Life Is Too Short for a World so Big: Easter Bunny Cupcakes

I know this is a late post for Easter however these are so cute and delicious that I know you want to make them! Or maybe Pin them and use them next year. My husband has to work this weekend, yes over Easter. Don't worry, I talked to the Easter bunny and he's going to come by our house on Monday. But since my husband and his coworkers are working over the holiday, I thought I could cheer them up with some Easter Cupcakes! I don't normally make sweets because I don't like them however my husband has a sweet tooth. I usually make sweets around the holidays, mainly because I like to decorate them more than eat them ha ha. So I found a picture of these on Pinterest (Follow me here!) but there weren't any directions, just a picture. I used my go to cupcake & frosting recipe (adapted from Bakerella), a little Pinspiration and came up with these cute little cupcakes! And now I'll share the recipe with you in case you're looking for a last minute Easter treat! For these, you can make them 2 different ways. You can either make 12 or 24. It's the same recipe. With 12 you'll get giant, somewhat square cupcakes. With 24 you'll get normal looking cupcakes. I'll tell you were you need to make your decision.

Cupcakes:
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
a few drops of red food coloring
2 1/2 cups of all purpose non-bleached flour (this will make the red food coloring turn brown, if using bleached you might have to play around with the colors a bit)
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick/1/2 cup of butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups confectioners' sugar
A few drops of green food coloring

Decorations:
12 or 24 cupcake papers
Jelly beans
12 or 24 bunny peeps (they come in packs of 4 for a $1 at Target). Number depends on how many cupcakes you're making.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Then start with cracking two eggs and placing them in bowl

Whisk them up until they are well blended

Next it's time to add the 1 cup oil, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 Tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp vanilla and the few drops of red food coloring. Don't add too much food coloring, you can always add more later but you can't take it out.

Whisk it all together. Pretty! It will turn brown when you add the unbleached flour.

In a separate bowl, add the 2 1/2 cups of all purpose non-bleached flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 Tbsp baking cocoa, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking soda. Whisk it all together. I also like to get my fingers in there to mix, just to make sure all the clumps are broken up.

So then pour the liquid bowl into the dry bowl.

Give it a good stir with your whisk until it's all blended. I did it by hand but you can use a mixer if you have one handy. Just make sure all the dry is incorporated and all the clumps are broken up. This is also the time to adjust the color if you want it darker. I was looking for brown to make the "dirt" under the grass.

Here is where you can decide if you want to make 12 or 24 cupcakes. 24 cupcakes is too many for me so I like to make 12 BIG cupcakes! Also 12 big ones means more room to decorate. The 12 big ones overflow onto the metal part of the cookie sheet (spray the cookie sheet with non-stick flour cooking spray to keep them from sticking). If you make 24 cupcakes, they will be normal sized cupcakes. Line 12 or 24 cupcake tins with cupcake papers.

Next pour the mix into the cupcake papers, remember to spray the metal part if making 12! I used a measuring cup to pour it into the paper instead of trying to do it from the bowl.

See how full they are! You know they are going to over flow into yummy GIANT cupcakes! Drop your pan or pans onto the counter a few times to get all the bubbles out. Pop them into the preheated 350 degree oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean: If making 12 cook for 28 to 30 minutes, if making 24 cook for about 18 minutes. Remember you can always bake them for longer if they are under cooked but you can't un-bake them if they are over cooked/burned so always error on the side of under-cooking them and adding more time if they are still not baked.

So while those are baking, lets work on the frosting! This is DELICIOUS! I always get rave reviews. I always cut up the softened cream cheese and softened butter into squares and them pop them in a blender. I feel it helps the blender out and that's less work for me! I use a long wooden to put it down until it gets all blended.

Once it's all blended, it should look something like this.

Add the 1/2 tsp vanilla and blend again.

So now it's time to add the 3 cups confectioner's sugar. It's best to add it in 1/2 cup batches. Just pour in a 1/2 cup of sugar and blend until it's all liquid.

Scrape the sides of the blender to make sure it's all blended. Than add another 1/2 cup and repeat with the blending and scraping the sides. Do that until you have 5 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar blended. Before you add the last 1/2 cup, add some green food coloring (for the grass). Add just a little food coloring, you can always add more. Than dump your last 1/2 confectioner's sugar. Blend it all together! If you don't like the color, add more coloring until it's the green you want. The food coloring also helps you make sure it's all getting blended. Use your spoon if it there are places that aren't mixing well.

It should end up looking something like this. I ran out of green food coloring and ended up with lime green! You can go darker though.

Next pour it into a piping bag but if you're like me, pour it into a ziplock bag. Don't have a 2nd set of hands to hold the bag open while you use a rubber spatula to scrape the frosting out of the blender? Don't worry, I have a solution for you. Place your bag in a cup and fold the top over. Ta da!

When you've emptied the blender into the bag, push it all to the bottom to one corner.

Cut off the corner with some scissors. Voila, a piping bag!

By now, your cupcakes should be done and cooled off a bit. If you made 12 large cupcakes, use a knife to cut the cupcakes apart (some will be squareish) and then slide the knife under the tops to loosen them up from the metal. Then pull the out. Here is a giant cupcake from the top.

And here it is from the side! Yes it's giant and perfect for decorating!

Squeeze the frosting on the cupcake with your piping bag and then take a butter knife and try to make it as smooth as possible.

Then take a fork and gently poke/scrape along the icing to make it spike up a bit, like grass. I bought some green sprinkles to add to make it look even more like grass but I forgot to add them. So you can try that if you want, let me know how it looks if you do! Also if you having a piping bag, you can use a tip to make it look even more like grass. These were kind of a last minute thing for me so I didn't have time to pick up a piping bag.