Very long title, very simple and tasty recipe!

Easter is just around the corner, so it’s time to start thinking about all the lovely treats and what fun ways we can use them, if we can help ourselves and not eat them straight way, that is. With these cupcakes I mixed everything I love about Easter, chocolate (eggs), creme eggs (note that I used the mini ones) and mini eggs and obviously topped them with some delicious salted caramel icing, because what’s better with chocolate?!

What’s in the cupcakes?

These cupcakes are actually very simple, in a nutshell they are chocolate cupcakes baked with a creme egg inside and topped with salted caramel. I assembled them by adding a layer of chocolate batter, then placed the full egg in the middle (I used the mini creme eggs, not the big ones) and added an extra layer of chocolate batter. After baking and cooling down, I topped them with salted caramel icing and decorated them with mini eggs.

I love placing chocolates inside cupcakes as they keep their shape and you find a little crunchy surprise whenever you bite into them.

I actually gave these cupcakes to my friends as a gift and they absolutely loved them as well as my family, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Chocolate Creme Egg Easter Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Icing

Ingredients (makes 12 – 14 cupcakes):

For the cupcakes:

• 120 ml of vegetable oil
• 200 gr of granulated sugar
• 120 ml of warm milk
• 155 gr of greek yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• 50 gr of cocoa powder
• 210 gr of flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 12-14 mini creme eggs

For the icing:

• 200 gr of butter
• 50 gr of icing sugar
• 80 ml of salted caramel
• 2 tbsp double cream
• 36 – 42 mini eggs for decor (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees celsius.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a separate larger bowl, mix the oil and granulated sugar, then add in the warm milk and mix again.
4. Next, fold in the greek yoghurt and the vanilla extract. Once folded, beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until combined. I highly recommend using a hand mixer for this so it’s well incorporated, as the batter is quite thick and may be hard to mix manually.
6. Place your cupcake cases in a cupcake/muffin tin, using an ice cream scoop, add a layer of batter in each case, it should fill up only 1/3 of the case. Then, place a Creme Egg in the middle of each case and cover with more batter, make sure only 3/4 of the cupcake case is full and there is space for them to grow and not overflow.
7. Cook the cupcakes in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
8. Once the cupcakes are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely. Once they are completely cold, make the icing by beating all the ingredients together with a hand mixer.
9. To assemble, pipe the icing on each cupcake and decorate them with 3 mini eggs.