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This gorgeous Easter Cupcake Wreath is a wonderful showstopper dessert for your Easter celebrations. Moist chocolate cupcakes serve as the base of the wreath, topped with creamy vanilla buttercream and adorned with edible Easter decorations. Pull apart the cupcakes and enjoy this delicious easter treat with your friends and family!

Easter Cupcake Wreath pull-apart cupcakes

This recipe is kindly sponsored by Tala Cooking.

Recipe Overview

FLAVOUR: For this cupcake wreath recipe, I decided on a classic chocolate and vanilla flavour combination. The rich and indulgent chocolate cupcakes pair beautifully with the sweet and creamy vanilla buttercream.
TEXTURE: Bite into these cupcakes to find a moist and tender chocolate sponge and creamy vanilla buttercream. The mini eggs and easter sprinkles add a little crunch to cut through the soft textures.
SERVES: This recipe yields 12 cupcakes, arranged to form the easter wreath. You might not need to use all of the cupcakes for the wreath, so use any spares to practice piping the buttercream decorations.

A single chocolate cupcake with a bite taken out of it, topped with vanilla buttercream and mini eggs

Ingredients To Make The Chocolate Cupcakes

Gather these ingredients to make the chocolate cupcakes which will form the base of the easter wreath:

Unsalted butter (room temperature): Contributes to the tenderness and richness of the chocolate sponge and gives the cupcakes structure.
Golden caster sugar: This type of sugar has a delicate caramel flavour which works wonders with the chocolate flavour in these cupcakes. You can swap for white caster sugar if needed.
Vanilla extract: We add a teaspoon of vanilla to the chocolate cake mixture to marry with the vanilla buttercream. It’s not essential but definitely adds a little something!
Eggs (room temperature): This recipe uses 3 medium or 2 large eggs. Beat the eggs into the butter and sugar really well to aerate the mixture and give the cupcakes a light and fluffy texture.
Self-raising flour: Lends structure to the cupcakes and the raising agent in self-raising flour will give the cupcakes a lovely rise. If needed, you can swap for plain all-purpose flour and add 1.5 teaspoons of baking.
Cocoa powder: Turns the plain cake mixture into a delicious chocolatey one! Use a good quality 100% cocoa powder for an intense, rich and decadent chocolate flavour.
Milk: The extra fat and protein content in milk makes these cupcakes extra fluffy and soft.
Boiling water: A little boiling water helps “bloom” the cocoa powder, creating a deeper, more rich chocolate flavour.

How To Make The Best Vanilla Buttercream

This really is my best-ever vanilla buttercream recipe – in fact, I think it deserves its own blog post at some point! This vanilla buttercream is luxuriously smooth, ultra creamy, sweet but not too sweet, and the perfect consistency for piping beautiful decorations to create your cupcake wreath. It is made using just four ingredients:

Salted butter: The added salt balances the overall sweetness of the buttercream and creates a flavour that is very more-ish and irresistible! Ensure the butter is at room temperature—softer butter blends more easily with the icing sugar.
Icing sugar: This type of sugar, known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar, is ground into a very fine powder, which allows it to practically melt into the butter, resulting in smooth buttercream.
Vanilla extract: The star of the show! For the best flavour choose a great-quality vanilla extract when making vanilla buttercream. My go-to is Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste.
Single cream: The secret ingredient to making this vanilla buttercream extra creamy. Single cream, also known as light cream, has roughly an 18% fat content. Single cream doesn’t whip or thicken like double cream, which makes it perfect for mixing in to soften the buttercream without increasing its thickness.

piping the best vanilla buttercream onto chocolate cupcakes

Cupcake Wreath Decorating Ideas

This is the perfect recipe to get creative and put your piping skills to the test – feel free to switch up the colour scheme and decorate your cupcake wreath any way you like! Here are a few ideas:

Buttercream: I decorated this cupcake wreath with vanilla buttercream, dyed in various pastel shades to create a delightful Easter-themed appearance. I decided on a pastel pink, cream and pastel green colour scheme, but you could choose any colours you like.
Easter chocolates: There are so many options! From mini eggs to chocolate bunnies, creme eggs to chocolate chicks. Choose your favourites and dot them on top of the cupcake wreath to add pops of colour and easter cuteness.
Edible sugar flower decorations: I found these adorable daisy flowers which instantly made me think of Spring. You could even use real edible flowers which would look beautiful!
Easter sprinkles: Sprinkles are a great way to add colour and fill in any gaps. My favourite is this Easter sprinkle mix from Happy Sprinkles. How cute are the duck-egg blue eggs and carrots!
Ribbon: Finish your cupcake wreath with a colourful ribbon tied into a bow. Plain, gingham, stripy, polka dot… so many lovely options to crown your beautiful showstopper bake!

cupcake wreath with undecorated cupcakes and decorated surrounding it

Equipment For Making This Easter Cupcake Wreath

In addition to basic equipment such as a large mixing bowl, mixing utensils, and measuring spoons, you’ll need a few additional pieces to create this Easter Cupcake Wreath:

Cupcake baking tin: This 12-hole cupcake tin from Tala is completely non-stick, great quality and conducts heat perfectly giving your cupcakes an even rise and bake.
Cupcake cases: The cuter the better for making this Easter cupcake wreath! I used these adorable chick cupcake cases from Tala. The foil lining prevents greasy cases and discolouration. Plus, the cupcake toppers serve as extra decorations for your Easter wreath.
Piping nozzles and bags: A selection of nozzles will give you options when it comes to piping the buttercream on top of the cupcakes. Here’s how I used the Tala Star, Leaf and Grass Icing Set:
- Star nozzle: used to pipe roses on top of each cupcake and to pipe dots of buttercream to fill in any gaps.
- Leaf nozzle: used to pipe leaves on top of the roses.
- Grass nozzle: While I didn’t use this nozzle, it can be used to pipe grass and would look fab on this cupcake wreath.

tala cupcake tin with chocolate cake mixture and easter cupcake cases

Easter Cupcake Wreath

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Prep: 1 30

Cook: 20

Total: 1 50

Servings: Cupcakes

Ingredients

180 grams Unsalted butter room temperature
180 grams Golden caster sugar or white caster sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
3 medium Eggs or 2 large eggs at room temperature
150 grams Self-raising flour or 150g plain flour + 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
30 grams Cocoa powder
30 millilitres Milk whole or semi-skimmed
1 tablespoon Boiling water

For the vanilla buttercream:

300 grams Salted butter room temperature
600 grams Icing sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
4 tablespoons Single cream
Pink food colouring
Green food colouring

For the decorations:

Easter chocolates e.g. mini eggs, chocolate bunnies, creme eggs
Edible flowers
Easter sprinkles
Ribbon

Instructions

Start by making the chocolate cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C conventional. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with 12 cases.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding 1 tbsp of the 150g flour with each egg to stop the mixture from curdling.
In a separate bowl, stir the remaining flour and cocoa powder together to combine. Then tip into the butter mixture and fold until combined.
Fold in the milk and boiling water to make a smooth glossy chocolate mixture.
Divide evenly between the cupcake cases, filling each one ¾ full.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until the cupcakes are risen and spring back when lightly pressed in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the vanilla buttercream:

First beat the butter until super soft and smooth.
Sift in half of the icing sugar and beat to combine.
Sift in the remaining icing sugar and add the vanilla extract and single cream. Beat well to make a smooth and creamy buttercream.
Spoon two heaped tablespoons of buttercream into a separate bowl and dye it a pale green colour using green food colouring. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small leaf nozzle.
Spoon half of the remaining white buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a closed star nozzle.
Dye the remaining white buttercream a pale pink using pink food colouring. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a closed star nozzle.

Time to decorate your cupcake wreath:

Arrange the cupcakes in a circular wreath shape. I only used 9 cupcakes to make my wreath and used the spare ones to practice piping the buttercream.
Using the star nozzle, pipe white and pink buttercream roses on top of the cupcakes. To do this, start in the middle of the cupcake and spiral outwards in one smooth motion.
Using the star nozzle, pipe dots of buttercream in the empty spaces to fill in the gaps.
Using the leaf nozzle, pipe leaves on top of the roses. To do this, hold the piping bag on its side and pipe the base of the leaf, then pull it up and away to create the tip of the leaf.
Arrange your decorations on top and finish your wreath by creating a bow from the ribbon and placing it at the top. Enjoy!

Video

Have you made this Easter Cupcake Wreath?

I’d love to hear what you think! You can leave a review and star rating below. If you snap a picture, be sure to tag me on Instagram @Jessie.Bakes.Cakes and follow for more baking recipes, tips and behind-the-scenes content!