Make your Easter table super delicious with these lemon curd filled Easter nest cupcake recipe.

Nothing feels more spring like to me than a lovely fresh lemon sponge, and this super easy lemon cupcake recipe has an added zing of lemon zest in the centre to give you a spring in your step.

This recipe makes 6 cupcakes, the perfect amount for a socially distanced ‘rule of six’ gathering!
You’ll need:
- 6 cupcake cases and a cupcake/muffin tin
- 3 x icing bags and 3 nozzles
- A freestanding food mixer or hand held electric whisk with beater attachment
- 85g self raising flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 85g caster sugar
- 85g margarine
- 1 tsp lemon essence
- 6 tsp lemon curd
- 150g icing sugar
- 75g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Sprinkles and mini ‘mini eggs’ (I got mine from The Range)
To make the cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 6
- Add your margarine and caster sugar to the bowl of your freestanding mixer and beat until combined, light and fluffy.
- Next sift your flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl.
- Add 1 egg to the bowl of your mixer along with 1 spoonful of flour, beat to combine.
- Repeat with the second egg and the lemon essence, and then gradually add the remaining flour beating until the mix is just together, light and fluffy.
- Using a table spoon, spoon one small spoonful of the cake batter mix into your cupcake cases making sure the batter is level.
- Now add 1 tsp of lemon curd to the centre of each cupcake case and then cover with the remaining batter.
- Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 16 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

For the buttercream icing:
- Whilst the cupcakes are baking make your buttercream – start by beating the unsalted butter in your freestanding mixer until light and creamy.
- Add 1 tsp of vanilla essence to your butter and beat.
- Sift your icing sugar and then add gradually to your mixer until all combined and your icing is light, fluffy and pale.
- Colour your icing – I separated my icing into 3 portions and used tiny amounts of gel food colouring to create pastel pink, yellow and blue icing.
- Choose your nozzles – I used an open star tip, a closed star tip and a basket tip for my cupcakes to create the nests.
- Ice your cakes by icing circles on the top of your cakes to create nests and then fill with your mini ‘mini eggs’

Ta-Da! You’ve made your own beautiful Easter nest cupcakes!

Best enjoyed with the people you’ve missed seeing, and a cup of tea – or something more festive!