Grass and Egg Easter Cupcakes

I have been baking up a storm lately in preparation for Easter celebrations this weekend. Easter-themed cupcakes are always on the baking list for the benefit of the little (and big) kids. This year’s cupcakes are super easy (though a little hard on the hand muscles!).

These grass and egg cupcakes use a Wilton grass tip #233. If you’re in Canada, you can pick one up at any Bulk Barn for a couple of bucks. While easy to use, the tip is small, which means each cupcake takes a lot of squeezes of the piping bag. It’s a wee bit hard on the hand but all the more reason to enlist “helpers” to make these fun cupcakes.
P.S. The eggs used here are milk chocolate eggs “Life” brand from Shopper’s Drug Mart. You could use any egg or even jelly beans.

Grass and Egg Easter Cupcakes

Summary: These are festive and easy cupcakes for Easter. You’ll need a Wilton Grass tip for the icing.

Ingredients

For the vanilla cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the icing:
1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
3 cups icing (confectioner’s sugar)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. milk (more as needed)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325° F. and line 12 regular muffin cups with paper liners.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and handheld mixer) and beat on slow speed until you get a sand-like consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla, and remaining milk together, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl once. Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the batter is smooth but do not over-mix.
Spoon the batter into the paper liners no more than 2/3 full (do not over-fill!) and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until very light golden and the cake bounces back when touched. (They will be quite pale still even when done). A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
In bowl of stand mixer or in large bowl, cream butter. Add vanilla, icing sugar and milk. Beat until mixture combines and smooths. Add more milk (or icing sugar) in tiny increments as needed until icing reaching the right consistency (not too stiff, not too runny).
Colour icing: For grass colour, add about 10 drops of green food colouring and 2-3 drops of yellow food colouring. You can add more, if you’d like darker green grass.
Attach Wilton tip #233 to piping bag and fill piping bag 1/2 full with icing. Squeeze bag to form grass, starting with a ring around the outside of the cupcake and then filling in the centre. Tip: Pull up and away when icing strand is long enough (about 1/2 an inch) stop pressure and pull tip away. For a more natural look, occasionally pull tip slightly to the right or left, instead of straight up. Remember to keep grass clusters close together so cake does not show through.
Top each iced cupcake with 3 coloured candy eggs.

Prep time: 30 min | Cook time: 25 min | Total time: 1 hour 30 min

Number of servings (yield): 12