These Bird Nest Cupcakes are a simple yet super cute Easter staple in our house! The combination of decadent chocolate and toasted coconut, they are a pleaser for both kids and adults! The blue frosting on top makes little bird bodies nestled in coconut nests, for perfect Easter fun cupcakes.
Even though the Easter egg hunt is what most people look forward to, in my house, we flock to the dessert table just as much. For our spring celebration, I always try to make something fun and festive, especially for the kids. Kids can even help to decorate these Easter Cupcakes. Another of our favorite fun Easter treats is the Easter Poke Cake or our Bunny Butt Cupcakes. They are super bright with Easter colors and full of flavor, an amazing addition to the easter table.
If you want to fill that Easter dessert table, you can never go wrong with adding a chocolate dessert like our Peanut Butter Chocolate Eggs and Easter Bunnies or something that the bunnies eat, a carrot dessert, like our Carrot Cake Roll (or turn them into carrot cake cupcakes.)
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Why You’ll Love Bird’s Nests Cupcakes:
- The combination of chocolate and coconut are to die for in these adorable bird’s nest cupcakes.
- These easy cupcakes scream Easter with the coconut nests and blue frosting birds on top.
- They are simple and easy dessert to make and decorate.
- Use ANY cupcake and frosting recipe – store bought, box mix, or homemade cupcakes all work – this recipe is about the decorating!
🧁 Ingredients:
- Frosted cupcakes – you can use any flavor cupcake and any flavor frosting. These chocolate cupcakes or this white cupcake recipe are great starting points. If you’re looking beyond canned frosting, try a cream cheese buttercream frosting or this dark chocolate buttercream. Yum!
- Toasted coconut – Spread shredded coconut (you can use sweetened or unsweetened) on a baking sheet and bake in a 350°F oven for 3-5 minutes, just until golden brown. Coconut can also be toasted on the stovetop.
- Colored icing – This is a great recipe to use the pre-colored tubes of icing that you find in the baking aisle at the grocery store. You don’t need much and they are already perfect colors. If you want to use homemade frosting, use gel food coloring to tin to the desired color. I love the little writing gel tubes of icing because you simply snip off the tip of the tube and pipe directly from there. Use a very small round piping tip if you’re piping from a piping bag for the yellow and black icing (beak and eyes of the baby birds). Use a larger round tip to pipe the bodies with blue icing.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- Simplify this recipe and save on prep time with your favorite store-bought boxed cake mix instead. You can choose any flavor box mix. You can even use pre-made, pre-frosted cupcakes.
- You can try your own milk chocolate frosting recipe or use my favorite Double Chocolate Cupcakes and add some whipped chocolate ganache.
- You can also omit the toasting of the coconut if you’d prefer. Both are delicious.
- Try adding some decorative Easter candy eggs candies to the top of the cupcakes to resemble bird eggs in the nest. Smaller jelly beans will also do the trick. Try to use pastel colors for the best Easter theme.
- You can make this into a layered cake instead of cupcakes for a larger Easter display or go smaller with cute mini cupcakes.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Begin with cooled cupcakes that are frosted with a flat top and that have cupcake liners – you don’t want a huge swirl of frosting here as too much “nest” will make it hard to see the birds in the center.
Step 1: Sprinkle toasted coconut flakes over the frosting or flip the cupcake upside down and press gently down into the small bowl of toasted coconut. Gently tamp down the coconut to make the nest shape.
Step 2: Use your finger or a small spoon to depress the center of the coconut, making a small hole to fill with the baby birds. With a round piping tip, pipe three small mounds of blue icing to resemble the bird bodies.
Step 3: Use a lightly moistened finger to press out the tip of the icing mound to form a smooth surface for the birds’ faces.
Step 4: Pipe a small beak (two dots of yellow icing right next to each other) and two black eyes to finish the faces on each baby bird.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Continue to decorate all of the cupcakes. You can also leave some cupcakes with a simple swirl of frosting (for those who don’t like coconut). This adds some nice textural interest to the tray of Easter nest cupcakes as well.
Recipe Tips for Bird Nest Cupcakes:
- Be sure to allow the cupcakes to fully cool before frosting. If they are slightly warm, the frosting will melt off.
- A flat top on the cupcakes is helpful to hold the coconut and decorations, otherwise they may slip off. If using store bought cupcakes, you can slice part of the frosting off the top so that it is moist and the coconut will stick and also so that there are not quite so tall.
Fun Fact
The term ‘cupcake’ was originally used in the late 19th century for cakes made from ingredients measured by the cupful. The traditional pound cake recipe was easy to remember for its pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, and a pound of eggs. Likewise, the name “cupcake” comes from how the recipe was measured: 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs.
Early cupcakes were baked in teacups or ramekins (small clay pots) before the invention of the multi-cup pans we use today. Hence, a cup of cake!
Recipe FAQs
These easter nest cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Absolutely!! You can free your final product in the freezer for up to 3 months. Simply place them back into the cupcake baking pan and place in the freezer. Once frozen, place in an airtight container or a freezer bag.
More Springtime Desserts
If you tried this Birds’ Nests Cupcake Recipe or any other easy recipes on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Bird Nest Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 12 frosted cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups toasted coconut
- ½ cup icing tinted blue, yellow, and black
Instructions
- Sprinkle toasted coconut over the frosting or flip the cupcake upside down and press gently down into the bowl of toasted coconut. Gently tamp down the coconut to make the nest.
- Use your finger or a small spoon to depress the center of the coconut, making a small hole to fill with the baby birds. With a round piping tip, pipe three small mounds of blue icing to resemble the bird bodies.
- Use a lightly moistened finger to press out the tip of the icing mound to form a smooth surface for the birds' faces.
- Pipe a small beak (two dots of yellow icing right next to each other) and two black eyes to finish the faces on each baby bird.
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