This week I decided to make some Easter Basket Cupcakes to take to my Mom's for an early Easter lunch.  Inspired by the amazing Bakerella I found just the right ones I wanted to make!  I decided to use the same recipe that I used for my St Patrick's Day Cupcake Pops so they would be “healthier” and so I could show my Mom the #EqualSucralose that I have been using the last few weeks during my big weightloss.

Equal Sucralose is a non calorie sweetner that you can use instead of sugar!  Cheaper than Splenda and much easier to use – I love the canister that it comes in – it measures cup for cup like sugar, but without the calories! You can find Equal Sucralose at participating Super Walmarts – check here to find one near you!

Though my cupcakes did not turn out NEAR as professional looking as Bakerella's (I'll blame not being able to find the right candies lol) I was still very happy with them, as was everyone else at lunch!  Plus they tasted fantastic – and no one even knew I had not used real sugar in the batter – until I told them of course!  You can see my entire Shopping Trip in this Google Plus Album.

Like I said, mine did not turn out near as nice as hers, but the girls thoroughly enjoyed making – and eating!! – them, and I loved knowing that even though they were nice and sweet and tasted just like normal cupcakes, they were not loaded with sugar like most cupcakes are since I used Equal Sucralose instead.  Even Mom liked them!

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1/3 c butter softened
• 3/4 c sugar (or Equal Sucralose)
• 1/4 c sour cream
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 c milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• candy sprinkles (optional)

Cupcake Toppings

• 1 can vanilla icing of choice
• green food coloring
• assorted candies – bunnies, jellybeans, “rope” like candy, etc

Mix cupcake ingredients – except for the sprinkles – together in a large bowl and stir until smooth.   When well blended, gently pour desired amount of candy sprinkles into mix and fold gently. (We used a LOT of sprinkles… I recommend NOT giving the 5 year old the tub of sprinkles to pour in.)

Spoon swirled mixture into your Babycakes Mini Cupcake Maker and let cook six to seven minutes or until cooked all the way through.  Make sure to test the first one – you do not want a raw middle!

Place cupcakes onto a cookie sheet.  Let cupcakes cool completely – overnight if possible.   Tint vanilla icing to desired “green-ness”  and apply generously to the top of the cupcake.  Remember all of your candies have to stick into this stuff, so don't hold back.

Next insert your “basket handles” and hold for a few seconds until icing begins to set around it.  This was the hardest part for me – getting the handles to actually stay standing up.  I was considering Super Glue when they finally began to stand up on their own.  We quickly added the rest of the candies – the gummy ones worked best – and shoved the entire cookie sheet into the freezer to let everything set up.

We had an absolute BLAST with these and will make them again next year I am sure!  I will however shop a couple different places to find the right candies, as all joking aside – I do think they would have turned out better with bigger bunnies and “real” rope candy – but the Twizzlers sure were yummy!!

Disclaimer – This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias  All opinions are 100% my own.