Juliet Sear's Easter bunny biscuits & hidden creme egg cupcakes
Juliet Sear is back in the kitchen with two delicious Easter treats - her hidden creme egg cupcakes, and bunny biscuits.
Juliet Sear's Easter bunny biscuits
Makes: 1 large cookie biscuit
Download Juliet's Easter bunny template pdf
Ingredients
200g softened, unsalted butter
200g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 medium free range egg
375g plain flour
For the buttercream
500g icing sugar
250g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tsp boiling water
For decorating
A selection of Easter chocolates and edible sugar flowers and sprinkles.
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C fan/gas 5
2. Line a baking tray with baking parchment
3. In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar and vanilla until combined (do not cream). Beat in the egg and then add in the flour and mix until a dough is formed.
4. Roll out using guide sticks or until 5mm thick then place onto the lined tray. Using the bunny template as a guide, cut three of the bunny shapes larger than the template.
5. Bake for 10-12 mins until ¾ cooked, remove from the oven and check they are still in template shape. If not, trim around the template again so the three biscuits all line up in shape and size. Place back into the oven and finish baking until they are firm and golden. Leave to cool on the tray.
6. Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Put the icing sugar, butter and vanilla in a bowl, using an electric whisk, beat together until well mixed - if necessary add a drizzle of hot water to soften the mixture.
7. To decorate, place the buttercream into a piping bag with a large round nozzle and make neat blobs around the edge and the centre of the first cookie. Top with the second cookie and repeat.
8. Top with the final cookie and decorate as desired with blobs of buttercream as the base, and your selection of mini Easter chocolates
Juliet Sear's Easter surprise cupcakes
Serves: 12
Ingredients
For the cakes
150g butter, softened
125g self-raising flour
25g cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
75g light muscovado sugar
3 medium free range eggs
12 mini milk chocolate fondant eggs or mini chocolate egg of your choice, removed from packaging and frozen
For the buttercream frosting
400g icing sugar
200g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tsp boiling water
For the topping
400g ready to roll icing sugar
12 mini marshmallows
25g desiccated coconut
green colouring, to colour the buttercream icing
pink food colouring, to colour 25g of the ready to roll icing sugar
Edible sugar flowers, optional
Method
1. Preheat oven to Gas mark 4/180C/170C fan
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated
4. Mix the cocoa, flour and baking powder together then fold into the wet mix
5. Spoon the mixture into the individual cupcake cases and pop a frozen mini Creme Egg into each case. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Press gently and they should spring back. Leave the cakes to cool.
6. For the frosting, put the icing sugar, butter and vanilla in a bowl, and using an electric whisk, beat together until well mixed. If necessary add a drizzle of hot water to soften the mixture. Colour with the green food colouring and place into a piping bag with a small star nozzle.
7. To decorate, first make the fondant bunnies by rolling the white fondant icing into 12 small balls for the body of the bunny. Next shape 24 small oval shaped feet for the bunnies and use the pink fondant to make 24 small paw pads, making small indentations with a cocktail stick to resemble feet.
8. Finally shape 12 small balls, dip them into water and then the desiccated coconut to make fluffy bunny tails.
9. To assemble the bunny, use a small dab of water to stick everything starting with the feet. Stick the paw pads to the feet, and then stick to the body of the bunny and top with the fluffy tail.
10. To decorate: Pipe the top of the cupcakes with the green buttercream icing so it looks like grass, top with the fondant bunny, lightly pressing into place and then place small sugar flowers around if using.