Sisterly Easter baking: Simple vanilla cupcakes with Nutella icing

So, my deary dears, I am home for Easter. Yay! And when home for Easter, how could one not indulge in a spot of sisterly Eastery (that’s definitely an adjective) baking? Exactly.

Last Easter-time, the Shrimp (that’s what I call my sister although she also goes by the name of Holly) and I made a pretty cracking (HA!) simple vanilla traybake topped with chocolate buttercream and all sorts of chocolatey decorations like Mini Eggs, chocolate buttons and Smarties. And it was yuuuuummy.

We went down a similar path with these babies today: simple vanilla sponge topped with a light Nutella and cream cheese icing. Easy peasy, unfussy and super yummy. Not to mention beyond cute, am I right?

In fact, they’re so cute that I couldn’t help getting a leeeettle too snap-happy as I awaited the arrival of my dear friend Jessie for afternoon tea today. There’s nothing like catching up with old friends over a cuppa, is there?

So, back to the cakes. The Shrimp had come up with the idea of a Nutella-y icing which would then, conveniently, slightly resemble a bird’s nest. APPROPRIATE, HUH!?

With this in mind, the Hosie gals made a trip into town this fine Easter Saturday morning to pick up a packet of Mini Eggs with which to decorate our Easter cupcakes. Yeah. That was more difficult than we’d expected. It turns out the East Midlands has basically run out of Mini Eggs. I kid you not. (Easter Midlands* not so much, that's for sure.) I’ve lost count of how many shops we tried before FINALLY finding some (not even Waitrose had any! *gasp*), and I tell ya, by that point we were despairing. 

 

Luckily, we did get our hands on some Mini Eggs in the end and came home to whip up these babies. They are so ridiculously quick and simple to make and a lot of fun to decorate too. I think they look particularly lovely in springy yellow paper cases and with Mini Eggs on top (which just so happen to match my nails – always pleasing) but of course you could top them with whatever ya fancy. Cupcakes are for life, not just for Easter, people.

Don’t you just love decorating cupcakes though? I sure do. And eating them. But you probably knew that already.

This makes 12 eggcelent* cupcakes. Happy Easter everyone!

Ingredients – Cake:

110g self-raising flour, sifted

110g caster sugar, sifted

110g butter, softened

1 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

-        Icing and topping

1 tub cream cheese (we used extra light Philadelphia)

3-4 tbsp Nutella (to taste)

An array of Mini Eggs

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with paper cases. Measure out all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with a handheld electric whisk until you have a smooth, light batter. 

 

2. Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases...

 

...and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin before popping the cakes on to a wire rack to cool fully.

3. Make the icing simply by mixing the Philadelphia and Nutella together in a bowl with a spoon until smooth and well-combined. If yours seems a tad runny just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes. 

 

Once the cakes are fully cool, spread a spoonful of icing on to each one, top with the Mini Eggs and enjoy with your loved ones.

Yes, this is my crazy cake-eating face.

*Sorry.