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Chocolate Easter basket cupcakes filled with candy eggs and flowers.
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Easter Basket Cupcakes

These charming Easter Basket cupcakes are filled with buttercream roses, candy covered eggs and coconut grass.
Course cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
drying time 2 hours
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 16 cupcakes
Calories 340kcal
Author John Kanell

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

For the Cupcakes

  • 1 1/3  cup  all-purpose flour 160g
  • 3/4  cup  unsweetened cocoa 75g
  • 2  tsp  baking powder 8g
  • 1/4  tsp  baking soda 1g, heaping
  • 1/8  tsp  salt 1g
  • 8  tbsp  unsalted butter 113g, room temperature
  • 1 1/2  cup  sugar 300g
  • 2  large eggs
  • 1/3  cup  sour cream 80g
  • 1  cup  milk 236mL
  • 3/4  tsp  vanilla extract 3mL
  • 1 1/2 lb fondant 680g for assembly
  • 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
  • Chocolate eggs for assembly
  • brown food coloring
  • green food coloring
  • pink food coloring

For the Buttercream

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter 339g
  • 1 1/2 lb confectioners sugar 680g
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder 22g
  • 1/2 tsp salt 3g
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 5mL

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

  • In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl. 
  • Add the eggs one at a time making sure to mix thoroughly. Mix in the sour cream, vanilla and milk. 

  • While mixing on low speed add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. 


  • Scoop the batter into cupcake papers filling 2/3 the way up.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the centers are springy to the touch.

For the Buttercream

  • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter until smooth.
  • Sift in the confectioner’s sugar. You can add the sugar in two batches.

Beat until you get to a thick consistency. Add the vanilla extract.
  • Reserve a small amount of buttercream in a bowl. Add more confectioners sugar and mix by hand until you get a play dough consistency. This will be used for the base of your flowers.
  • Split the rest of the buttercream into 2 batches. Dye one batch brown and the other pink.
  • Put brown buttercream into a piping bag fitted to a 47 tip.
  • Put pink buttercream into a piping bag fitted to a 120 tip or a curved petal tip.

For the Assembly

    For the Basket Handles;

    • Fold brown food coloring into the fondant until the desired color is reached. It should match the brown buttercream.
    • Roll out the brown fondant to 1/4-inch. Each strand should be about 5-inches long.
    • Twist two of the strands together to create the handle. Cut the ends with a knife for clean ends. Allow to dry overnight.

    For the Buttercream Roses;

    • Cut out 1-inch squares of parchment paper to use as a piping base for each flower.
    • Mold a tiny amount of the play dough type buttercream into a cone and place it on the middle of the parchment paper square.
    • Using the pink buttercream, start to pipe small petals around the cone. Start small and gradually go a bit bigger until you have your flower.

    For the Assembly

    • Once your cupcakes have cooled, remove them from the cupcake papers.
    • With the brown buttercream, use a basketweave technique to pipe the basket around the side of the cupcakes.
    • Dye the shredded coconut green by adding coconut flakes and a few drops of green food coloring to a sealable plastic bag. Mix together and place on top of cupcake for the grass.
    • Arrange the buttercream roses and chocolate candy eggs on top.
    • Carefully stick your basket handle into the cupcake.

    Notes

    • Definitely make the handles in advance. 1-2 days ahead is fine! They really need to set.
    • This looks really cute with just the eggs in so go ahead and skip the buttercream roses if you're short on time. 
    • You can make a bigger version of this with a two layer 4 inch cake!
    • Matching the fondant color to you buttercream can be a challenge. The easiest solution is a WHITE Easter basket!
    • Practice the basket weave pattern on a plate first if you haven't don it. It's an easy technique but it's better to work on the cupcakes once you're confident.
    • If you don't have sour cream then plain yogurt will work just fine.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 85g | Calories: 340kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 320mg | Potassium: 82mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1.1mg