These Easter cupcakes are baked in real eggshells! When you bite in, you'll be surprised by a soft yolk made from carrot curd! It makes a great prank for April Fools too, especially if you skip dying the eggs and serve them in an egg carton!

Easter Cupcakes Baked in Eggshells
What's better than colorful dyed eggs for Easter? Fluffy vanilla cakes baked inside eggshells! Imagine getting a basket full of beautiful pastel colored eggs and cracking one open to find a delicious cake instead of a boiled egg inside. It's magical!
Not only am I giving you cupcakes baked in eggshells, I'm giving you that soft yolk by piping delicious and silky carrot curd in the center!
Forget the chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies. This is the treat you need this Easter Sunday!
Two ways to dye eggs
- If you're dying your eggs before emptying out its contents, I think the traditional dip dye method would be perfect! You could use a combination of food coloring, vinegar, and hot water. Don't dye them for too long, as you don't want to cook the egg inside.
- If you're emptying out the eggs before dying them, I think painting them with a mixture of food coloring and vinegar would be easiest, so you avoid getting any food coloring inside the eggshells.
How to empty and clean the eggshells
Take a pin or the tip of a sharp knife and crack open a small hole on one end of your egg. Little by little, open the hole so that it's big enough to fit a piping tip.
Empty out the eggs into a bowl. You don't have to do all the eggs at once if you don't want a bowlful of a dozen egg yolks and egg whites! I emptied mine over the course of a few days, using eggs for breakfast frittatas.
Take the eggshells and clean them out under running water. Put them into a bowl full of salt water, and soak them for about 30 minutes. Place them on a towel with the hole facing down to dry them out.
How to bake Easter cupcakes in eggshells
Once your eggshells are cleaned and dried, put the eggshells, hole side up, in a mini muffin pan. It helps to use some parchment paper or aluminum foil at the bottom of each well to keep the eggshells in place and stop it from moving around.
Prepare your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. If you don't want to bother with whipping up a cake batter from scratch, feel free you use a cake mix in a box! Put the cake batter into a piping bag with a small piping tip. Fill the eggshells halfway and baked them in the preheated oven.
After the eggshells cool enough to where you can hold them, slice off the cake that spilled over using a knife and clean the eggshells with a wet paper towel. If you dye your eggs, the dye will come off with the cake, so be careful not to let the cake overflow!
You could stop here, peel the eggs and bite in! They're delicious on their own, but why stop here?
All cupcakes need a frosting of some sort, so I added a yolk using carrot curd. If you're not a fan of carrots, you can easily swap it out for some lemon curd, or any other citrus curd. Hey, you could even buy your favorite brand and skip making your own!
Stick a toothpick or chopstick into the cake and wiggle it around to create a hole. Put the carrot curd into a piping bag with the skinniest piping tip, and pipe as much curd as you like into the cake.
Tips for successful eggshell cupcakes
- Don't overfill your eggshells! The amount of cake batter you put in your eggshells will depend on the cupcake recipe you're using, but I find that cake batter easily overflows when baked in eggshells, so the safest way to go about this is to do a baking tes. Regardless of what recipe you use, fill one eggshell halfway with batter and bake it to see if it's not enough batter, too much batter, or just the right amount. Adjust the amount of batter you put in for the rest of the eggshells.
- Pipe in more carrot curd than you think is enough! The cake can take more curd than you think! The more you pipe, the bigger your yolk looks when you bite in.
- Serve them with the hole faced down! You want to impress and awe whoever you're serving these to, whether they're adults or children. So make sure you're sprinkling a little extra magic by serving it to them with the hole faced down so they don't see that it's no ordinary egg.
Other Easter desserts!
- Easter egg sugar cookies
- Easter bird's nest cookies
- Carrot cake cupcakes with lemon frosting
- Carrot loaf cake with brigadeiro frosting
Easter Cupcakes Baked in Eggshells
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 200g granulated sugar
- 1¾ cups / 175g cake flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup / 57g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup / 75g unsweetened greek yogurt
- ¼ cup / 60ml olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup / 160ml whole milk
- Half a batch carrot curd
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 340°F/170°C and line a mini muffin pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and place an eggshell into each well.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the softened butter until the mixture resembles fine sand. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, greek yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla extract. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Slowly add the milk and stir.
- Fill the eggshells halfway and bake for 16~18 minutes. If you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, they're done. Transfer them onto a wire rack immediately and let them cool completely. Clean off any cake that spilled over using a knife to scrape and then a wet paper towel.
- Using a toothpick, wiggle a hole into each cake.
- Put the carrot curd into a piping bag with a small round piping tip and pipe the curd into each cake.
Lucy @ Globe Scoffers says
These are amazing! What a clever idea. I love them. ?
Ai says
Thanks Lucy!
Grace | eat, write + explore says
These are so adorable - I can't believe you can actually make something as intricate and impressive at home! Such a clever idea!
Ai says
Thank you, Grace! I couldn't believe it myself when I found out you can bake in eggshells 3 years ago!
Stef says
These are so incredible!! Love them to pieces!!
Ai says
Thanks Stef! I had so much fun making them!
TALITHA says
I had to pick at the eggshells to open them up a little more so I can stick the tip further in (that’s what she said).--- I DIED LAUGHING.
Ai says
I was laughing as I typed that sentence, I just had to put in a "that's what she said" 😛 lol
NancyC says
What a fun idea! 🙂
Ai says
Thanks Nancy! Fun to make, and eat😉
frugal hausfrau says
Ai, how absolutely darling!! A bit of work, but a sure hit!
Mollie
Ai says
Thanks Mollie! You're right, it does take some work, especially if you choose to dye the eggs. But a good indoor activity to do with the kiddo once he's older, probably on a rainy day to keep us from going stir crazy being stuck in the apartment haha.
Angie | Fiesta Friday says
Oh my goodness, how adorable! Better start dyeing eggshells! It’s something I enjoy doing anyway, dyeing eggs for Easter. I love the smell of the vinegar 😄 Thanks for cohosting, Ai, and for bringing these super cute idea to #fiestafriday. 😘😘
Ai says
Thank you Angie! If you love decorating eggs for Easter, you should try making washi eggs! I loved that more than dying eggs as a kid. Thanks for having me as a co-host! Happy FF!
Kat @ Kat's 9 Lives says
This is honestly genius! I am so impressed!
Ai says
Thanks Kat! It's time-consuming, but so much fun!!
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
How cute!!
Ai says
Thank you!!
Of Goats and Greens says
Wow, are these ever cool!!! I'm going to have to get some chickens that lay white eggs for next year, and make this. Or, hmmm... I could find some of my lighter brown eggs and use beet juice to color with... maybe. Very clever, even if I leave the shells au naturel!!
Ai says
Even if you leave the shells au naturel, it's still super impressive! Also makes it perfect for April Fools! And so genius to use beet juice to color the eggs! Maybe cook down the beet juice to make it more concentrated? I wish I had chickens to lay eggs for me. Freshly laid eggs must be mind-blowingly delicious!
Rita says
What a lovely idea for April Fools Day!
Sharing!
Ai says
Thanks Rita! Takes a little time, but well worth it when you see the surprise on people's faces 🙂
Monika Dabrowski says
What a creative recipe, I can imagine children would prefer these even over chocolate easter eggs!
Ai says
Thank you! Can you believe I've actually never gotten chocolate easter eggs? I didn't find out about them until I was older haha. I always got plastic eggs with jelly beans, or eggs decorated with washi paper.
Petra says
Amazing!
Ai says
Thanks Petra!