Easter Egg Cupcakes

It's Tristan's Easter party tomorrow, and I just couldn't resist making these adorable cupcakes.  I've had the recipe now for a couple of years, but I just never got around to making them.  I typically try to not go overboard for his school parties, because Tristan seems to never get anything that I make for him.  The stuff gets passed out to other kids before he gets any of it.  On the other hand, I like being the mom known for bringing in homemade, attention grabbing goodies.

Since I was making these cupcakes for a bunch of 4-year-olds and younger, I didn't want to make the cake from scratch as the recipe suggests.  Let's face it, kids just don't appreciate the time and trouble you have to go to to make something from scratch.  So I cheated.  Tristan requested strawberry cake, so I got a strawberry Pillsbury cake mix and made the cupcakes according to the package directions.  I also cheated on the icing, because I didn't think that Tristan would care about the citrus icing.  I got a can of cream cheese icing (another request from Tristan).  I didn't worry too much about the flavor of the icing because it basically serves as the anchor for the nest.

The recipe calls for candy coating, but I had no idea what that was.  I finally found it listed as Vanilla Flavored Almond Bark Candy Coating.  Who knew?  So here are the results.  Ryan helped me by putting the eggs in the nests.

Get the recipe for these Bird's Nest Cupcakes