These easy Easter Mini Egg Cupcakes make the best Easter dessert idea. They're soft vanilla cupcakes frosted with simple chocolate buttercream like an Easter bird nest, topped with Cadbury mini eggs.
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✏️ Why you'll love this recipe
Mini eggs cupcakes are a deliciously simple Easter cupcake. They're one of my favourite homemade Easter-themed desserts.
The recipe is an easy vanilla cupcake sponge and chocolate buttercream from scratch, decorated with crunchy mini eggs.
These cute Easter cupcakes with mini eggs are designed to look like little chocolate nests, similar to these adorable cornflake chocolate nest cakes. They're great for Easter birthday parties for kids, Spring picnics, afternoon teas, bake sales and more.
🥘 Ingredients
This Cadbury mini egg cupcakes recipe calls for the following ingredients:
1. Vanilla cupcakes:
- Unsalted butter: room temperature for a softened butter that's easier to beat.
- White sugar: finely granulated e.g. caster sugar.
- Vegetable oil: or other neutral flavoured oil.
- Eggs: large size
- Vanilla extract: use extract or paste for best taste.
- Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth batter.
- Baking powder: always check the expiry date before use or the cake won't rise.
- Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed milk.
- Salt (optional)
2. Chocolate buttercream and decorations:
- Unsalted butter: room temperature.
- Powdered icing sugar: sieve your confectioners' sugar for a smooth frosting.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: e.g. Dutch-processed cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate).
- Vanilla extract
- Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed milk.
- Salt (optional)
- Mini eggs: Cadbury's or other brand of chocolate mini eggs.
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
Mini eggs are a chocolate coated with a sugar shell, made by Cadbury. You can swap these for other brands of chocolate candy eggs, like Smarties mini eggs or Terry's chocolate orange eggs. You can also use other types of mini Easter egg, like mini creme eggs.
Instead of white sugar, you can use golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar. This gives your cupcake a more caramel flavour.
You can swap the plain flour in the cupcake recipe for self-raising flour of the same quantity. If doing this, exclude the baking powder.
You can use whole, semi-skimmed or non-dairy 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.
For the chocolate frosting, you can use any unsweetened baking cocoa powder, such as natural cocoa powder, Dutch-processed cocoa powder or black cocoa powder. This is not the same as hot cocoa powder for a hot chocolate drink, which won't work in this recipe.
Flavour options
You can swap your chocolate icing for another frosting, like this simple vanilla buttercream, lemon buttercream or caramel buttercream.
You can also change the vanilla cupcake for another type, like chocolate cupcakes or these soft lemon cupcakes.
Decorating ideas
These Easter cupcakes are decorated as mini chocolate nests, but you can also turn them into a grassy egg hunt cupcake by swapping the chocolate buttercream for a vanilla buttercream and colouring it with green food colouring. Pipe them into grass with a star or grass tip, like in these Easter bunny cupcakes, and top with mini eggs for a beautiful Easter scene.
If you don't have a piping bag and tip, you can use a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off to create your big circles of frosting around the edge of the cupcake.
📖 Method
Vanilla cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F.
Step 1: In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and oil, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, until light and pale.
Steps 2-3: Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
Step 4: Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, gently folding in until just combined.
Steps 5-6: Stir in the milk, vanilla extract and salt.
Step 7: Line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and fill each up to ½ to ⅔ full with batter. This should give you 10-12 cupcakes, depending on case size.
Step 8: Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are lightly golden, springy to the touch, and an inserted skewer comes out clean from the middle. Transfer the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.
Chocolate 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.
Step 3: Repeat this with the remaining half of the icing sugar and all of the cocoa powder.
Step 4: Add in the vanilla extract, milk and salt, mixing until smooth.
Mini egg decoration
Step 1: Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice (e.g. an open star like Wilton 1M) or use a freezer bag and cut off one corner.
Pipe a big circle around the top of each cupcake, leaving space in the middle like a nest. I like to swirl around twice for two layers of frosting to create a taller nest.
Step 2: Place a few mini eggs inside the frosting rings and enjoy!
🎥 Recipe video
Check out the recipe video below for how to make the best mini egg nest cupcakes!
💭 Top tips
- For soft and fluffy vanilla cupcakes, try not to overmix your cake batter once you've added the baking powder.
- 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 good quality sturdy baking cases or baking cups, as sometimes the cheap ones can peel over time due to the moisture in your mini egg cupcakes.
- For creamy chocolate buttercream, beat your butter until it's pale, light and fluffy first. This could take several minutes with an electric mixer.
- To decorate your chocolate mini egg cupcakes, use a piping bag and your favourite tip to pipe a big open swirl of buttercream on top of your cupcakes like a nest. I use a large open-star nozzle like a Wilton 1M.
❔ Recipe FAQs
Your mini egg cupcakes should last up to 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! Before you add your mini egg decorations, you can freeze your frosted cupcakes in an airtight container or wrapped in cling film and then foil for up to 3 months. Defrost, decorate and enjoy!
No, traditional chocolate mini eggs contain dairy.
If you're looking for a dairy-free easter egg cupcake recipe, then you can swap the Cadbury's mini eggs for a dairy-free brand instead. Swap the butter in the cupcake and frosting for a plant-based baking block too.
Yes, to make gluten-free mini egg cupcakes, swap the plain all-purpose flour for gluten-free flour. I recommend using a gluten-free all-purpose plain flour blend 1:1 measure.
Mini eggs are usually considered gluten-free (not certified gluten-free due to potential cross-contamination), but check the packaging for accurate allergen information.
No, cake flour is actually different to both plain flour and self-raising flour. It has a different composition and your cake will have a different consistency if you use it.
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🧁 Other goodies
Looking for some other goodies to make?
For more cute Easter desserts like these easter egg cupcakes, give these best Easter desserts a try:
- One-bowl Mini Egg blondies
- Cadbury's creme egg blondies
- Chocolate cornflake nest cakes
- Easy Easter bunny chocolate cake
- Mini chocolate bunny cupcakes
Or if you're after more easy cupcake ideas, give these recipes a try:
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
Mini Egg Cupcakes
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Equipment
Ingredients
Vanilla cupcakes
- 110 g (½ cup) unsalted butter
- 115 g (½ cup) white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or other neutral oil e.g. sunflower
- 2 eggs large
- 115 g (1 cup) plain all-purpose flour see notes for self-raising flour swap
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
Chocolate buttercream
- 150 g (⅔ cup) unsalted butter
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) powdered icing sugar
- 30 g (⅓ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
Decorations
- 120 g (4 ¼ oz) Mini eggs Cadbury's chocolate mini eggs or other brand
Instructions
Vanilla cupcakes
- Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and oil, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, until light and pale.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, gently folding in until just combined.
- Stir in the milk, vanilla extract and salt.
- Line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and fill each up to ½ to ⅔ full with batter. This should make 10-12 cupcakes, depending on case size.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20mins or until the cupcakes are lightly golden, springy to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean from the middle.
- Transfer the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.
Chocolate 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 and all of the cocoa powder.
- Add in the vanilla extract, milk and salt, mixing until smooth.
Assembly and decoration
- Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice (e.g. an open star like Wilton 1M) or use a freezer bag and cut off one corner.
- Pipe a big circle around the top of each cupcake, leaving space in the middle like a nest. I like to swirl round twice for two layers of frosting to create a taller nest.
- Place a few mini eggs inside the frosting nests and enjoy!
Video
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.
- Swap your plain flour for self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to only ½ tsp.
- Use any brand of small crisp sugar-shelled chocolate eggs instead of Cadbury's mini eggs.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
Monica says
My kids loved these little nest cupcakes!