Name: Easter Grass Cupcakes with Green Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Easter
Ingredients: 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature; 2 cups of powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons of heavy cream; 2-3 drops of green food coloring gel; 48 M&M's® Pastel Peanut candies to decorate; 1 ¼ cups of cake flour; 1 teaspoon of baking powder; ⅛ teaspoon of salt; ½ cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1 cup of sugar; 2 large eggs; 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice; 3 teaspoons of grated lemon zest; 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract; ½ cup of 2% milk

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Looking for a fun Easter dessert that the whole family will love? These whimsical grass cupcakes are sure to be the hit of any Easter gathering.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make icing look like grass, this cute food project tutorial is for you!

These Easter cupcakes are flavored with lemon and topped with a rich green buttercream frosting formed into grass. Small Easter eggs complete the look, making these cupcakes the star on any party dessert table.

You won’t believe how easy these green icing cupcakes are to make. Keep reading for the fun buttercream grass frosting tutorial.

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Ingredients for the grass cupcakes with green frosting

To make these Easter grass cupcakes, you’ll need the following ingredients:

For the lemon cupcakes

1 ¼ cups of cake flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
⅛ teaspoon of salt
½ cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons of grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
½ cup of 2% milk

For the green buttercream frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
2-3 drops of green food coloring gel
48 M&M’s® Pastel Peanut candies to decorate

Supplies to decorate the Easter grass cupcakes

1 icing bag
Wilton #233 grass tip
Coupler to hold the tip to the icing bag
Plastic Easter Bunny and Egg Picks to decorate (I got mine at the Dollar store in a package with the cupcake liners!)

How to make the lemon Easter cupcakes

I used cake flour for this recipe.

Cake flour is a completely different ingredient from the all-purpose flour we use to make things like breads and cookies. It has a lower protein content and is also ground much more finely than other flours, giving it a soft and silky feel that makes for a cupcake with a great texture

Prepare your pans and dry ingredients

Start by preheating the oven to 350°F (180°C. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix with a whisk, and set the dry ingredients aside.

Making the lemon cupcake batter

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well mixed and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are well blended into the batter and it looks creamy, about 1 minute.
Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes.
Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between each.
Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each cupcake liner to about ½ inch from the top of the liner.
Bake in the preheated oven just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes.
Place the cupcakes on a wire rack until they are completely cool.

TUTORIAL: How to make the grass icing for lemon cupcakes

Make the buttercream grass icing

Mix two sticks of butter until it is creamy.
Add the confectioner’s sugar a little at a time.
Stir in the vanilla extract and heavy cream.
A thick frosting works best for the grass frosting.

Add 2-3 drops of green gel food coloring to get the color of grass.
Frost the cupcakes and decorate with three small Easter MM candies. Store in an airtight container.

Pro tip: To get the color right, be sure to use a gel food coloring to color the icing. They have a corn syrup and/or glycerin base and a more intense color than regular food colors. You can use less to get the same color and they won’t thin out the icing.

How to make frosting look like grass

I used the icing tip #233 for this project. It has a lot of serrated holes cut into the end of it, making the job of creating the grass an easy one.

You can use a single-hole tip and pull up each strand one at a time, but it will take much longer to do.

Cut a hole in the icing bag and insert the frosting tip to make grass – Wilton #233.
Add a coupler to hold it in place.
Fill the icing bag about ½ full of the green buttercream frosting with a thick consistency.

Hold the bag at a 90 º angle (straight up) with the tip just above the surface of the cupcake.
Squeeze the bag firmly and pull up to create strands of grass about ½ inch long.
Then, stop the pressure and pull the tip away.
Squeeze firmly as you create more mounds of green grass icing.

Continue adding more grass clusters, keeping them close together so that none of the cupcake shows through the icing.
For a more natural look, you can occasionally pull the tip slightly to the right or left, instead of just straight up, since that is the way real grass grows.

Continue doing this until the top of the cupcake is completely covered.

It is really quite easy to do. This is the first time I have tried making grass frosting, and this cupcake was my very first attempt!

Decorating the cupcakes with mini Easter eggs

Let the buttercream frosting topping sit for about 5-10 minutes to get a slightly stiff consistency.
Add 3 M&M’s Pastel Peanut in the grass for eggs. (I also used some normal M&M’s.)
Insert the Bunny and egg picks to decorate.

At this stage, you will be just itching to eat one of these lemon cupcakes with grass frosting! These cute Easter cupcakes will be the star on your holiday dessert table. They are so cute and taste delicious – so lemony and fresh.

The M&M’s® Pastel Peanut adds a wonderful bit of crunch to both grass cupcakes.

Imagine how your child’s teacher would love to have you bring these green frosting cupcakes with grass to school for an Easter class party or for a special Easter snack!

Making nests instead of grass for the eggs

This icing tip is so versatile. You can also make nests with it, as well as grass icing.

Use brown food gel coloring instead of the green to get the color of a bird’s nest.
Cut the center out of the cupcake so that it has a hollow in it.
Use the grass piping tip and make a large circle on the cupcake, filling in the center.
Then, pull the tip slowly around the outside of the cupcake in a circle to make the edges taller to form a nest.
Add the M&M’s Pastel Peanut to the center of the nest.

More Easter desserts

Looking for more desserts for your party table? Try one of these:

Easy Lemon Bars Recipe – Glazed sunburst lemon bars dessert.
Dutch Apple Crumble Parfaits – The perfect Easter dessert.
Lemon Pudding Bundt Cake Recipe – The lemon glaze icing is divine.

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🧁🌿 Cute + delicious! These lemon cupcakes with grass frosting are a fun Easter treat with bright citrus flavor and an easy decorating trick that makes them party-ready! 🐣🍋✨ #EasterDesserts #Cupcakes #SpringBaking #BakingFun Share on X

Pin this Grass Frosting Tutorial for Later

Would you like a reminder of these Easter lemon cupcakes and grass icing tutorial? Just pin this post to one of your Easter Boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

Admin note: This post for Easter cupcakes with grass frosting first appeared on the blog in March of 2016. I have updated the post to add new photos, a printable project card, and a video for you to enjoy.

Yield: 12 Easter grass cupcakes

Easter Grass Cupcakes with Green Buttercream Frosting

These whimsical Easter grass cupcakes have a lemon flavor and a sweet green buttercream frosting that is perfect for sitting Easter Eggs in.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Lemon Cupcakes

1 ¼ cups of cake flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
⅛ teaspoon of salt
½ cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons of grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
½ cup of 2% milk

Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
2-3 drops of green food coloring gel
48 M&M's® Pastel Peanut candies to decorate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C.
Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix with a whisk, and set aside.
In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well mixed and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are well blended into the batter and it looks creamy, about 1 minute.
Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes.
Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between each. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.
Fill each cupcake liner to about ½ inch from the top of the liner.
Bake in the preheated oven just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes.
Place the cupcakes on a wire rack until they are completely cool.
To make the icing, mix two sticks of butter until it is creamy.
Add the confectioner's sugar a little at a time.
Stir in the vanilla extract and heavy cream.
Add 2-3 drops of green gel food coloring to get the color of grass.
Make the grass icing for the cupcakes using the tutorial in the post above.
Decorate with three small Easter MMcandies.
Store in an airtight container.

Grass Cupcakes – Lemon Easter Cupcakes with Green Frosting