Where my Peeps at?

There I go again starting off a post with a super cheesy title. I think this one fits better than the last though. Easter weekend is almost upon us. It seemed like a fitting time to try out some new decorating options for some cupcakes. I knew my co-workers would be happy to see me coming. Who doesn't love a festive treat before a holiday? Especially on a day like today. It's so dark and dreary here - a nice, bright and cheery cupcake is just what the doctor ordered. 

Since it's Spring (sort of) I decided to go with a standby Lime Buttermilk cupcake recipe that a friend introduced me to last year. She came across it on the Coconut & Lime blog. I've made them twice before. Once for said friend's 30th birthday and once for Cupcake Camp Ottawa last year. It's a pretty great recipe that's never given me any trouble and I think it turned out even better this time. Perfect consistency and the cupcakes baked up really even. The one modification Kristen suggested, and I agree with, was to up the lime juice to two tablespoons instead of teaspoons for really good lime flavor.


Naked limes


For the frosting I decided to go with the cooked flour frosting I used for my friend's wedding cupcakes. It sounds like a really weird thing to do. Cook together flour, white sugar, and milk until thick and bubbly. Beat until cool and add the butter. I don't know how it works, but it does! The recipe I used can be found here. It is so easy to pipe and holds up perfectly. The wedding was in August when it was unseasonably humid for the location and they looked exactly the same the second day. I also like that it uses regular white sugar instead of icing sugar. No sifting to worry about. I did add a bit of icing sugar at the end just to make it a little stiffer and to take away a bit from the taste of the butter.

Now for the fun part - the decorating! What says Easter like marshmallow Peeps, jelly beans, and mini eggs? This idea popped into my head a couple of weeks ago. It's not original, to say the least, but I thought it would be fun and cheerful. I started off by adding a little green coloring to the frosting since it would be serving as my base, or "grass". Next step - adding some more green coloring to shredded coconut to make more grass for the bunnies and toasting another batch of coconut to make the nests for the chicks. 

Assembly line


The next step was to get the Peeps attached to the cupcakes with toothpicks. The chicks were finished off with a nest full of mini eggs while the bunnies had a pile of jelly beans. Not too difficult at all and a really cute and festive result (if I do say so myself).

Peep-tastic!

And some individual portraits...

I think they turned out really well. The frosting I used to stick the eggs and jelly beans to the nests and grass could be cleaned up a little bit but, otherwise, I was really happy with them. My taste testers today seemed pretty pleased. They were a lot less complicated to put together than people probably thought. I would definitely make them again.

What are your favorite treats (homemade or store bought) for Easter? Do you have any Easter baking or food traditions?