Easter is not long away so I thought I would get organised and come up with some Easter recipes. Everyone loves cupcakes so thought I would go down that route and make something a little different to last year’s mini egg cake. Dean and I love mini eggs so I decided to use them in these cupcakes but with a twist. I love marshmallows and thought what better a way to put them in a cake than as a little surprise.
The night before I made the cakes Dean and I went for a night away with my brother Shaun and his girlfriend Clare. We decided we weren’t going to buy each other Christmas presents last year and go for a night away instead. We didn’t go too far, it was only 30 minutes from home, to a place called Eckington manor. The head chef Mark Stinchcombe was the winner of MasterChef 2015 – it was great to have some one local to us to win! We had heard lots of good reports about the place so decided to go. The rooms were decorated really well and the place itself was very modern, just what Dean and I like.
We started the night with some cocktails and then got seated to the table for dinner. For my starter I had a duck bon bon with pickled mushrooms, for main I had sea bass with a prawn tortellini, lemon puree and roasted celeriac, it was super.
Dean had the rib eye of beef & braised shin, caramelised shallot, wild mushroom & red wine jus for main and he said it was amazing, a very “him” dish! For pudding I had a rhubarb soufflé with gingerbread ice cream which too was delicious. We had a great night there and was nice to get away midweek.
Next morning I did feel a bit delicate at breakfast and the thought of coming home to make cakes wasn’t exciting me at all. It took me a little while to get going but at about 1:30pm I put my apron on and away I went! I was really happy with them when they came out the oven, maybe I should do more baking with a hangover I thought, although I did burn my finger – oops!!
These cakes are a real showstopper for Easter and great for children to get involved with, just make sure you get your mini eggs ahead of time and hide them because if you’re anything like me they wont last long!
Easter Surprise Mini Egg Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 200 g caster sugar
- 200 g margarine/unsalted butter
- 4 eggs
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 large marshmallows
frosting
- 220 g margarine/unsalted butter
- 640 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 small bags mini eggs decoration
- grated dark chocolate decoration
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C / fan 170°C / gas 5. Butter a 12 hole muffin tin.
- Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk.
- Add the eggs and whisk until they are combined.
- Add the self-raising flour and baking powder and whisk until everything is combined.
- Add the vanilla extract and give it one final whisk.
- Divide the mixture into the cases and cook for 15/20 minutes.
- Once your cakes are cooked let them cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
- With a sharp pointy knife cut a hole in the middle of the cake but not going all the way through to the bottom. Place the marshmallow in the hole and repeat on each cake. You don’t need to keep the middles of the cakes but you might want to try some along the way!
- Now make your frosting. Cream together the butter and icing sugar on a low setting and gradually turn the speed up until you have a thick paste.
- Add the vanilla extract and milk and with a spatular give it a good mix.
- Put the frosting into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and ice each cake.
- Grate dark chocolate all over your cakes and decorate with mini eggs.
- Serve and enjoy!
Read next: 10 Delicious Cupcake Recipes That Will Blow Your Friends Away
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