Chocolate Mini egg Nest Cupcakes with Mocha icing

These are an all time favourite in our household, every year for Easter we make some form of chocolate cake with mini eggs on and when I'm feeling fancy, which isn't often, I'm more of a rustic "I'm in it for the cake" kind of baker, I make them look like nests. March rolls round and my mum starts buying bags of mini eggs which usually end up getting eaten and every time they get replaced until she eventually buys a family bag which you know are strictly off limits for consumption before they're placed on a cake.


You literally can't go wrong with these, chocolate cake and mini eggs what's not to like, and I have a new found love for mocha icing. I made some mocha icing while a friend was over and she made me take the bowl away from her because she was ready to eat it by the spoonful...there was actually cake to go with the icing I didn't just make icing to eat, although no judgement if you do that I'm sure I have some eating habits that could rival that.

For the chocolate cupcakes
110g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
120g caster sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
40g butter/margarine
120ml milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the icing
135g butter/margarine
420g icing sugar
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee + 2 tsp of hot water
2 tbsp milk

Other ingredients
roughly 150g of mini eggs
chocolate sprinkles/Cadburys flake

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas mark 3

Place the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and butter in a bowl and whisk with a free standing mixer or an electric whisk until you have a sandy consistency (you may want to cover the bowl because this bit can make a little bit of mess).
Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla in a jug. Pour half the mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended, add the rest of the milk mixture and mix for another few minutes, be careful not to overmix.
Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and cook for 20 minutes.

Makes 10-12

For the icing
Dissolve the instant coffee in the hot water and set aside to cool. Place the butter/margarine in a bowl and whisk until fluffy, slowly add in the icing sugar. Add the cocoa powder, cooled coffee and milk and whisk until completely blended.

Once the cakes have cooled pipe the icing around the outside of the cakes and place the mini eggs in the centre, sprinkle with sprinkles or broken up flake.