Easter Egg Cupcakes with "Yolk" Centers

Last year, I (and many of you) discovered the magic of Easter cupcakes baked in egg shells.  You can bake any cupcake recipe in cleaned out egg shells and when you are ready to eat the cake, you just crack the egg and dig in. Ah-mazing!

One question that I was asked repeatedly on the original Easter egg cupcake post was whether the eggs could be dyed.  I decided that a visual answer was in order.

As you can see, the answer is a resounding, "Yes, siree!"  The dye will also get on the cupcakes themselves a little bit unless you are able to apply dye to the egg shells without getting any dye inside of the holes.  In retrospect, perhaps I could have covered the holes while I dunked the egg shells in the dye.  If you give this a try, let me know.

Since I was remaking the Easter egg cupcakes anyway, I thought I'd give you a little surprise.  Look - this year's cupcake eggs have yolks!!

I made the yolks by piping a layer of dyed cream cheese filling between two layers of batter.  It wasn't perfect (the cream cheese part stuck to the shell a little bit and it was impossible to get the filling right in the center of the egg), but I was still egg-cited by the results.

I baked the Easter egg cupcakes at my friend Brooke's (of Sucre and Spice) while listening to polka music and watching her work on her wooden spoons.  Having a crafty friend definitely has its perks.  Brooke came up with the idea of these adorable cupcake toppers and whipped them up - all in under fifteen minutes.  She had the paper and the two stamps already in her possession.  Good friends are everything that they are cracked up to be.

How to Make Easter Egg Cupcakes

These instructions for making Easter egg cupcakes are essentially the same as last year's instructions with the egg-ception of the dyeing step and the cream cheese "yolk" filling.  If you want the more basic Easter egg cupcake, have a look at last year's post.

Yield: 18 extra-large egg cupcakes

Dyed Eggs Ingredients:

• 18 extra large white eggs (Only three will get used in the cake.  The rest are just used for their shells.)
• 1/2 cup of water for every egg color you want
• 1 tablespoon vinegar for every egg color you want
• Food coloring (as many colors as you'd like)

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 2 eggs (from above)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Cream Cheese "Yolk" Ingredients:

• 1 egg (from above)
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Gold and yellow food coloring

Dyed Eggs Directions:

1. Carefully poke a small hole in the top of each egg.  I found that the easiest way to do this was to use the tip of a corkscrew bottle opener.
2. Once you have poked tiny holes, peel back the edges of the holes to expand them a bit.  The holes need to be large enough to fit the tip of a piping bag inside.  You can always make the holes larger when you are ready to pipe so err on the smaller side during this step.
3. Turn each egg upside-down and dump out its contents.  Keep the contents of two eggs separate for the cake recipe and one egg separate for the cream cheese "yolks".  If you plan on using the other eggs for baking, it might be helpful to store them in small plastic containers in groups of two (otherwise it will be hard for you to later tell how much of your big bowl is two eggs).  You may wonder why there is a thermometer in the photo.  I used the tip of the thermometer to help get all of the egg out of the shell.
4. Rinse the insides of the eggs out thoroughly over the sink.  Then, immerse them in saltwater for thirty minutes.  At first, I couldn't get them to sink.  I realize that this is probably obvious to most of you, but in case anyone else is science-challenged, I thought I would share Jonathan's tip that the eggs need to be filled with the saltwater in order to sink.  
5. Rinse the egg shells in cold water to remove the salt.
6. For each color that you want, prepare cups with water, vinegar, and six drops of food coloring.  Stir and add more color until you like the way the color looks. 
7. Dunk eggs one at a time into the cups of color and leave them in for a minute. Have a look at the resulting shell color and dunk again if you want the color to be more intense. 
8. Remove from the dye and place eggs hole side down on a paper towel to dry.

Cupcake Directions (I used my favorite sour cream cupcake recipe with lemon extract instead of vanilla):

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix eggs and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add the butter and lemon extract and mix until fully integrated.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Add the sour cream and mix until smooth.

Cream Cheese "Yolk" Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese, egg, and sugar until smooth.
2. Add food coloring until the mixture looks yolk-colored.  I found that this was best achieved by using mostly gold with just a touch of yellow for some brightness.

Egg Filling and Baking Directions:

1. Place the prepared egg shells into a cupcake tin.  Use aluminum foil to help them stand upright.
2. Load the cake batter and the "yolk" into piping bags fitted with small tips.  Make sure that the tips can fit all of the way inside of the egg holes.  If they can't, gradually egg-spand the holes until the tips fit.
3. Fill your eggs about 1/4 full with batter. 
4. Top the batter with "yolk" until the eggs are about 1/2 full.
5. Top the "yolk" with more batter until the eggs are about 3/4 full.  This is the tricky part.  If you underfill the eggs, you won't have complete cake eggs inside when you crack them after baking.  If you overfill the eggs, cake will flow out of the eggs during baking.  I found that it was best to let the cake overflow out of the top of the egg slightly and then to simply pick it off (eat it) and clean the shell with a damp towel before serving.  Unfortunately, this technique may remove some of the dye.
6. Bake the eggs at 350 F for 20 minutes. 
7. Let cool, crack, and eat!

Thanks To My New Sponsor


I was recently offered the opportunity through FoodBuzz to work with Frigidaire.  Frigidaire asked a select group of FoodBuzz bloggers to post about our favorite springtime recipe.  This is it!  It's light and lemony and full of the wonder of everything new and fresh about springtime.  Read on and you just might win a new oven!

This post was sponsored by Frigidaire. When you check out Suzanne Goin's springtime recipes at www.maketimeforchange.com, Frigidaire will donate $1 to Save the Children's U.S. programs. Plus, you'll be entered for a chance to win the new Frigidaire Range with Symmetry™ Double Ovens– featuring two large ovens (that can each fit up to a 28 pound turkey!), providing the flexibility to cook multiple dishes at the same time at different temperatures, so you can get more on the table at the same time.