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Easter chick cupcakes

Want to do some baking with the kids over the Easter holidays?

Try making these fun Easter cupcakes topped with fondant chicks hatching out of their 'shells', made exclusively for goodtoknow by Victoria Threader

• Serves: 12
• Prep time: 50 mins
• Cooking time: 30 mins
• Total time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients
• 150g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 130g self-raising flour
• 20g cornflour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk, room temperature
• 3 eggs

For the hatching chicks toppers:
• 55g butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 500g white fondant
• Orange, black and yellow food colour pastes. (Victoria used Sugarflair's Tangerine/Apricot, Egg Yellow and Liquorice)

You will also need:
• 7cm circular cookie cutter
• Small daisy cutter (Victoria used a 20mm one from Cakecraftworld.co.uk)
• Small star cutter (Victoria used a 12mm one from Cakecraftworld.co.uk)
• Sharp knife
• Small brush

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter with the vanilla essence until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
3. Add 1 egg, 1/3 of the flour and a splash of milk and beat with the electric mixer until just combined. Repeat until all the ingredients are combined.
4.Divide the batter between the 12 cases (use an ice cream scoop to get even amounts) and bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.

Remove and cool in the tin for 10 minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack to cool completely

To make the buttercream icing
1.Place the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and milk in a large bowl and mix using an electric whisk for about 5 minutes until smooth.

2.When the cupcakes have cooled completely spread a little buttercream over the tops to make them smooth. Don’t spread right to the papers or the buttercream will spill over the sides.

To make the chicks
1. Colour 350g of the fondant yellow (body), 50g orange (beak and legs), 10g black (eyes) and leave 90g white (shells and eyes).
2. Roll the yellow fondant out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut 12 7cm circles and place over the top of the buttercream and smooth with your fingers.
3.Make a tuft of hair for the hatched chicks using the daisy cutter.

To make the egg with legs:
1.Roll the 90g of white fondant quite thinly to 1/8 inch thick and cut out a 7cm circle. Then using a small star cutter, cut 2 star shapes out at the bottom of the circle and stick the circle onto the yellow covered cupcakes to make the broken 'shell'. Use a cocktail stick to create a cracking effect on the egg shells.

2.Using the orange fondant, roll 2 sausage shapes for legs and cut 2 strips in one end for the feet.Texture the legs with a cocktail stick, and then stick them in the star shape with a brush of water.

To make the hatching shell
1.Roll out the white fondant to 1/8 inch thick and cut out a 7cm circle, then cut the circle in half. Using a sharp knife, cut triangle-shaped pieces out of the cut edge and, with a brush of water, stick to the yellow topped cupcakes.

To make the beak
1. Roll the orange fondant and cut 12 small squares for the beaks.
2.Using a cocktail stick, press diagonally from one corner to the other to make a line, being careful not to go all the way through. Stick the beaks on with a brush of water.

To make the eyes
1.Roll small balls of white a press flat into a circle shape, then repeat with the black fondant making them slightly smaller. Stick them just above the beaks with a brush of water.

By Victoria Threader
Nutritional information

Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.