Chocolate Bunny Cupcakes
Cute bunnies in a rabbit hole dug into a soft chocolate cupcake and topped with an easy green vanilla buttercream for grass.
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories: 353kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 65 ml vegetable oil or sunflower oil
- 1 egg large
- 165 g white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 100 ml milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 100 g plain all-purpose flour see notes for self-raising flour swap
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 75 ml hot coffee or 1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 75ml hot water
Buttercream:
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 200 g 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
Storage: Keep chocolate bunny cupcakes in an airtight container at room temp. for up to 4 days.
Freezing: You can freeze your frosted chocolate cupcakes without the bunnies added in yet in an airtight container (or cling film plus foil) for up to 3 months. Defrost, add your bunnies, and enjoy!
Top tips:
- 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
Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 1mg