As the first of two short working weeks surrounding Easter approaches, I decided that it was time this weekend to start baking some Easter treats. I've been wanting to make something involving Creme Eggs ever since I saw Creme Egg brownies all over the place last year. I decided on cupcakes and found a recipe on Good Food Channel, however I found that I needed to make more batter than the recipe suggested, and I also used my tried and tested buttercream to top them with instead. Here's how I did it...
Image SourceFirst things first - put 12 Creme Eggs in the freezer. I left them in there for about an hour to make sure they were fully frozen. This will stop them from melting when the cupcakes are baked.
To make the batter I creamed together 175g butter and 175g caster sugar. I added 3 beaten eggs, 2 tbsp milk and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and whisked well. Finally I folded in 150g self raising flour and 35g cocoa powder.
I put 12 cases into a muffin tin. I placed a teaspoon of batter into each case, then topped with a frozen Creme Egg.
I added about 2 more teaspoons of batter around the Creme Egg, then baked on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes. I left them to cool and made the buttercream using 340g icing sugar, 170g butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
When the cupcakes were fully cooled I used a pipingbag to swirl some buttercream on top and placed a mini Creme Egg, cut in half, on top.
When I cut a cupcake in half I was pleased to see the whole Creme Egg intact inside! These were a huge hit at a party I attended that evening, everyone was really impressed that there was a Creme Egg inside each cupcake. The cupcake was definitely a huge chocolate hit, but was very delicious and the vanilla buttercream makes sure the chocolate isn't over powering. A great Easter bake for the weekend and easy enough to make with the kids too!
