Easter Bunny Cupcakes (GF)

Gluten free Easter bunny cupcakes recipe - by Laura Strange at My Gluten Free Guide

When I first made these gluten free Easter bunny cupcakes a few weeks ago I had such a lovely response from you all! The recipe is based on my super-simple perfect gluten free cupcakes, but as lots of you have been asking about how to construct these specially, I thought I should dedicate a post to them.

The cupcakes are made up of a vanilla sponge base, green “grass” buttercream icing and a chocolate KitKat bunny on top. Amazingly these are gluten free in the UK (note that in Australia they are not), unlike the rest of the KitKat range. The cereal pieces inside the bunnies are made of rice, hence them being gluten free. You’ll see the packet itself states “gluten free”, in case you don’t quite believe me :).

By the way, make sure you’ve picked up the KitKat bunnies and NOT the Malteaser ones. The Malteasers ones CONTAIN GLUTEN, but have near identical packaging. A couple of coeliacs I know have been caught out by that.

I Can’t Find Any Bunnies!

If you can’t find the bunnies in your local shops or they are not gluten free in your territory do not fret. You can basically decorate these with anything you like, go for plain icing, make it chocolately, top with Mini Eggs instead or even little fluffy chicks.

Gluten Free Easter Bunny Cupcakes (Makes 12)

This recipe will make at least 12 cupcakes with a generous amount of buttercream. If you don’t want to use all the buttercream you can simply freeze any leftovers. These gluten free Easter bunny cupcakes are best eaten fresh, but will keep for a couple of days in an airtight tin.

You’ll find a full method below, plus some photos to help guide you through the recipe. However, feel free to email me any questions or comments you might have. You can contact me at laura@mygfguide.com or message me on Instagram/Facebook @myglutenfreeguide. I love seeing your home bakes too so please send me photos of your creations :).

Lastly, if you enjoy these gluten free Easter bunny cupcakes, I would be really grateful if you could review the recipe on the card below. Thank you!

Laura xxx

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Easter Bunny Cupcakes (GF)

Ingredients

For the cake:

200g salted butter
200g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
200g gluten free self-raising flour (I use Dove’s Farm)
1tsp gluten free baking powder
A quarter tsp of xanthan gum

For the buttercream:

180g butter
390g icing sugar
2.5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste/vanilla essence
0.5 tsp green food gel
A couple drops red food gel

For the toppers:

12 Mini KitKat Bunnies* (note, these are gluten free in the UK at the time of writing, however not in Australia - please check the packet ingredients list before use)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan).
If you have a stand mixer, simply place all the cake ingredients in the mixer bowl and whizz until you have a smooth cake mix. Not to worry if, like me, you don't have one – this gluten free cupcake recipe can be made just as well using human power! In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth. Then add the eggs one at a time, combining well after each. Finally, sift in the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum and mix for a few minutes until everything is perfectly smooth.
Line a cupcake or muffin tray with cupcake cases. For these Easter bunny cupcakes, some pretty Easter themed or green-coloured cases would be perfect, but any design is fine.
Divide the gluten free cupcake mixture between the cases, so that each is filled to about 2/3 of the way up the case. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until your cake tester comes out clean from the centre of your test cupcake.
Take the gluten free cupcakes out of the tin and transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Leave to cool completely. Once the cakes have cooled, you can go ahead and decorate them.
To make the vanilla buttercream, simply beat the butter in a bowl or stand mixer until pale and smooth. Then add the sifted icing sugar and the vanilla. Mix well until smooth and fluffy. Add the milk and beat again, as this with ease the buttercream consistency and make it easier to pipe/spread.
Set 1 tbsp of buttercream aside in a small ramekin (we will use this for the red flowers later). Add the green food gel to the remaining buttercream and whisk again to distribute the colour evenly. Your buttercream should now be a light green colour and easy to spread/pipe, however if it is still a bit crumbly or stiff in texture, add a tsp of milk or two to make it a bit easier to work with.
With the 1 tbsp of buttercream you set aside, add the red food gel, one drop at a time, until you have a nice strong colour for the icing flowers.
Now either use a small palette knife to spread the green buttercream on top of the cooled gluten free cupcakes, or get fancy and use some piping nozzles. Grass nozzles are ideal as you can create a buttercream grass effect for your bunnies to sit in, but I used a star tip for these, allowing me to pipe little clumps of "grass" instead.
Use a small round tip to pipe little red flower dots onto the green icing. Finally, nestle a chocolate KitKat bunny (or your topping on choice) into the icing and there you go, fantastic Easter bunny cupcakes :D.