A Look Back At Easter…

Well, despite our mock Easter egg hunt for Olivia, she ended up only being interested in the “real thing” for about four or five eggs. Her first egg hunt was set up in the front yard of my parents’ house, and despite the beautiful eggs my Mom bought, Olivia only had eyes for a small stuffed bunny and the neighbor’s black lab. She constantly called out “dog?”, hoping he’d join her. Thankfully we were able to grab a family picture or two before she was completely over it and ready to eat!

I would like to say she was more interested in her second egg hunt, but unfortunately she was more interested in following her cousin around and trying to steal eggs out of his basket. Ian’s Aunt Barb was so sweet though – she had marked all of Olivia’s eggs with large “O’s” and filled them with goldfish and cereal. The eggs were even arranged in a large circle, so she really didn’t have to do any ‘hunting’. What’s easier than just taking them from the basket of someone who has already hunted for them though?! I like to think she already has advanced time management skills!

My mother-in-law, of course, cooked a delicious dinner for the extended family, and because I always like to take on fun projects I offered to make dessert. I decided to go with a cupcake version of the Easter cake I had made a couple weeks ago, and instead of vanilla I went with chocolate (per my husband’s request). I chose this chocolate cupcake recipe from House of Nash Eats, and I was not disappointed! The cupcakes were really moist and light, which I love! Instead of a traditional cupcake liner I used an oven safe tulip liner. I mainly like them because they’re easier to remove from the cupcake than a traditional liner, plus they look nice!

For the top of the cupcake I just piped on a buttercream frosting in a disc shape and put three Cadbury eggs in the center. I then placed dark chocolate shavings around the Cadbury eggs to give the cupcakes a nest look. You can make the shavings by just using a vegetable peeler on a bar of baking chocolate (I like this brand). Also, make sure to store your shavings in the fridge when you’re not using them.

When you’re decorating a lot of cupcakes, sometimes the heat from your hands will begin to melt the shavings because they are so thin. If this happens just put them back in the fridge for a few minutes and they’ll be good to use again. Overall, the cupcakes ended up being really easy to make, and they were a big hit at our family dinner.

So, even though Olivia wasn’t as interested as I had hoped in the egg hunt, I’m still glad we were able to start these traditions with her and could share these memories with our families!