These easy chocolate bunny cupcakes are one of my best ever Easter cupcake ideas. The delicious chocolate cupcakes are topped with a vanilla buttercream that looks like grass and there’s even a cute mini bunny candy poking out of a rabbit hole in the middle!
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✏️ Why you'll love this recipe
When it comes to Easter dessert ideas, these easy homemade bunny cupcakes are one of my favourites! Store-bought chocolate bunny rabbits are perfect for burrowing into your chocolate cupcakes.
Top with green frosting for a simple grass and sprinkle with a few chocolate cupcake crumbs for the full muddy rabbit effect!
Personally, I love using the Malteaser Easter bunny chocolate for the bunny decoration, they're the perfect mini size! You can also add drinking malt powder to your chocolate cupcake and vanilla frosting for the ultimate Easter Malteaser cupcake.
One of my favourite things about Easter is the sweet treats, and these chocolate bunny cupcakes are one of my best Easter desserts. The mini bunnies are just so cute as well as delicious. With how adorable and colourful these chocolate bunny cupcakes are, they'd also be a great Easter treat for kids.
I also think they’d make great bunny birthday cupcakes – perfect for bunny-themed birthday parties! I can just imagine munching on a whole batch of cute bunny desserts on a Spring day.
🥘 Ingredients
This chocolate bunny cupcakes recipe calls for the following ingredients:
1. Chocolate cupcakes:
- Vegetable oil: or other neutral flavoured oil.
- Egg: large size, room temperature for ease of mixing.
- Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed for a creamier consistency.
- Vanilla extract: use extract or paste over essence for best flavour.
- White sugar: finely granulated such as caster sugar.
- Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth cake batter.
- Cocoa powder: unsweetened type for baking (not drinking) e.g. dutch-processed.
- Baking powder: always check the expiry date before use or the cake won’t rise.
- Hot coffee: fresh or instant coffee.
2. Green buttercream:
- Unsalted butter: room temperature for a softened butter that’s easier to beat.
- Powdered icing sugar: sieve your confectioners’ sugar for a smooth frosting.
- Vanilla extract: use extract or paste for best taste.
- Milk: use full fat or semi-skimmed milk.
- Salt (optional)
- Green food colouring: use a gel or paste to prevent adding too much moisture.
3. Bunny decoration:
- Chocolate bunny: use a mini chocolate bunny candy e.g. Malteasers mini bunny chocolates.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Top tip: For accuracy, it’s best to weigh your ingredients rather than using cups.
♻️ Substitutions / Variations
Ingredient substitutions
Instead of white sugar, you can use golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar. This gives it a more caramel flavour.
You can swap the all-purpose plain flour for self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to only 1 tsp.
You can use fresh hot coffee for this recipe, or 2 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved into 100ml (½ cup) hot water instead. Either caffeinated or decaf works great.
You can use whole, semi-skimmed or non-diary milk in the cupcake batter and buttercream. For the buttercream, this gives it a thinner, creamier consistency, so only add as much as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time.
You can use any small chocolate bunny, e.g. Malteaser or Lindt mini bunny chocolates.
Malteaser variation
Personally, I love using the Malteaser Easter bunny chocolate for the bunny decoration, they're the perfect mini size!
You can also add drinking malt powder to your chocolate cupcake and vanilla frosting for the ultimate Easter Malteaser cupcake. To give your cupcakes a malt flavour, add 2 tablespoon of malted milk drink powder, such as Horlicks or Ovaltine, to the chocolate cupcake and 2 teaspoon to the buttercream.
Grass frosting equipment
For the buttercream grass on these bunny cupcakes, I use a piping bag and open star piping nozzle (such as this 1M piping tip or a small one). It gives a nice and easy grass style with a piping tip that many home bakers usually have.
However, if you have a special grass piping nozzle this would look great on your cupcakes too!
Alternatively, if you don’t have a piping bag or nozzle, you can use a spatula, knife or spoon to frost your chocolate bunny cupcakes. You can then use a fork to rake up the green buttercream into a grass effect.
📖 Method
Chocolate cupcakes
Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
Step 1: In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, oil, vanilla, sugar and milk together until fully combined.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, sieve in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder and whisk them together.
Step 3: Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring together as you pour until just combined. There may be a few small lumps left, but that’s ok.
Step 4: Slowly add in the hot coffee (fresh or instant), mixing as you pour until the liquid has only just combined.
Step 5: Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases in the muffin tin.
Step 6: Bake for 15-20mins until risen and springy to the touch. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.
Green buttercream
Step 1: Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
Step 2: Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined.
Steps 3 - 4: Repeat the above step with the remaining half of the icing sugar.
Step 5: Add in the milk, vanilla extract and salt, then mix until smooth. Stir in food colouring, a few drops at a time, until you get the desired colour.
Bunny decorations
Step 1: Once your cupcakes have cooled, using a sharp knife, cut a small circle in the middle of the top of your cupcakes, a few inches in circumference and depth. Lift this circle of sponge out and set it to one side for later.
Step 2: Place a mini bunny chocolate inside the hole you’ve just created in your cupcake, and repeat the above step and this one for each of your cupcakes.
Step 3: Add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe small star blobs onto each cupcake. Do this by holding your piping nozzle just above the cupcake surface and squeeze the piping bag, giving a slight rotation to twist away and leave a nice grassy star. Repeat to cover your cupcake top, around your bunny, layering upwards for more frosting if preferred. Repeat for each cupcake.
Step 4: Crumble some of your discarded cupcake cores over your bunnies to look like soil around the rabbit hole.
(More bunny cupcake recipe method images coming soon!)
💭 Top tips
- For soft and fluffy chocolate bunny cupcakes, try not to overmix your cake batter once you’ve added the baking powder.
- Your chocolate bunny cupcakes are cooked once they’re risen and springy to touch. An inserted toothpick or skewer should also come out clean from the middle.
- Use good quality sturdy baking cases or baking cups, as sometimes the cheap ones can peel over time due to the moisture in your moist chocolate bunny cupcakes.
- For creamy green buttercream grass, beat your butter until it’s pale, light and fluffy first. This could take several minutes with an electric mixer.
- Food colouring develops stronger over time, so stop adding your green colouring a few shades before you get the grass colour intensity you want.
- When cutting out a small hole for your Easter bunnies to sit in, you only need to cut a few inches deep. This will allow most of your cute chocolate bunny to be on show and means you’re not getting rid of too much of your tasty cupcake sponge.
❔ Recipe FAQs
Your chocolate bunny cupcakes should last for up 4 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If it’s hot where you live, store your cupcakes in the fridge instead.
Yes! You can freeze your frosted chocolate bunny cupcakes (without the chocolate bunnies inside) in an airtight container or wrapped in cling film and then foil for up to 3 months. Defrost, add the chocolate bunnies and enjoy!
No, cake flour is actually different to both plain flour and self-raising flour. It has a different composition and your cupcakes will have a different consistency if you use it.
Swap the plain all-purpose flour for a gluten-free 1:1 blend. Check out this easy gluten-free chocolate cupcake recipe for more information.
🧁 Other goodies
Looking for some more easy desserts?
If you’re looking for more easy Easter baking ideas, check out these tasty Easter treats:
- Hot cross bun muffins – a twist on the traditional Easter muffin, great for an Easter brunch.
- Easter chick lemon cupcakes - great for an Easter or Spring party.
- Chocolate bunny mud cake - an easy Easter chocolate cake for sharing.
- Easter chocolate nest cakes - perfect for an easy kid-friendly Easter treat.
- Mini eggs blondies - an easy one-bowl Easter dessert.
- Creme egg blondies - simple, delicious gooey Easter blondie!
For more great Easter ideas, check out these tasty Easter bunny cake ideas or the full collection of easy Easter desserts.
Looking forward to some new recipes? Check out my Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for a few sneak peeks and some sweet inspiration!
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Bunny Cupcakes
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Equipment
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 65 ml (¼ cups) vegetable oil or sunflower oil
- 1 egg large
- 165 g (¾ cups) white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 100 ml (⅓ cups) milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 40 g (½ cups) cocoa powder
- 100 g (¾ cups) plain all-purpose flour see notes for self-raising flour swap
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 75 ml (⅓ cups) hot coffee or 1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 75ml hot water
Buttercream:
- 100 g (½ cups) unsalted butter
- 200 g (1 ¾ cups) powdered icing sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ salt optional
- green food colouring
Decorations:
- 12 Mini chocolate bunnies e.g. Lindt or Malteaser mini bunnies
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Pre-heat oven: 190oC / 170oC (fan) / Gas Mark 5 / 375oF
- In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, oil, sugar and milk together until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, sieve in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder, then whisk together.
- Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring together as you pour until just combined. There may be a few small lumps left, but that’s ok.
- Slowly add in the hot coffee (fresh or instant), mixing as you pour until the liquid has only just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases in the muffin tin and bake for 15-20mins until risen and springy to the touch. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.
Buttercream:
- Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
- Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of icing sugar.
- Add in the milk, vanilla extract and a few drops of green food colouring, mixing until smooth.
Assembly and Decoration:
- Once your cupcakes have cooled, using a sharp knife, cut a small circle in the middle of the top of your cupcakes, a few inches in circumference and depth. Lift this circle of sponge out and set it to one side for later.
- Place a mini bunny chocolate inside the hole you’ve just created in your cupcake, and repeat the above step and this one for each of your cupcakes.
- Add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe small star blobs onto each cupcake. Do this by holding your piping nozzle just above the cupcake surface and squeeze the piping bag, giving a slight rotation to twist away and leave a nice grassy star. Repeat to cover your cupcake top, around your bunny, layering upwards for more frosting if preferred. Repeat for each cupcake.
- Crumble some of your discarded cupcake cores over your bunnies to look like soil around the rabbit hole.
Notes
- Your cupcakes are cooked once they’re risen and springy to the touch. An inserted toothpick or skewer should also come out clean from the middle.
- Use sturdy cupcake cases or baking cups so they don't peel with moisture.
- When cutting out a small hole for your Easter bunnies to sit in, you only need to cut a few inches deep so your bunny is still on show.
- Swap your plain flour for self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to only 1 tsp.
- You can use fresh hot coffee or 2 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved into 100ml (½ cup) hot water. Either caffeinated or decaf works great.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
Danielle says
Omg these look delicious! My kids would love them!
Sweet Mouth Joy says
Thank you! Yeah they're perfect for the little ones to enjoy