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Each week at work we have "Fill It Up Friday" where one person provides morning tea for the team. My last turn fell this week and as Friday was a public holiday it became 'Top It up Thursday". Inevitably I had to make Easter themed cakes, because, of course, the next day was Good Friday. Last year I made the cutest Easter bonnet (which took out the best in show award in my team), so whatever I made had to beat that! I saw at least 3 people taking photos and was asked for the recipe by a different 3 people, so I consider these a success :)

Again these are another cheats mix, with all the work being in the icing and decoration. These tasted like a sponge cake version of a Sally Lunn - oh so tasty! But there's a twist. Inside each cupcake is a mini Creme Egg! Now this sounded delicious to me as I've been addicted to Creme eggs ever since I was a child in the 70's, but sadly I didn't account for how much the centre would caramelize and in the end that part was just too sweet for my taste. Still, the eggs sunk to the bottom, so it was a simple matter of eating the delicious vanilla sponge surrounding it! Some people ate 2-3 each, so the sweetness factor is a matter of taste... Either way - I will absolutely be making these again, sans the creme egg :)

Ingredients

1 packet Edmonds Angelic Vanilla Cupcake Mix
60g butter at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
Note: As always, refer to the ingredients on your cake mix packet! The above is what the Edmonds mix calls for, so if you use a different brand you might need other ingredients. Any good quality cupcake mix will do.

12 Mini Creme Eggs (leave these out or replace with white chocolate for something different)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c (or whatever your box instructions say) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners. I used a muffin pan again for these because the mini creme eggs were bigger than I expected.

Combine the ingredients for your cupcake batter as per the instructions on the box and beat for 3 minutes on high. Divide the mixture evenly in your muffin pan. If you're adding the creme egg, put them in now and press them so they're sitting low in the cake.

Bake for 20 minutes, or for as long as your instructions state.

Icing

100g butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
100g melted white chocolate
Dessicated coconut

Combine all ingredients except coconut at a low speed. Once combined, whip for 3 minutes at a high speed. This is what creates the fluffy, sally lunn type icing! If you're not doing the bunny decoration, sprinkle the coconut on as soon as you've iced the cakes. If you are doing the decorations then hold on for now.

Decorations
24 Strawberry and Cream lollies for ears
24 chocolate melts for eyes
Pink heartshaped sprinkles for nose

Generously ice each cupcake with the buttercream icing as this will help hold the lollies in place. Into each cup cake, place 2 strawberry and cream lollies into the icing and a little into the cake. Just below and in from the ears, use two melts for eyes (pointy side down). Next, add one heart shaped sprinkle upside down to form the nose. Finally, sprinkle the coconut over the top of each cake, shaking off the excess.

I recently went to Melbourne with some friends and while we were there, we went to see Wicked. The day of the show itself was Melbourne's hotted recorded day in history, (46.7 deg. c) and I bought at least one minty ice cream to keep me cool that day!

Any way, a few nights later we had a 'slide night' and pot luck dinner and the girls asked me to make some Melbourne themed cupcakes. Naturally, the first thing that popped into my mind was "MMMM- Minty Melted Elphaba cakes!" and thus the Wicked cupcake was born. It's a bit of a cheat's cupcake as it's mostly packet mix, but I have to say, this is one of my favourite cupcakes so far!


Ingredients

1 packet Edmonds Chocolate Cupcake Mix
60g butter at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
Note: Refer to the ingredients on your cake mix packet! The above is what the Edmonds mix calls for, so if you use a different brand you might need other ingredients. Any good quality cupcake mix will do.

1 Kingsize block of Cadbury Milk Chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c (or whatever your box instructions say) and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners. Yes, you need to use a muffin pan for these, not a cupcake pan, as these are desert sized cakes.

Melt half your block of chocolate and put it aside to cool just a little. Combine the ingredients for your cupcake batter as per the instructions on the box, then add the melted chocolate. Beat for 3 minutes on high.

Divide the mixture evenly in your muffin pan. Break off 12 pieces of chocolate and place one in the centre of each cupcake, pressing the chocolate in slightly - don't push it in too far as it will sink to the bottom! Bake for 20 minutes, or for as long as your instructions state.

Chocolate Icing

1/8 c softened butter
120 g cream cheese
44 g chocolate broken into small pieces
tiny pinch salt
1.5 c icing sugar
1/4 cup cream
1/4 tsp vanilla essence


Heat the cream until it's just under boiling. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate to the heated cream. Stir until the chocolate is melted into the cream, then let the mix cool completely.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the melted chocolate mixture, salt, icing sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Ice the cupcakes generously and put aside in a slightly warm place so the icing smooths out while you make the mint topping.

Mint Icing

1.5c Icing sugar
1/8 tsp mint essence
milk
green food colouring

Mix the icing sugar, mint and milk until you have a slightly runny consistancy. Add enough green food colouring so that the icing is a vibrant shade of green.

How to make the melted Witch!

This is the fun part! Once your cream cheese icing is smoothed, take a teaspoon of the icing mixture and start pouring it on, slightly to the side of the centre, so that it makes a small puddle that might resemble a melted witch. You want the icing to run naturally, so don't play with it too much, and don't cover the chocolate, you just want a contrasting puddle! Once you've added the mint icing, unwrap your Hershey's kisses, and pop them on top at a jaunty angle, pressing lightly so it sticks.

My friend was telling me about these the other day and gave me her recipe... I've yet to try these (I'm not a fizzy drink drinker!) but as soon as I remember to buy some mountain dew it's top of my list!

Ingredients

250 g packet lemon cake mix
50 g packet instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
150 mls Mountain Dew

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a cupcake tray.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until well combined.

Divide the batter among the cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown or top springs back when lightly touched.

Icing

250 g can crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 c icing sugar
1/8 cup butter
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Combine pineapple, the juice from the can and icing sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Remove from the heat and the butter and coconut.

Here's a plain vanilla cupcake recipe which you can use for just about anything!


Ingredients

125 g softened, unsalted butter
250 g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
185 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 c milk

Preheat your oven to 180C and line 1 and a half cupcake trays.

In a small bowl sift in the flour, baking soda and salt and place to the side for now.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla. One by one add the eggs, beating well after each to keep the air in.

Using a very low speed, add a quarter of the flour to the egg mix, then a quarter of the milk, removing the beater as soon as they're mixed. Continue until all the flour and liquid has been added. It's important to not over mix the batter on this one - always use the lowest speed and stop often.

Divide the batter evenly into the trays, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until they are golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Icing

60g icing sugar
2-3 tsp hot water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl then add the liquid and mix until smooth. Drizzle the icing over cool cupcakes so it drips a little down the sides. If you're serving these for a party, top with fresh raspberries or even little chucks of mango. Yum!

Note: You can half the amount of vanilla extract and top it up with a different flavour in both the cake and icing. For example you could use, 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp of strawberry essence. keep the vanilla in the mix however as it gives a great depth to the flavour.

I'm currently addicted to Subway's macadamia cookies, so I took my white chocolate cupcake recipe and embellished it a bit!

Ingredients

125 g unsalted butter
1/2 c castor sugar
3 eggs
80 g white chocolate bits
3/4 c plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinammon
1 c finely chopped macadamia nuts

Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with wrappers. and preheat your oven to 180C.

Sift your dry incredients into a bowl, along with the chopped macadamias. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Slowly add the dry ingredients then beat for 4 minutes on high.. Add the white chocolate pieces and mix for a further minute or until they're well distributed.

Divide the batter among the cases and bake for 20 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed.

Icing

2 c icing sugar
1/4 c cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g bar of white chocolate, melted
water

Combine all the ingredients except for the water - slowly add the water until the icing is the right consistancy.

Buttermilk isn't really widely available here, and I've always wanted to try it. So... When I came across some in the supermarket, I had to find a recipe I could use it in, and it had to be this one!

Ingredients

Butterm