Julie Clark
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Easter Chicks Cupcakes
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A complete tutorial on how to make cute Easter chicks cupcakes for your spring party! Baby chicks are piped onto vegan chocolate cupcakes for a cute kids craft.
Whether it is Easter weekend, a spring party or a barnyard bash, cute Easter chicks cupcakes are must! From scratch chocolate cupcakes with piped frosting are easy enough for anyone to try.
Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes
This vegan chocolate cupcake recipe is a basic recipe that you can use for many different cupcake recipes. You’ll love that it is easy to mix up and makes a small batch of cupcakes. Just 12! If you need more cupcakes you can double the recipe to get a 24 batch of cupcakes.
Whisk together the dry ingredients well to remove any lumps, but once you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, be careful not to over mix. Mix just until the batter is combined.
Vegan Frosting
This buttercream recipe can be made with traditional butter or vegan butter (such as Earth Balance brand vegan butter). The butter should be at room temperature in order achieve a smooth frosting.
If the frosting seems to thick, add a tablespoon or two of your favorite milk until you get a good piping consistency.
Frosting Baby Chicks
The first step to making the baby chicks is to color the frosting. You’ll need yellow, orange and black. If I have time, I like to try to make and color the frosting a day in advance. That way the color has time to deepen and set in. If you don’t have time to do that it’s not a huge problem though.
Tip for Black frosting
The black frosting is easier to color if you add a touch of cocoa powder to the frosting. This is not 100% necessary, but you won’t have to add as much black coloring if you start by turning it brown with cocoa powder.
- Make the chicks using a Wilton 1A piping tip. This tip has a large circle opening. There is need to use a coupler with this tip. Just push the large tip into the frosting bag and pipe away!
- To pipe the chick, hold the frosting bag perpendicular to the cupcake about 1/2-3/4″ above the cupcake. Squeeze the frosting bag, holding the tip still until it pops a smooth dollop of frosting that resembles the bottom half of the chick body. Pipe the chick body to your desired size making sure to leave enough room on the cupcake for the feet, let it crust for about 5 minutes, and then pipe the head in the same way you piped the body, just making it a little smaller.
- Add the beak with a small Wilton #2 piping tip by applying more pressure at the base and pulling away to form a small triangle. Pipe the legs by drawing a line out from the bottom of the body and adding 3 toes.
- Add the black eyes with a small Wilton #1 piping tip. *Be sure to note that the black frosting may bleed onto the yellow frosting the longer they sit, so serve right away or wait to pipe the eyes until right before serving.*
Storage Instructions
Store the cupcakes at room temperature and serve as soon as possible so the food coloring does not bleed. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days, then freeze any left after that for up to 2 months.
Easter Chicks Cupcakes
A complete tutorial on how to make cute Easter chicks cupcakes for your spring party! Baby chicks are piped onto vegan chocolate cupcakes for a cute kids craft.
Servings 12
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup water (room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter* (room temperature)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- Yellow, orange, and black gel food color
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder until well combined.
- In a separate bowl whisk together vegetable oil, vanilla, water, and vinegar.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Fill lined muffin tins ¾ full and bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a center cupcake springs back when lightly tapped.
- While the cupcakes are cooling make the frosting by beating the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until it reaches a piping consistency. Mix in the vanilla.
- Spoon ¼ cup of frosting into a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and mix well. Add some black food coloring and mix until well combined.*
- Add ¼ cup of frosting into a 2nd bowl and color it orange, mixing well.
- Color the remaining frosting yellow, mixing until well combined.
- Make the chicks using a Wilton 1A piping tip. Frost the body to your desired size making sure to leave enough room on the cupcake for the feet, let it crust for about 5 minutes, and then frost the head.**
- Add the black eyes with a small Wilton #1 piping tip.
- Add the beak with a small Wilton #2 piping tip by applying more pressure at the base and pulling away to form a small triangle. Pipe the legs by drawing a line out from the bottom of the body and adding 3 toes.
- The frosting tends to bleed the longer you let it sit so serve immediately or wait to add the eyes and feet until just before serving.
Notes
*Use vegan butter if you’d like.
**You can skip the cocoa powder in the black frosting but I found I needed less black food coloring when I added it
***I used a damp, food only paint brush to tap down the pointed top I got from pulling away the piping bag but feel free to skip this step.
The calories shown are based on the recipe making 12 cupcakes, with 1 serving being 1 frosted cupcake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 480kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 53mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 55g | Vitamin A: 475IU | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1.1mg
Tools to Make the Easter Chicks Cupcakes
- Wilton 1A Tip: For piping the chicks bodies.
- Wilton #1 Tip: For the eyes.
- Wilton #2 Tip: For the beak and feet.
- Disposable Piping Bags: For easy cleanup!
- Couplers: Couplers attach the decorating tip to the bag.
- Americolor Food Coloring Gel:This gel color works so well and gives great color!
