These Bird’s Nest Cupcakes are such a fun Easter treat. They are so easy to make, and can make a cute decoration and dessert for Easter.
These Bird’s Nest Cupcakes are such a fun idea for an Easter dessert. They’re a delicious, moist, rich, chocolate cupcake topped with chocolate frosting, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate candy eggs. Perfect for chocolate lovers 😉
I’ll be sharing our chocolate cupcake and chocolate frosting recipe with you that I used for the cupcakes pictured here, but the great thing about these is you can use any cupcake recipe, or any frosting recipe you want.
You can even use a box mix from the store, or store bought frosting as well. So basically that’s all to say, that you actually don’t need me, or this post, but hopefully you’ll get some helpful tips and ideas here anyway.
Ingredients Needed
This is a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this Bird Nest Cupcake Recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- baking soda and baking powder
- salt
- buttermilk
- vegetable oil
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- hot water
- butter
- powdered sugar
- heavy cream
How to make Bird’s Nest Cupcakes?
- Make the cupcakes. First you’ll start by making your chocolate cupcakes. I’ve provided my homemade chocolate cupcake recipe, but your favorite recipe, or a cake mix works fine, whatever you have time and patience for will work.
- Make the chocolate frosting. Let the cupcakes cool completely, then make your chocolate frosting. Again, you can use our chocolate frosting recipe, or even chocolate frosting in a tub from the store.
- Pipe the frosting onto the top of the cupcakes, you can use a star tip of some sort, or a round tip depending on the look you want with the frosting. I used a 1M tip and spread a little frosting all over the cupcake, then even more on the edges of the cupcake to create the sides of the bird’s nest.
- Decorate the cupcakes. Sprinkle chocolate jimmies over the top of the chocolate frosting. Place three chocolate candy eggs in the middle of the chocolate frosting nest, and enjoy.
Tips for making Bird’s Nest Cupcakes:
- Any cupcake: Instead of a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting you’re welcome to use any cupcake flavors. I recommend using a frosting color that looks somewhat natural for a bird’s nest, like a vanilla, cream cheese, or chocolate frosting – but anything will work.
- Decorating Options: Instead of topping the frosting with chocolate jimmies (I like to think they look like little sticks in a nest) you can also use toasted coconut for a fun look.
- Chocolate Eggs: You can use Cadbury Mini Eggs, M&M speckled Easter Eggs, or any other egg shaped chocolate candy for your bird egg’s in the nest.
These chocolate bird’s nest cupcakes are such a fun Easter cupcake. They’re perfect for serving at an Easter egg hunt, or for dessert after Easter dinner.
More fun Easter desserts:
- Easter Bark
- Mini Easter Cheesecakes
- Chocolate Chow Mein Nests
- Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies
- Easter Bunny Cookies
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Bird's Nest Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup hot water
For the Chocolate Buttercream:
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3-5 TBS heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 dash salt
For Bird's Nest Decorations:
- 1/2 cup chocolate jimmies
- 72 chocolate egg shaped candies
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, soda, and salt. Whisk them together, and set aside.
- In another bowl add the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk them together till smooth.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until they are well combined. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the hot water and mix until everything is just blended. (It will be very thin)
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tins, about 2/3 full each.
- Bake for about 18-22 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few soft crumbs.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Chocolate Buttercream:
- In a large bowl mix the butter until it's smooth. Beat for about 2 minutes.
- Add in the powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. Beat until they're well mixed.
- Add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt and mix until smooth.
- Once combined, raise the speed to medium high, and beat until the frosting is nice and fluffy.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag with a piping tip (I like the 1M tip) and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Pipe a thin layer around the whole top of the cupcake, then a higher layer on the sides of the cupcake to make the sides of the bird nest.
For Bird's Nest Decorations:
- Spread the chocolate sprinkles around the top of the frosting on each cupcake evenly.
- Add three chocolate candy eggs to the middle of the bird's nests.
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