Biscuiteers Easter Egg Nest Cake
A beautiful centrepiece to your Easter celebrations, this chocolate cake topped with ornate iced biscuits from the Biscuiteers Book of Iced Gifts is a true showstopper.
From the book
Biscuiteers Book of Iced Gifts
Decorative biscuits for every occasion
Inventive ideas for biscuits and cakes
Fun family projects and gifts to bake at home
Introduction
Easter is a time for hosting family and friends, and this show-stopper of a cake will be the star of your Easter Sunday feast. The shredded nest can be made with little helpers, because it’s fun, messy and doesn’t require an oven.
Ingredients
| For the chocolate cake: | |
| 400g | unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing |
| 400g | dark chocolate |
| 170g | plain flour |
| 170g | self-raising flour |
| ½ tsp | bicarbonate of soda |
| 400g | brown sugar |
| 400g | caster sugar |
| 50g | cocoa powder (100%) |
| 6 | medium eggs, beaten |
| For the chocolate buttercream: | |
| 500g | unsalted butter, at room temperature |
| 1kg | icing sugar, sifted |
| 50g | cocoa powder (100%), sifted |
| To decorate: | |
| 100g | dark chocolate |
| 100g | shredded wheat-type cereal |
| 1 | batch of Biscuiteers Iced Faberge Biscuits (see link to recipe below) |
Essential kit
You will need: 3 x 20-cm/8-inch round cake tins, an electric mixer and a 25cm/10-inch cake board.
Method
For the chocolate cakes:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3. Grease and line 3 x 20-cm/8-inch round cake tins with greaseproof paper.
2. Place the butter and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir, until completely melted. Set aside to cool a little.
3. Sift together the flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine.
4. Beat the eggs into the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry mixture and stir until combined.
6. Divide the mixture among the prepared tins.
7. Place on the middle shelf of your hot oven and bake for 50 minutes. Check one by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake. If baked, the skewer will come out clean. If not, pop the cakes back in the oven for 5 minutes more!
8. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack.
For the chocolate buttercream:
1. Put the butter and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and icing sugar together, until pale and fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes.
2. Add in the cocoa powder and beat until fully incorporated.
Assembling and decorating the Easter Egg Nest Cake:
1. Bake your cakes according to the above recipe. Once the cake layers are completely cool, you can begin to stack them up. Using a sharp knife, carefully level the top of each layer – they will need to sit flat.
2. Smear a little buttercream onto the cake board and place the first cake layer on top, to secure it to the board.
3. Using a palette knife, spread the buttercream evenly over the top of the first layer, then place another cake layer on top. Repeat.
4. Take a generous amount of buttercream and smooth it around the edge of the cake. Scrape off the excess until the cake is evenly covered in buttercream.
5. Drag a fork through the surface of the buttercream to create texture – you want to create the effect of tree bark.
6. In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water, melt the dark chocolate (ensure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). When melted, mix in the shredded-wheat cereal and leave to one side to cool slightly.
7. When the chocolate cereal mixture is cool enough to handle, carefully mould a ring of it around the top of the cake to form a ‘nest’.
8. Finish off by placing some of your iced Fabergé Easter Egg biscuits inside the nest. The recipe for the biscuits can be found here.
