Dining Detour

Baking Easter Cupcakes

This idea comes from one of my favorite baking blogs Paris Pastry and offers a step-by-step guide on how to assemble these cuties. They were surprisingly easy to make and even more fun to decorate. The frosting was quite tasty, and came out more like a vanilla glaze, which worked well for these bunny cupcakes.

an adventure in cupcake design

For the birds nest cupcakes, I used the same cupcake recipe. I ran out of time with the frosting, so I picked up a can of dark chocolate frosting from the store. The grass-like substance is toasted, sweetened, shredded coconut. Very simply, you just throw some on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 350°F or until it starts browning. For the nose, use any round candy, I ended up using some peanut butter chocolate chips (face down). The eggs are  mini cadbury eggs, which in my opinion, are the best chocolates ever.

easter bunnies and birds nest cupcakes

Yellow Cupcakes recipe: Martha Stewart – Everyday Food

Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract I used almond extract which I don’t actually recommend.
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Line the cups of a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a liquid-measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.
- In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- With mixer on low speed, add half of dry ingredients, followed by milk-vanilla mixture, then remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups
- Place tin on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool cupcakes 5 minutes in tin, then remove and cool completely on a rack before frosting.

makes about 20 cupcakes

White Frosting recipe: Paris Pastry

Ingredients:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons shortening (not butter-flavored) shortening is crisco btw
- 4 tablespoons light corn syrup
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:
- Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl.
- Add shortening, milk and salt and mix until combined.
- Add the light corn syrup and mix until well blended. You must use an electric mixer!

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