Here’s an egg-cellent idea for an easter treat! Cupcakes with chicks hatching out of them! I love making cupcakes, and gluten free cupcakes are so easy to make. Once you get the basics right, such as the sponge, and the buttercream, the world is your oyster! You can play around with different flavourings and colours, and decorate them how you please. I really wanted to make some Easter themed ones, and I found the idea of having chicks hatching out of hollow chocolate eggs somewhere on the depths of the internet. I thought that they would make a great cupcake topper!

For the cupcakes, I made a really indulgent chocolate sponge. Using dark brown soft sugar instead of caster sugar in a chocolate cake makes the cocoa flavour more intense, and I really enjoy it.

And for the buttercream, use twice as much icing sugar to unsalted butter. You can add any flavour to it, but I chose vanilla to compliment these ones. I also added green food dye to contrast with the chocolate eggs on top, and make it look like grass a little. But you can make it any colour you want, or even use chocolate buttercream to make it look like a nest if you’d like. The options are endless.

The hollow eggs I used on the top, I in one of those ‘egg hunt’ kits that you can buy in the supermarket. The one in Morrisons is gluten free, and the ones from Asda and Tesco are too, just double check the ingredients before you purchase them.

I used a knife to carefully make holes in the eggs so I could put the chicks in. If you break them, don’t worry, it still looks like they’ve hatched! And that’s the beauty of them.

I got the little chicks from a Pound shop, and before I placed them on top of the cupcakes, I dusted any excess bits of fluff off them, so it doesn’t get stuck in the cake.

I think these are really fun to make, so give them a go!

Gluten Free Chocolate Easter Chick Cupcakes)

• Servings: 12
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Fun, moist gluten free chocolate cupcakes for Easter.

Credit: thecoeliacsloth.com

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

• 100g Self Raising gluten free flour
• 45g Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 110g Dark Brown Soft Sugar
• 110g Unsalted butter
• 1tsp Xanthan Gum
• A drop of milk
• 2 eggs

For the frosting and decoration:

• 100g Unsalted butter
• 200g Icing Sugar
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1tsp Milk
• Drop of green food colouring 
• 12 Small Hollow Easter eggs
• 12 Easter mini chick decorations

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°c, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar. 
3. Slowly beat in the eggs until well combined and smooth.
4. Sift in the cocoa powder, flour and Xanthan gum. Mix. 
5. If your cake batter seems a little thick, add a splash of milk into it to loosen it up a little.
6. Using a tablespoon, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases. 
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, and then leave to cool.
8. Once cooled, it’s time for the buttercream. Beat your butter until soft, and mix in the vanilla extract.
9. Slowly beat in the icing sugar and milk until smooth and creamy. Then, mix in a drop of green food dye, and continue adding and mixing, until the buttercream is a vibrant green colour. 
10. Transfer the buttercream  into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Swirl the icing onto the cupcakes.
11. Carefully cut holes out of the hollow eggs with a knife to make it look like they’ve cracked open. 
12. Place the eggs on top of the buttercream topped cakes. Place the mini chick decorations inside the eggs to make them look like they’ve hatched. 
13. Serve and enjoy!