Decorate the Cupcakes
- Fit a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star nozzle, and fill with the buttercream frosting.
- Hold the piping bag above the cupcake and pipe the buttercream in a swirl.
- Decorate with sprinkles and Easter cupcake decorations.
Notes
Nutrition
DISCLAIMER
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
These Easter cupcakes went down a storm with my work colleagues.