Easter Cupcakes

This Easter I made 48 vanilla cupcakes (see my recipe here), 36 with one decoration and 12 with another.  The first 36 were made last week and were a treat for the class my boyfriend's mum teaches at the local primary school.  She provided me with what she wanted to go on them and I baked and put them together.  They were not anything very fancy but they still looked good and the kids loved them.

As I said, the decoration for this was very simple.  It is essentially a ring of green icing, a Cadbury mini egg and a little bunny decoration from Poundland held down with a dab more green icing.  The bunny is not edible but apparently the kids spent the rest of the day playing with them.

The other 12 were a result of me wanting to take my usual Easter cupcakes one step further in terms of decoration.  Usually I just ice them with melted Cadbury's Dairy Milk (because I always try to use good quality chocolate since it makes a huge difference in taste) and put a couple of mini eggs on top.  They've always gone down well with everyone and are pretty much seasonal since I can only get mini eggs (or at least the Cadbury ones) first quarter of the year.

Anyway, when I was working at WH Smith I encountered a lot of baking magazines.  I've recently started to collect the Cake Decorating one that just came out, and I always sort of had my eye on Baked and Delicious.  The latter was not one we sold though, just one a customer had on order.  However, we did get the spring special in.  I saw it sitting in the same place we kept all the big collectable magazines.  I ummed and ahhed for about a week before I eventually caved and bought it.  The main draw being the lovely Easter themed silicone moulds, one of the shapes being for chicks, which is where the advancement idea came from.  If I already have eggs on my cakes, then why not a chick too?  And if I've got eggs and chicks, why not a nest as well?  And what makes a good nest?  Why, cornflake and chocolate crispy cakes of course!  So here they are, my lovely Easter nest cupcakes:

Admittedly, when making the cake mix I ended up with too much egg from the two I used (they were a bit big) so I had to add 2oz of everything else to balance it out (so 6oz sugar rather than the usual 4oz).  I still spread it out across 12 cakes though rather than making 18.  They obviously just came out a bit bigger than usual. They were really yummy!  Using good quality chocolate always makes crispy cakes taste so amazing so I recommend using your favourite chocolate for them.  And chocolate with vanilla cake is always scrummy. Decoration Recipe - for 12 cakes:   80g/3oz white chocolate Yellow tinting powder 200g/7oz milk chocolate 100g/3.5oz cornflakes 100g packet of Cadbury mini eggs Chick mould Rubber spatula Start by melting the white chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted add the yellow tinting powder and stir until you get an even colour through the chocolate.  Put into 12 chick moulds, using a toothpick to push the chocolate into any corners, then place in the fridge to set.  I only have 6 little moulds so I had to do mine in two batches.  When one was done I put them on a plate and left them in the fridge so they didn't soften. Now melt the milk chocolate. Measure out the cornflakes into a large bowl and add most of the melted chocolate.  I suggest keeping some aside to help fix things to the top of the cakes.  Mix in with the rubber spatula.  It may not look like enough but keep mixing and it will coat it all. When evenly coated build nests on top of the cakes.  Use the remaining melted chocolate to coat the top of the cakes. When putting on the cornflakes, I used two teaspoons to pick up a piece and place and push them together on the cake.  Just make a ring around the outside.  It's a bit fiddly and the crispies will slip about a bit but just persevere! When the nests are done, put two mini eggs in the nests, resting them against the nest if you can as the chocolate will hold them in place once it sets. Take the set chicks out the fridge and place in the nests too. Put cake in the fridge for about 10 minutes or until chocolate has set completely. And if you end up with spare nest mixture like I did, make crispy cakes!