Gluten-free mini egg cupcakes

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 180C (160C Fan) and place cupcake cases into your cupcake tin.

Step 2

Cream together your softened butter and sugar using an electric hand whisk. Do so until lighter in colour and fluffier in texture.

Step 3

Gradually add your eggs (I whisk briefly in between each addition).

Step 4

Sift your gluten free flour, cocoa, baking powder and xanthan gum and then mix with your electric hand whisk until combined.

Step 5

Spoon your mixture into your cupcake cases and place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Step 6

After 20 minutes they should be cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly in the tin and then move the cases to a cooling rack.

Step 7

Place the cream and chocolate (broken up into cubes) into a microwavable bowl. Heat for around 45 seconds in the microwave (you might want to mix halfway through). After 45 seconds, remove from the microwave and whisk together until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Step 8

Place in the fridge for around 15 minutes to thicken slightly but not to get stiff. Keep it out of the fridge if it gets too thick, you want to drizzle it into the cupcakes soon!

Step 9

Place your butter in a stand mixer (or electric hand whisk if you don’t have a stand mixer), mix on its own on a high speed for about 5 minutes. The butter should change from a more yellow colour to being a lot more pale.

Step 10

Melt your dark chocolate (I do this is the microwave), put to one side to cool whilst making the rest of the buttercream.

Step 11

Add your icing sugar gradually to the butter (I do this in two stages). I mix each addition of icing sugar for around 3-5 minutes before adding the second half.

Step 12

Add in 1-2 tbsp of milk and briefly mix once again.

Step 13

Now add in your melted dark chocolate mix for a couple of minutes to combine. It should be the right consistency at this point. If you think it’s too thick you can add a tsp of milk. If too thin you can add more icing sugar. I like this thickness of buttercream for these as it means you can pipe a nest shape if you want to!

Step 14

Once the cupcakes are cool you need to make little holes in your cupcakes to fill with the chocolate ganache. I use one of my piping nozzles to gently push into the centre of the cupcake and remove a bit. You could use a knife and remove a little too. Just make sure you don’t go too deep as you need some of the cake beneath to hold the filling!

Step 15

Spoon a decent amount of your chocolate ganache into the hole you’ve made in each cupcake.

Step 16

Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then pipe your buttercream on top.

Step 17

Finish with a few mini eggs and some crushed pieces of mini eggs too. Enjoy!