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Hey again! It’s Chelsea back from Chelsea’s Messy Apron. Can you believe Easter is this Sunday? April has just flown by for me, I can’t believe it’s already Easter this Sunday. I have some incredibly simple Easter cupcakes in case you need a last minute dessert for this weekend! The great thing about these cupcakes though, is they are perfect for all of Spring and would even make a great Mother’s Day treat. Plus, they require minimal ingredients to decorate – no fancy icing bags or tips needed!
For these cupcakes I used a cake mix and doctored it up a bit. That’s my favorite way to do cakes or cupcakes. It’s simple, but the cake still tastes rich and dense. I use a cake mix that already has pudding mix in it and then add an additional pudding mix. The double pudding makes for some super dense and fudgy cupcakes. I also add in some sour cream and Greek yogurt to the mix which adds to the density of the cake. A couple extra eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and some buttermilk and the cake is ready to go into the oven.
A lot of the times I’ll use a substitute for buttermilk. I hate buying a whole container to just throw it away if it goes bad and I don’t use it all. All you do is get a scant cup of milk (I like to use 2% because of the creaminess) and add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. I prefer vinegar, but both will work. Stir together and allow to sit for 5-7 minutes before adding to the mixture.
Once these cupcakes are baked and cooled, it’s time to decorate!
I frosted each cupcake with dyed cream cheese frosting. You can make your own frosting, but I wanted to keep these simple so I just used it from a store-bought tub. Slather on the frosting and then immediately top with 1-2 tablespoons of dyed coconut.
Dying coconut is super simple – just stir around the coconut with a few drops of food dye until the color you desire is reached. Sometimes I will knead the coconut and dye with my hand if I want it to really pick up the color. But, be warned, your hand will be dyed too!
Finally, arrange the “flowers” by frosting the bottom of peanut M&M’s (or another similar candy) and pressing them in a flower form on to the cupcake. And there you go – super simple, last minute cupcakes for Easter, or Mother’s Day! Enjoy 🙂
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Spring Flower Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 (15-ounce) Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix
- 1 (3.5-ounce) box chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt, or plain
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorating
- 1 (16-ounce) container cream cheese frosting
- green food dye
- 1 ½ cups shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 (10-ounce) bag spring colored peanut M&M's
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the 1 (3.5-ounce) box chocolate fudge instant pudding mix and 1 (15-ounce) Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine the 3 large eggs, ½ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup sour cream, ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt, 1 cup buttermilk, and 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Mix wet and dry until combined but do not over-stir or beat in too much air.
- Fill up the liners ¾ full. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool completely.
Decorating
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the 1 (16-ounce) container cream cheese frosting with the green food dye. Mix until you reach the desired shade of green.
- Generously frost each cupcake with the green frosting.
- In another bowl, combine the 1 ½ cups shredded sweetened coconut with several drops of green food coloring. Stir and mix with your hands to thoroughly dye the coconut green.
- Place 1 tablespoon of dyed green coconut on each cupcake. Press it into the frosting to ensure it will stay.
- Slightly separating the coconut from the frosting, attach the 1 (10-ounce) bag spring colored peanut M&M's in the shape of a flower. If needed, use extra frosting to attach the M&M's and get them to stay in place.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My son and I are making these! He’s insane for the dough — can’t imagine how great the cupcakes are going to be! :))
Less messy way to dye coconut… put coconut & food coloring into small, resealable baggie + shake / knead = tinted coconut