Lemon Chick Cupcakes
Cute lemon buttercream frosting chicks perched on a deliciously soft vanilla sponge cupcake - perfect for Spring and Easter!
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories: 516kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Vanilla cupcakes:
- 170 g unsalted butter room temp.
- 170 g white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 3 eggs
- 170 g plain all-purpose flour see notes for self-raising flour swap
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or canola or sunflower oil
Lemon buttercream:
- 225 g unsalted butter room temp.
- 450 g powdered icing sugar
- 1 lemon’s juice
- ½ lemon’s zest
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- yellow food colouring
Chick decorations:
- Black fondant modelling icing
- Orange fondant modelling icing
Instructions
Vanilla cupcakes:
- Preheat oven: 190oC / 170oC (fan) / Gas Mark 5 / 375oF
- For the sponges, cream together the butter and sugar, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until whisked up nice and fluffy.
- Gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, and slowly mix together.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder, folding in gently until just combined.
- Add the milk and vanilla extract, stirring in until only the liquid has only just incorporated.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases and bake for 15-20mins until risen, springy to the touch and skewer comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.
Lemon 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 salt, lemon zest and mixing until smooth.
- Stir in the yellow food colouring one drop at a time until you get the desired colour.
Chick assembly and decoration:
- Once the cupcakes have cooled fully, add your lemon buttercream to a piping bag fitted with an open round nozzle. Hold your nozzle a few cm (an inch) above the top of your cupcake, and squeeze your piping bag hard for several seconds and lift up very slightly so you get one large blob of frosting.
- Lift your nozzle a few more cm (an inch) up and make a smaller frosting blob for the head by squeezing softer and lifting up quicker.
- Change your nozzle to an open star piping tip if you have one, if not you can stick with the current tip and pipe a blob of frosting on each side of the body to make little wings.
- Repeat the above steps until you have frosted each cupcake with a chick body, head and wings.
- Roll two small balls of black fondant icing to make eyes for your chick and press them into the head.
- Roll two small pieces of orange fondant icing into thin logs, roughly a thumb's length long. Cut one log in half for the two legs and cut the other into four pieces (half and half again). Pinch one end of each of these four short pieces and two leg pieces into a pointy tip.
- For each of the four short pieces, press the non-pointy end onto the leg piece roughly 1-2 cm (½ inch) down from the pointy end. You should use two short pieces for each leg to effectively create three toes on each leg.
- Press the non-foot end of each leg into the base of the chicks on your cupcake, leaving a small gap between them.
- Make a small beak using more orange fondant, rolling a very small piece into a log shape and pinching one end into a pointed tip. Press the non-pointed end into the chick’s face below the eyes.
- Repeat the above fondant steps until you have completed the chick decorations for each of your cupcakes, then enjoy!
Notes
Storage: Keep lemon chick cupcakes in an airtight container at room temp. for up to 4 days.
Freezing: You can freeze your lemon chick cupcakes (without the fondant beak and eyes) in an airtight container (or cling film plus foil) for up to 3 months.
Top tips:
- Your cupcakes are cooked once they’re golden, risen and springy to the touch. An inserted toothpick or skewer should also come out clean from the middle.
- Warm your fondant in your hands a little before you start so that it’s easier to shape.
- Use a gel yellow food colouring for your frosting and add one drop at a time.
- Swap your plain flour for self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to only 1 tsp.
Nutrition
Calories: 516kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 112mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 47mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 52g | Vitamin A: 886IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 1mg