Easter Cupcakes With White Chocolate Frosting Food

EASTER NEST COCONUT & WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases and heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Whizz the sugar with the coconut in a food processor until very finely ground. Tip into a big mixing bowl with the flour and mix. Add the whisked egg mixture, melted butter and chocolate, then stir together until smooth.
• Spoon into the cases (they will be quite full) and bake for 18-20 mins on a middle shelf until golden and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack (keep the oven on).
• Spread the shredded coconut on a baking tray and put in the oven for about 10 mins to lightly toast - stir halfway through. Cool. To make the frosting, put the chocolate, butter and icing sugar in a big bowl and beat together with an electric whisk until just combined.
• Spread some of the frosting generously over the top of the cooled cakes - you don't have to go right to the edges. Once you've done all 12, scrape the rest of the icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1-2cm nozzle, and pipe a ring around the top edge to make a nest. Roll in the cooled coconut to roughly coat.
• Turn each mini egg into a baby chick by moulding little beaks from the orange or yellow icing and sticking on with a little runny black icing when you add the eyes. Stick baby chicks into the middle of each cake and enjoy.

CHOCOLATE EASTER CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the brown sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, oil and milk in a jug. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry, whisking until smooth. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases. Divide the mixture between them, then bake for 20 mins until risen. Leave to cool in the tin.
• Meanwhile, make the icing. Beat the icing sugar and butter with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Whisk in some of the milk to loosen to a pipeable consistency, if needed.
• For the chick decoration, colour a small piece of fondant orange using a drop of food colouring gel and another small piece black. Colour a few tablespoons of the icing yellow and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle. Pipe a yellow blob in the centre of the cupcake and a smaller one on top. Roll the black fondant into two small balls and place them as eyes. Roll a little cone of orange fondant for the beak. For each foot, roll three small, longer pieces and pinch them together at one end. Push the feet in beneath the body, hiding the pinch.
• For the bunny, beat the cocoa and 1 tbsp milk into a few tablespoons of the icing. Spread over the cupcake. Spoon a few tablespoons of the plain icing into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle and pipe a small blob on top. Stick a mini marshmallow on top of that for a tail. For the feet, shape two small pieces of white fondant into ovals and press down to flatten. Colour a small piece of fondant pink and form two balls and six smaller ones. Press the balls into the flattened ovals in a paw pattern. Place the feet on either side of the rabbit's bottom.
• To make the sheep, colour a piece of fondant black and shape a small piece into an oval. Use a skewer to press nostrils into the bottom end. Pinch two smaller pieces into ears and stick these on using a little water. Roll two small balls of white fondant and two smaller black balls to make eyes. Cover the cake with a layer of plain icing and fix the face in the middle. Surround with mini marshmallows for the woolly coat.

KEY LIME CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar on high speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On low speed, add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add vanilla, lime zest, and juice and mix well.
• In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. In 5 parts total alternately add dry ingrediants and buttermilk to butter, beginning and ending with dry. Mix until just combined.
• Line muffin tins with paper and fill each liner about 3/4 full.
• Bake for 25 minutes until tops are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove and cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completly.
• In a small glass bowl, set over a pot of simmering water. Slowly melt white chocolate. Remove and let cool until slightly warm.
• In a mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. On low speed, gradually add confectioners sugar until mixed.
• Add salt, vanilla, lime juice, and sour cream and mix well.
• Add melted white chocolate and mix just until incorporated.
• Frost cupcakes and garnish with grated lime zest. Can refrigerate, but don't have to.

FROSTED WHITE CHOCOLATE EASTER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Grease a deep 23cm cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper. Place the butter, white chocolate, milk and vanilla extract in a small saucepan, then heat gently, stirring, until melted. Combine the flour, bicarb and sugar in a large bowl with a pinch of salt, then stir in the melted ingredients and eggs until smooth. Pour the batter into the tin, then bake for 1 hr, or until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Once cool, the cake can be wrapped in cling film and foil, then frozen for up to 1 month.
• To make the frosting, beat together the Philadelphia, butter and icing sugar until smooth. Spread over the cake, then decorate with mini eggs.