Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Cream together the softened butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy—this takes about 2 minutes with an electric mixer. You'll know it's ready when the mixture looks pale and almost doubled in volume.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Then add the vanilla extract and mix until everything's combined. This step takes about 3 minutes total and makes the batter super creamy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold this dry mixture into your wet mixture alternately with the milk—start with flour, then milk, then flour again. Do this gently so you don't overmix, which makes cupcakes tough. This should take about 2 minutes.

Stir in the chocolate chips, orange zest and orange juice until everything's evenly distributed throughout the batter. Don't panic if it looks a little wet at first—that's totally normal. The zest soaks up liquid as it sits, so the batter will firm up slightly.

Divide the batter evenly among your 12 liners, filling each about two-thirds full. I use an ice cream scoop to keep portions consistent. Smooth the tops slightly with the back of a spoon if they look uneven.

Bake for 18 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs—don't overbake or they get dense. The tops should spring back when you lightly touch them. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Once completely cool, frost each Easter nest cupcakes recipe base with chocolate buttercream, then gently press shredded cereal around the frosting to form a nest shape. Top with 3-5 candy eggs per cupcake and serve immediately, or refrigerate until party time.