Easter Showstopper – Speckled Easter Chocolate Cake

Equipment 

• 9” Springform Cake tin –
• Grass tip nozzle –
• Flower tip nozzle –
• Mixing bowl –
• Sieve –
• Wooden spoon –
• Spatula

Ingredients 

Sponge 

• 250g plain flour 
• 60g cocoa powder 
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder 
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• 290g golden caster sugar 
• 200ml vegetable oil 
• 250ml buttermilk 
• 2tsp vanilla extract 
• 3 large eggs – beaten 

Buttercream 

• 300g slightly salted butter 
• 675g icing sugar 
• 1tsp vanilla extract 
• 4tbsp milk 
• Food gels (pink and green used here) 

Speckled splatter 

• 1tsp cocoa powder 
• 1tbsp vanilla extract 

Meringue chicks 

• 1 large egg white – approx. 40g 
• 80g caster sugar 
• yellow food gel 
• edible pens 

Chocolate nest (optional) 

• 100g milk chocolate 
• Balloon 
• Grass tip and piping bag 

Method 

Sponge 

Preheat oven to 160 fan and grease and line a 9” cake tin. Put flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and caster sugar in a bowl. Add oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs and mix well.  Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for 45-55 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave cake to cool. Trim top if needed and slice cake in half. 

Buttercream 

Beat butter until light and fluffy then add half the icing sugar and beat well. Add remaining icing sugar, vanilla and milk and beat until smooth. Remove a spoonful of buttercream and place in a bowl with pink food gel for the flowers. Pop into piping bag with flower tip. Remove a spoonful of buttercream and place in a bowl with green food gel for the leaves. Pop into piping bag with leaf tip. 

Colour the remaining buttercream pastel pink. Place one piece of sponge on a cake stand and spread over some pink coloured buttercream. Top with another layer, then cover the whole cake and use a large palette knife to make it nice and smooth. 

Speckled Splatter 

Mix the cocoa powder and vanilla extract together in a small bowl and use a little brush to create little splatters all over the cake to make it look like a speckled egg shell. 

Meringue Chicks 

Heat oven to 100 fan. In a mixer, whisk egg white until frothy and dry, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time until all sugar is used up and the meringue is thick and glossy. Add a little yellow food gel and place in piping bag. 

Snip the end and pipe small triangular shapes onto baking paper and bake for 30-35 minutes. When dry, draw some eyes, a beak and some feet onto the meringues with edible pens to look like little chicks. 

Chocolate nest (optional) 

Melt milk chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 

Blow up a little balloon and balance it on a bowl. Place the melted chocolate in a piping bag with grass nozzle and pipe roughly over the balloon. Leave to set and place in the fridge. 

Pop balloon and place nest on top of cake, securing with a little chocolate icing. 

Pipe chocolate buttercream inside nest and tom with meringue chicks, mini eggs. Slice and enjoy! 

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