Chocolate Easter Egg Layer Cake - makes a 4 layer 16 cm cake featuring the Master Pro Non-stick Round Layer Cake pan.
I love making layer cakes but whenever I try cutting the cake horizontally into 2 even layers, they always come out different heights. That’s why I was keen to try out The Master Pro Non-stick Round layer Cake Pan.
There are four 16cm cake pans in the box and for small tins, they’re surprisingly sturdy. The tins are made from heavy-duty carbon steel with a Quantum2 dual layer nonstick coating. They come with a 20 year Master Pro guarantee on workmanship and are rust resistant so they will last you for years to come.
Here’s the recipe for you adapted from a Julia Turshen recipe from her book, Small Victories. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, 60gm eggs and unsalted butter unless specified. My oven is a conventional gas oven, not fan forced, so you may have to lower your oven temperature by 20°C.
Chocolate Easter Egg Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150 g) plain flour
- 1 cup (220 g) caster sugar
- ¾ cup (75 )] Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tsp bicarb soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 110 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 150 mls strong black coffee, at room temperature
- 150 mls buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
- 30mls cream
- 60 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 3 tbs cocoa, sifted
- 60g butter softened
- 125g cream cheese softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
- Easter eggs to decorate
Cake
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line the base of four 16cm cake pan with baking paper. I lightly dusted each pan with a tsp of cocoa powder.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the melted butter, eggs, coffee, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk until the batter is smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cake pans (I used scales, but you can also use a measuring cup to be accurate).
Bake until the cakes are firm to the touch about 25 minutes and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer the cakes, still in their pans, to a wire rack and let cool completely. Once cool, loosen the edges of the cakes from the pans with a knife and invert them onto your work surface. Peel and discard the baking paper then turn right side up.
Icing
To make the dark chocolate cream cheese icing, bring the cream to the boil then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and leave to melt. When the chocolate has melted add the cocoa and to stir to make a paste. Set aside to cool.
While the chocolate is cooling beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl until very pale and creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate paste to the cream cheese icing and stir well until you have a rich dark smooth icing. Refrigerate the bowl of icing to firm before decorating the cakes.
To assemble
Use a large serrated knife to level the top of each cake. Reserve the best layer for the top of the cake. Place one cake layer onto a serving plate. Spread with ¼ of the dark chocolate cream cheese icing. If your icing is very soft, refrigerate the cake to firm the icing before topping with the next cake layer. Continue to repeat this process, decorating the top of the cake with chocolate eggs then refrigerate until serving time. This is a rich cake so cut into small slices to serve.
This delicious chocolate cake is also a dessert that does double duty as decor. Brilliant! From its 4 layers of dark chocolate cream cheese icing to its pastel coloured Easter eggs for a topping, it definitely brings an extra pop of colour to your Easter table.
If you are looking for an easy Easter brunch recipe, be sure to check out Breakfast Bread recipe!Like It? Pin It!
