BAKING | Chocolate Nest Cake

By now my love for baking is probably becoming pretty clear - it seems the majority of my posts have been baking related, so Easter weekend was the perfect excuse to do yet more baking (not that I need an excuse)! For as long as I can remember my mum and I have made a chocolate nest cake at Easter but it's also one of my favourite cakes throughout the year. This is a really simple recipe and it looks great!

Ingredients: 

- 6oz margarine

- 6oz caster sugar 

- 5oz self raising flour

- 1oz cocoa powder

- 3 eggs (medium) 

- mini eggs

Step 1

Grease the baking tins - I used bunt cake tins so it makes a doughnut shaped cake  - and preheat the oven to 190 degrees. 

Step 2

Measure out the margarine and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream together until pale yellow, soft and fluffy.

Step 3

Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl and add to the sugar and margarine mixture a little bit at a time. TIP: be careful not to add too much at once as this can curdle the mixture. If the mixture does begin to curdle simply add in a spoonful of flour which should counteract this. 

Step 4

Sift the flour and cocoa sugar together in a separate bowl and add in to the sugar, egg and margarine mixture 1 spoonful at a time. Make sure to fold this into the mixture to make it light and fluffy this is important to stop the end cake being too dense. 

TIP: if the mixture seems too dry add a tablespoon or two of milk. 

Step 5

Pour the mixture into the pre-greased baking tin, keeping the top as smooth as possible. TIP: tapping the tin on the work surface a couple of times will help the mixture to settle.

Step 6

Place this into the centre of the preheated oven in a cool baking tray and bake for around 30 minutes. 

Step 7

Whilst the cake is in the oven is the ideal time to whip up some buttercream icing to cover the cake. Mix together 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder with 150g room temp unsalted butter and 300g icing sugar. TIP: cut the butter into small cubes before mixing.

Step 8

After 30 minutes remove the cake from the oven - it should have risen and be spongey to the touch. Remove the cake from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool. 

Step 9

Once cooled cover the cake in the butter cream icing - use a fork to rough up the surface making it look more like a nest. 

Step 10

Last but not least fill the middle of the cake with mini eggs.

This is my favourite cake to make - probably because of the amazing memories of this cake throughout my childhood. I highly recommend this as your next bake - hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do!