Easter cupcakes with white chocolate frosting
Rich, indulgent chocolate cupcakes topped with a creamy, smooth white chocolate buttercream frosting. Perfect for Easter, or for eating naked as a tasty chocolate snack cake.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 185 g cake or pastry flour
- 30 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 120 ml sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 300 g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- 140 g unsalted butter
- 225 g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 Nespresso pod prepared like a regular coffee – you'll need 120ml liquid in total. Alternatively, dissolve 1tsp instant coffee in 120ml boiling water.
For the frosting
- 400 g white chocolate roughly chopped
- 400 g unsalted butter softened, at room temperature
- 400 g icing sugar sifted
- 4 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
Toppings
- 2 bags Cadbury's Mini Eggs
- 100s and 1000s sprinkles
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F and line a cupcake tin with cases.
- Melt 130g of the chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl sat over a saucepan of boiling water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir every now and then until completely melted, then set aside to cool.
- In a stand mixer, or using an electric whisk, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. This should take anywhere between 5-7 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and whisk again until everything is nicely incorporated.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Sift your dry ingredients (the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda + the salt) into a separate bowl, and mix together.
- In a small Pyrex jug, mix the buttermilk with the coffee and set aside.
- Add the dry ingredients to your mixture in thirds, alternating it with a third of the buttermilk, until everything has been added – mixing after each addition. Be careful not to overmix your batter here!
- Add the melted chocolate to your bowl and, using a rubber spatula, fold it into the mixture followed by the chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate).
- Portion your batter evenly between your cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until well-risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. In the meantime, make your frosting.
For the frosting
- Place the chocolate into a pyrex bowl and set over a saucepan of boiling water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water. Melt the chocolate on a low heat until entirely melted, stirring all the time, then set aside to cool.
- Cream the butter with an electric hand whisk, then add the vanilla bean paste and whisk again until smooth.
- When the white chocolate is cool, add it to the butter and whip again until fully incorporated.
- Add the icing sugar in two separate stages, beating well after each addition, then pop in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle, then remove your frosting from the fridge. Use a rubber spatula to smooth your frosting in the bowl and remove any air bubbles, then fill the piping bag.
- Pipe swirls onto your cupcakes then top with mini eggs and 100s and 1000s.
Notes
If you're cooking mini cupcakes, bake them for 15 minutes.