Bird’s Nest Cupcakes – Yay Easter!

Whee!

I made these a few days ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to edit my photos. Life is hard, yo. Especially when you work full time.

Inspired by these Marshmallow Nests from Sophistimom. I set out to make cupcakes. I LOVE cupcakes, but I never make them. Mostly because I only ever ice them with buttercream, and no one needs to eat that much butter.

I made devil's food cake and put it into my new Chicago Metallic pan, and I was in awe of my perfect domes. Somehow formed in my ghetto apartment oven. I think it's the pan.

For Devil’s Food Cake:

• 1 ½ oz Unsweetened Chocolate, chopped
• 1 ½ cups Flour
• ½ cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted room temp butter
• 1 cup, packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl, or the top of a double boiler, and melt. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl use an electric mixer, or standing mixer on medium speed to beat the butter and both sugars until smoothly blended and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add vanilla and beat s’more.

On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture. Mix until batter looks smooth.

Pour into cupcake paper lined pans, I used a 3tbsp scoop to fill them 3/4 of the way full. I filled a 12 cupcake pan, and had enough left over for a tiny cake, which I ate.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to fully cool!

Make some buttercream icing! Or use that tub stuff if you HAVE to. but it’s awful.

• 1 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• add milk to get your desired consistency (more milk = runnier butter cream) Generally only a few tbsps.

Mix!

This is probably the simplest buttercream recipe. I can’t get around the ones with eggs in them, or the ones where they use part shortening. Seriously?! I know butter, is just as much a big hunk of fat, but I can’t do the shortening thing.

Toast yee some coconut:

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, OR LESS. Coconut can be burny so be careful.

I only had super jumbo coconut-shaving-stuff. So I toasted it, threw in some untoasted coconut for contrast, and pulsed it in my processor a bit. If you want to avoid that, try to get yourself some “angel flake” coconut.

Then, either pipe, mound, or spread some icing on your cupcakes, and top it with the coconut! You may need to use your hands to press the coconut onto the icing. The thicker the icing layer, the more “nest like” it will be.

I would have photographed this, but I was covered in coconut and icing, and I already have enough flour on/in my camera!

Then top with some mini chocolate Easter eggs! These were Cadbury mini eggs. I asked Michael to pick me up a bag for this recipe and I ended up with like a 2lb bag of it. I may have to make something else, egg related.

Oh yum oh yum.