Easy Easter Nest Cakes

easter nests 3

Easter isn’t that far off now and it’s always nice to be able to make some easy cakes with the kids. Today my kids wanted to make cakes, my daughter chose fairy cakes and my son wanted to make a Monkey Cake. For the fairy cakes I thought we would make something seasonal so I used chocolate frosting on the vanilla fairy cakes to make easter nests. The only special equipment I used was a nozzle (wilton #233) on my piping bag which can be used to create a grass effect. We used a palate knife to cover the centre of each cake with a thin layer of the chocolate frosting and then piped a circle around the outside to create the nest effect, I went round several times to get the height of the nest right. Finally I added some mini eggs to the centre of the cakes. The recipe for the cakes and frosting is below.

 

 

Vanilla Cupcakes20130807-144729.jpg

125g Unsalted butter (softened)
125g Caster sugar
2 Eggs (beaten)
125g Self raising flour
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Splash of whole milk

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • To soften the butter you could simply leave it on the side for an hour, but I always forget so I place it in a microwavable bowl and heat in 10 second bursts, removing and mixing each time. The aim is to soften the butter a little not to melt it. If the butter does melt a little, use a fork to mix it back together with the rest of the butter.
  • In a freestanding mixer cream the softened butter and sugar until smooth.
  • Add the vanilla essence to the beaten egg then slowly add the mixture to the mixer.
  • Gradually add the flour while mixing on a slow speed.
  • Add the whole milk slowly while mixing by hand until the mixture falls easily from a spoon or spatula.
  • Set out the paper cupcake cases in cupcake tins and add the mixture.
  • Bake for approx 17 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

 

Chocolate frosting

80g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
25ml whole milk
1 and a half tsp vanilla essence
100g milk chocolate (I used Belgian cooking chocolate)

  • Cream the butter and icing sugar in a free-standing mixer on a low speed it will initally look powdery before becoming a smooth mixture.
  • Mix the vanilla essence with the milk in a separate glass or jug (I use a re-purposed Tommy Tippee cup as it has handy volumes on the side).
  • With the mixture on a low speed slowly add the vanilla milk.
  • Beat the mixture on a high speed for at least 5 minutes
  • Melt the chocolate in a microwavable bowl using 15 second bursts and stiring between each burst until the chocolate has melted.
  • Stir the chocolate into the frosting.
  • Smooth a thin layer of the chocolate frosting over each cake then use the grass effect nozzle to pipe circles around the edge of each cake.
  • Add mini eggs to the centre of each cake.

 easter nests

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