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Here's a way to bring some colour and the joys of Spring into the home. I had to barricade the chocolate eggs from the family whilst baking, else I'd have had none left for the cakes.
Ingredients:
180g butter (room temp)
170g sugar
170g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
3 eggs
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
For the Frosting/Decoration:
375g icing sugar
100g butter (room temp)
40ml milk
A few drops vanilla extract
150g mini eggs
Cocoa powder to dust
Method:
Preheat oven to 160c fan. Grease mini cake tins of choice. I used jumbo muffin trays and placed a small circle of parchment paper at the bottom of each cavity.
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, lightly beating between each. In a bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, add this to the butter mixture and fold in until all is just incorporated.
Lastly fold in the milk and then divide among the cavities until each is 2/3 full.
Bake for appx 15 mins until cakes have risen, are firm to touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Take out the oven and allow to cool for a few mins, then turn out the cakes and place on a wire rack. Once fully cooled, cut each cake in half horizontally through the middle.
For the frosting, beat the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla until it is light and fluffy. Using a piping bag and nozzle put the frosting in the bag.
Take the top half off each cake and pipe some frosting over the surface of the bottom half, then replace the top half of the cakes and pipe the frosting on to the top of the cake. Decorate with mini eggs and chicks. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.
Enjoy.
Gaby Van Clarke
None of us know what’s going to take us out. Life’s full of surprises. But we do know that the body starts to degenerate from about age 30 (more cells destroyed than created, barring excess weight gain) and also, crucially, that we can affect the speed of that ageing process.
Introduced by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, and adapted over time to suit Japanese tastes, this light bouncy sponge is considered a traditional Japanese speciality. More delicate and airy than a regular sponge cake, castella ( カステラ, kasutera) is famous for a fine and moist crumb.
