April | 2009 | Kitchenbelle

Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes

Posted on April 11, 2009 by kitchenbelle

HAPPY EASTER!

I hope the Easter Bunny left you a basket overflowing with Cadburys and peanut butter filled chocolate eggs!

—–

For Christmas my brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave me this book called Hello, Cupcake! If you haven’t seen it yet, you must check it out. The cupcakes in this book are legitimate pieces of art work, and I must say, a little intimidating! I knew, though, back in December that I wouldn’t be able to resist attempting these Easter Egg Cupcakes! I’ve had the page marked for four months!

The gist of the recipe is this:

Bake chocolate cupcakes (I used Joanne Chang’s Flour Bakery Chocolate Cupcake Recipe)
Trim a graham cracker to the shape of an egg
“Glue” the graham cracker to the top of the cupcake using a dollop of frosting
Decorate the cracker with frosting and sprinkles

The problem was this: Each attempt at “trimming” a graham cracker resulted in a broken graham cracker. My mom and I brainstormed and settled on the perfect solution—to bake sugar cookies cut out in the shape of eggs and use those in place of the “trimmed” graham crackers! And that is exactly what I did. It worked out perfectly. And these cupcakes were so fun to decorate! I love the bright colors! And as always, this chocolate cupcake recipe yielded 12 rich, moist, chocolaty, delicious cupcakes.

chocolate cupcake + sugar cookie + frosting + sprinkles = easter bunny heaven

Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes (Flour Bakery Recipe):

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop chocolate and place it in a bowl with the cocoa powder. Mix butter, water and sugar in a pan over medium high heat. Whisk until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Pour hot butter mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until chocolate melted and ingredients are combined. Whisk the egg, milk, and vanilla extract together then whisk into the chocolate mixture until combined. Sift the dry ingredients together. Pour the dry ingredients onto the wet ingredients. Whisk until the dry ingredients are totally mixed into the chocolate mixture. Let stand about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, line muffin tin with liners and then pour the batter (or use an ice cream scoop) into the muffin cups, dividing batter evenly among the 12 cups. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 26-29 minutes. Cool in tin on rack for 15 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Hello, Cupcake! and Flour Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes.

Filed under: chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, Dessert, frosting | 1 Comment »

Mini Pina Colada Easter Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted on April 6, 2009 by kitchenbelle

Spring is in the air here in Boston (and Easter is less than a weak away!) so I wanted to make some festive cupcakes. I still love my mini cupcake pan so I decided to make a mini version of these Pina Colada cupcakes. I was a little disappointed because I over-baked them just a tad (that is something that can happen easily with these little guys so keep your eye on them!) so they were a bit dry for my liking. That aside, the flavor was really great. One thing to note, though, is I did not taste the rum at all. The pineapple and coconut flavors were most prominent. I may double the rum next time because what is a pina colada without rum?!

I topped these little fellas with piped yellow-colored cream cheese frosting and jelly beans. The lack of rum flavor was most certainly compensated for by the cream cheese frosting, because, well, cream cheese frosting = heaven. I would consider skipping the rum in all of my cocktails if that meant piles of cream cheese frosting instead!

One note—Keep the frosting in the fridge while you aren’t using it. That way it won’t melt.

Mini Pina Colada Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting:

Cake

1.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/3 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line mini cupcake tin with mini papers.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another medium bowl, beat together melted butter, pineapple juice, rum, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients 1/2 cup at a time until combined. Fold in the pineapple and coconut.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full–unless you love the big muffin top then fill them to the top of the liner.

Bake for about 8-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before frosting. (Makes ~48 mini-cupcakes.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

One 8-ounce package of cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer, until smooth. Slowly sift the confectioners’ sugar into the butter/cream cheese, about one cup at a time. Continue to beat until all lumps are gone. Add the vanilla and mix until fully combined. Add a few drops of the food coloring of your choice and continue to mix until color is evenly distributed.