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If you’re in charge of dessert for Easter Sunday, there are a lot of recipes to choose from, but cupcakes are always a fun choice. These Easter basket cupcakes with coconut grass are an adorable Easter-themed cupcake option.

Easter Basket Cupcakes with Coconut Grass

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When I was a kid, my mother was supposed to bring dessert for Easter dinner one year. She made an Easter basket cake, and it looked amazing! Making the cake was a lot of work, though, so when I decided to try my hand at it, I thought I would change it up and make individual cupcakes instead.

The cupcakes turned out really cute, and as I had hoped, they were much easier to make. Decorating just the top of the cupcakes was a lot less time-consuming than decorating the entire top of a cake plus making the sides look like a basket.

One of the best parts of this Easter cupcake recipe is that it’s easy for kids to help with. This is a great way to keep them entertained for a bit if spring break is the week before Easter and they’re complaining about being bored.

Ingredients Needed for Easter Cupcakes with Coconut Grass

• Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Box Mix – Certainly you could make these cupcakes from scratch, but who has the time for that? As busy moms, we have a lot on our plates, so it’s nice to make things a little easier and faster when possible. Now, while I highly recommend the Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix (it’s really yummy) you can choose whatever mix, brand, and flavor that you like best.
• Container of Butter Cream Frosting – Like with the box mix, I prefer to save time with already-made frosting. We really like the buttercream one, but any frosting with a white shade works for this recipe.
• Coconut – An Easter basket isn’t complete without grass. For your Easter basket cupcakes, you’ll need edible grass, and we’re going to make that with coconut.
• Green Food Coloring – The coconut makes great edible grass for the cupcakes, but it won’t look right if it’s still white. That’s where the food coloring comes in, and it only requires a few drops. I like to use green, but you could use any color you like since Easter grass comes in many shades.
• Brach’s Speckled Jelly Bird Eggs – The final ingredient that really adds to these cupcakes are jellybeans in the center to look like Easter eggs. Any colorful jellybeans will do, but I love the look of these Speckled Jelly Bird Eggs.
• Water, Eggs, and Vegetable Oil – All three of these ingredients were ones that my box mix required. The additional ingredients you’ll need will depend on the box you choose, but these will likely be needed. Make sure to check what your box has listed when you purchase it.

Cupcake Making Accessories

One of the things that makes this recipe simpler than making a cake version is that you don’t need to spend time decorating the side of the cake to look like a basket. Instead, you get the basket look by using a cupcake liner. Here are some adorable cupcake liners from Amazon that you can use for your basket cupcakes.

Easter Bunny Decorative Baking Cups – Patterned Paper Liners for Cupcakes, Muffins (Standard Sized) – 50 CountSANNIX 450pcs Easter Cupcake Liners, Bunny Chick Egg Baking Cups Cupcake Wrappers Paper Wraps Muffin Liners for Easter Spring Birthday Party Candy Cake Decorations Supplies(9 Designs)JarThenaAMCS 600Pcs Easter Cupcake Liners Easter Egg Bunny Rabbit Carrot Print Baking Cups Colorful Cupcake Wrappers Holders Muffin Liners for Spring Birthday Party Baking SuppliesBakery Crafts Pastel Rainbow Baking Cups – 300-2The Spring Shop Easter Patterned Eggs Decorative Baking Cups – Patterned Paper Liners for Cupcakes, Muffins (Standard Sized) – 50 Count, Green, 5207709qiqee Easter 300-Count Cupcake Liners Standard Cupcake Cups 6 Design Cupcake Papers Baking Cups Cupcake Wrappers (Standard Size)

 

How to Make Easter Basket Cupcakes with Coconut Grass

The first thing you’ll want to do is preheat the oven. Most likely, your first batch of cupcakes will be ready to bake before the oven is even up to temperature. For my cupcakes, I had to preheat to 350°, but check your box to see if you need a different temperature.

Next, you can make the cake mix. Follow the instructions specific to your box. If you are using the same mix I did, you’ll pour the mix into a large bowl and then add water, eggs, and vegetable oil.

Once you’ve combined all of the ingredients, you’ll mix it on low speed until the mixture is moistened. This should take about 30 seconds. Then turn the speed up to medium and mix for another 2 minutes.

When the batter is ready, you can prepare to start baking. First, put a cupcake liner in each hole of your muffin pan. Since you are using liners, you do not need to spray the pan.

Once the liners are in, you can start filling them with cake batter. You want these cupcakes extra big, so fill each baking cup 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. You won’t make as many cupcakes this way, but it’ll be worth it. My box mix said the mix should yield 24 cupcakes, but I usually get 14 to 16 large cupcakes.

Once all of the cupcake liners are filled, you can put that batch in the oven to bake. Follow the baking time listed on your box mix. For me, it was 18 – 21 minutes.

I recommend taking the cupcakes out at the first time listed and using a toothpick to test if they’re done. I found that 18 minutes is often the perfect amount of time for my cupcakes.

When the first batch is done, remove the baked cupcakes from the muffin pan and let them cool. Then refill the muffin pan and continue baking until you’ve used up the cake batter.

While you’re waiting for all of the cupcakes to bake, it’s a good time to prep the coconut. You could wait to do this when you’re ready to decorate, but I think it’s easier to make all of the food items at once

To make the “grass,” place a cup of coconut in a bowl. If you won’t be decorating immediately, then use a food storage bowl with a sealable lid. That way, it’ll stay fresh and ready to go when you are. It’ll stay fresh this way for several days.

Next, add four drops of food coloring to the coconut. I recommend spreading them out like points of a square. Then grab a spoon and mix the coconut until all of it is coated with the food coloring.

If you feel that the coconut isn’t colored enough, you could add another drop of food coloring. I recommend mixing a bit longer, though, before adding a fifth drop because that’s usually all it needs.

How to Make the Easter Basket Cupcake Handles

An Easter basket wouldn’t be complete without a handle. You can make these either before or after you decorate the cupcakes. I prefer making them before, but either way works.

You can make these as intricate as you want, but these instructions are for simple and basic handles. Honestly, you don’t need more than this simple handle design to make your cupcakes look good.

To make the basket handles, you just need a few supplies…

• Aluminum foil
• Stapler
• Assorted ribbon in spring colors

Hopefully, you already have most of the supplies in your home. If you craft much, this is a great way to use up some old ribbon. The satin blue ribbon I used was leftover after making my DIY Easter Bunny Wall Hanging, and the tulle I made the bows out of was leftover from my DIY Patriotic Tulle Wreath.

To make your handles, roll out a sheet of aluminum foil and cut it into small rectangles. The exact size doesn’t matter too much, but if it helps, my pieces were approximately 7.25” by 2.75”. You’ll need an aluminum foil rectangle for each cupcake you’re making.

Once your tin foil pieces are ready, you are going to roll each one up into a tight tube. You want to roll it on the long side.

After you have the aluminum foil rolled, it’s time to add the ribbon. The easiest way is to staple it to one end of the tin foil roll.

I like to sort of fold the end over before I start wrapping the ribbon, but you don’t need to do that. The ends will be stuck into the cupcakes, so neither they nor the staples will show.

Once you’ve wrapped the ribbon around until you reach the other end, attach it with a staple and cut any extra ribbon off. I usually add a second staple to keep down any flapping ribbon that appears after I cut the excess off.

Now there are only two steps left. The first is to bend the tube into an arch to look like a handle.

Finally, you want to finish your handle by tying a bow around it. If you have multiple ribbon options, then choose a thin ribbon for the bow.

How to Decorate Cupcake Easter Baskets

At this point, your cupcakes should be baked and cooled, your coconut grass prepped, and your handles made. All that is left is to decorate and assemble your cupcake Easter Baskets!

There are only four steps for decorating these cupcakes. Two of which are great for kids who want to help.

First, you’ll need to frost the cupcakes. If you’re using the frosting I recommended, then make sure to stir the frosting 20 times before using it as listed on the instructions. Make sure you add a generous amount of frosting to the cupcakes.

Next, you’ll add the coconut. Just get a spoonful of the coconut and shake it over the top of the cupcakes. This is a great step for a child to help with.

For this step, I highly recommend placing some parchment paper under the cupcakes. That way, you can easily collect all of the coconut that doesn’t stick to the cupcake. You can even use the paper to pour the unused coconut back into the bowl to use on the other cupcakes.

Once the coconut is on, it’s time to add the jelly beans. This is another step that you can assign to a little helper. Simply place three to four jelly beans on top of the cupcake.

The final step is to add the handle on top. Make sure that you don’t just place the handle onto the cupcake. You need to actually push it into the cupcake, or it’ll fall down.

Now, you might need to wait to add the handles. It depends on whether you need to transport them, and what you have to store the cupcakes in. If the handles could get crushed, then wait until you display them for the meal to add the handles.

How to Display Your Basket Cupcakes

After the work you put into making these adorable basket cupcakes, you don’t want to bring them out just in time for dessert. They are too cute to hide away. What you need is a cupcake display. With the right display, you could even set them up to be a table centerpiece!

There are a lot of great cupcake displays that you could use. Even a single cake display would work great. If you don’t have anything that would work, then check out these cupcake display options on Etsy.

More Fun Easter Ideas

Looking for more ways to add some fun to your Easter? Check out these crafts…

• DIY Easter Bunny Bag
• How to Make a Washcloth Origami Bunny
• How to Make Blown Out Easter Eggs to Decorate Your Home for Easter
• Make Your Own Mini Easter Baskets – (from Carrie Elle)