These sweet Baby Chick Cupcakes are made from dollops of yellow buttercream on top of the cupcakes of your choice. They are simple, fun and perfect for any Easter party!

Close up of a Baby Chick Cupcake on a marble surface, with eggs in the background.
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 🐥 Buttercream Chick Cupcakes for Easter

Our parade of cute Easter dessert ideas continues with these adorable Baby Chick Cupcakes! Unlike our Spring Chick Cupcakes, where the chicks are made from a variety of store-bought treats, these lil’ chicks are 100% pure buttercream, baby!

Not only are they delicious, but they are dead simple to make. Can you squeeze frosting out of a piping bag? Then you can make these chicks! And of course, I’m going to show you how to do it with step-by-step instructions and a video.

More Easter Cupcakes

Can’t get enough Easter cupcakes? Our full list of Easter dessert recipes has lots of fun cupcakes that are perfect for any spring celebration.

Try our Bunny Butt CupcakesEaster Bird’s Nest CupcakesEaster Basket CupcakesEaster Bunny Cupcakes, and Double Chocolate Easter Cupcakes.

Table of Contents

Three Baby Chick Cupcakes in black wrappers on a marble surface.

🧾 What You’ll Need

These Easter chicks cupcakes don’t require much – just a few simple ingredients and a handful of decorating tools, and you’ll be set! (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

Ingredients

  • Cake mix: Because these cupcakes are all about the decorating, I recommend keeping it simple and using a boxed cake mix as your cupcake base. I love these with yellow or white cupcakes, but you could also use a chocolate, strawberry, or lemon cake mix instead. Want a homemade option? Check out the Spring Chick Cupcake recipe.
  • Frosting: We’re using a simple homemade buttercream frosting for the baby chicks. If you’re looking for a shortcut, I do not recommend using store-bought canned frosting (ie, the frosting sold in plastic cans near the cake mixes.) It is too soft for this decorating technique. If your grocery store sells American buttercream-style frosting in the bakery section, that should work just fine.
  • Small round sprinkles: I used tiny metallic nonpareils for the chick’s eyes. You could use any other sprinkles of your choice, or candy eyes, mini chocolate chips, or just a dab of darker buttercream.
  • Gel food coloring: I used yellow food coloring to make yellow frosting for the chick’s body, and orange gel food coloring for his feet and beak. However, you can decorate the chick’s in any color scheme you like. You could do a variety of pastel shades and have an adorable little flock!

Equipment

Side view close up of a Baby Chick Cupcake with a brown egg in the foreground.

Ready to Make These?

  1. Get the recipe below 👇👇
  2. Scroll below the recipe card for step-by-step photos
  3. Read tips, variations and more

Leave a Review!

If you make this recipe, let us know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe below, and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram @elabau, or use #sugarhero on IG!

Close up of a Baby Chick Cupcake.

Easter Baby Chick Cupcakes

5 from 5 votes
These sweet Baby Chick Cupcakes are made from dollops of yellow buttercream on top of the cupcakes of your choice. They are simple, fun and perfect for any spring celebration!
Prep20 minutes
Cook22 minutes
Decorating time30 minutes
Total1 hour 12 minutes
Yields24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

For the frosting:

  • 6 fl oz pasteurized liquid egg whites, (3/4 cup, see Note below)
  • 24 oz powdered sugar, (6 cups)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 24 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature (6 sticks)
  • 2 TBSP vanilla extract

For decorating:

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Instructions 

To make the cupcakes:

  • Prepare the cupcakes according to the package instructions. Bake them and let them cool completely.

To make the frosting:

  • Combine the whites, powdered sugar, and salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix everything together on low speed, until the sugar is moistened and no dry patches remain. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then turn the mixer to medium speed. Beat on medium for 5 minutes.
  • After 5 minutes, turn the mixer to medium-low and start adding the softened room temperature butter, 2-3 tablespoons at a time. Once all of the butter is incorporated, add the vanilla extract and mix it in.
  • Stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides once more. Turn the speed to medium and beat the buttercream for 10 minutes. At the end, you’ll have a frosting with a wonderfully light and creamy texture. If it still looks lumpy or curdled, just keep mixing it. It might take a bit longer depending on the power of your mixer and the temperature of your ingredients, but it WILL come together if you followed instructions.
  • The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or the freezer for up to two months. If you have chilled the frosting, let it come to room temperature COMPLETELY and then beat it for several minutes to smooth it out and restore its texture before using it.

To decorate:

  • Color the frosting a deep yellow color. Fit a piping bag with a large round tip, or a plastic coupler. Fill the bag with yellow buttercream frosting.
  • Squeeze the bag with consistent pressure to form a large round dollop of frosting that extends almost to the outside of the cupcake.
  • Stop the flow of buttercream and lift up slightly. Then pipe a second, smaller dollop right on top to form the chick’s head.
  • Once all of the chick bodies are piped, take the leftover yellow frosting and add orange food coloring to make it orange.
  • Fit a second piping bag with a coupler and a small round tip. Fill the bag with the orange buttercream frosting.
  • Make two zig-zag or “W” shapes at the base of each chick’s body to represent the feet.
  • Pipe an orange beak on the front of each chick’s head.
  • Add two sprinkles for eyes, and enjoy!
  • Your Easter Baby Chick Cupcakes are now ready to be enjoyed! Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week. If they have been chilled, allow them to come to room temperature before serving for the best taste and texture.

Recipe Notes

This recipe calls for pasteurized egg whites. It is safe to consume egg whites without cooking them, as long as you make sure that the whites you buy are pasteurized. To save time, I buy them in a carton–look for 100% egg whites, not liquid egg substitute. If you cannot find them in a carton, you can buy pasteurized eggs and separate them yourself.  You’ll need about 5-6 large eggs to get the ¾ cup called for in the recipe.

Measuring Tips

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 221mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 708IU | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 0.5mg
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4 photo collage of Easter Cupcake Recipes, Ideas, and Pictures for round up.

EASTER CUPCAKE RECIPES 🐤

We’ve rounded up 29 cute & easy Easter cupcake recipes, perfect for any spring party! Click here to get all the recipes!

📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Baby Chick Cupcakes

Here’s a step-by-step guide showing how to decorate these little chicks. Grab the full instructions in the recipe card up above.

Pipe the chick body and head

  • Bake cupcakes and let them cool. Prepare the frosting and prep decorations.
  • Fit a piping bag with a large round tip, or a plastic coupler. Fill the bag with yellow buttercream frosting. Squeeze the bag with consistent pressure to form a large round dollop of yellow icing on top of the cupcake.
  • Stop the flow of buttercream and lift up slightly. Then pipe a second, smaller dollop right on top to form the chick’s head.

Pipe the chick’s feet and beak

  • Fit a second piping bag with a coupler and a small round tip. Fill the bag with orange frosting.
  • Make two zig-zag or “W” shapes at the base of each chick’s body to represent the feet.
  • Pipe an orange beak on the front of each chick’s head.
  • Add two sprinkles for eyes, and enjoy!
Three Baby Chick Cupcakes made of yellow buttercream, on yellow cupcakes in black wrappers.

💭 Variations

  • These cute chicks would be so fun to make in a variety of colors. You could do different colors for the bodies, feet and beaks.
  • Experiment with different flavors for the cupcakes like chocolate, rainbow chip, carrot cake, or strawberry.
  • Make your buttercream match the cake flavor you choose. You could go crazy with fun flavorings for the buttercream such as lemon, orange, almond, coconut, etc.
  • You could also make fancy filled cupcakes for the baby chicks to sit on. You could fill them with jelly, peanut butter cups, caramel, cheesecake or even more buttercream!
  • Another idea would be to use different types of candy for the eyes, beak and feet. Try orange gumdrops, Starburst candies, orange fondant, or M&Ms!
  • Give your chicks chocolate buttercream nests to sit on, like in these Spring Chick Cupcakes or Easter Bird’s Nest Cupcakes.
Close up of a Baby Chick Cupcake on a marble surface.

Meet Elizabeth!

Hi, I’m Elizabeth — a trained pastry chef, cookbook author, video instructor, and your new Baking BFF! I’m going to teach you everything you need to know to be a sugar hero. ❤️

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10 Comments

  1. These are so stinking cute! I’m headed to an Easter potluck on Sunday and I’m bringing these. They are sure to be a huge hit.

    1. An Easter potluck sounds so fun! I hope you have a blast and get to enjoy a cupcake for yourself as well.

  2. These cupcakes are so adorable!!! My kids and I are going to have a blast making these for Easter this weekend!

    1. So fun! I’m glad you’re kids loved them and that you all got some family time. Happy Easter.

  3. Love the recipe!!! specially because I have kids at home and like to make fun and delicious food. Will make them really soon for the holiday. Thank you 🙂

    1. Hi Elisa! I hope this little recipe will keep your kids busy and provide some entertainment. Happy Easter.

  4. These cupcakes are just too cute, and so simple too! I love how easy the decoration is, but it yields such great results too. The family is going to love these for Easter!

    1. Hi Nathan! Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope your family enjoyed the cupcakes. Thanks for trying the recipe!