This showstopping mini Easter cake recipe is the perfect finish to your Easter Sunday meal or makes a great edible present if you’re visiting family over the Easter holidays.
Quick and easy, these mini cakes are ideal for baking with kids and your budding bakers will love helping you decorate them. Icing need not be a tricky task with Siúcra’s Rollout Icing Sugar, which gives a smooth and polished finish to any cake.
Makes 6
Ingredients:
Cake
– 100g dark chocolate drops
– 120ml milk
– 250g Siúcra Rich Dark Sugar
– 120g butter, softened
– 3 eggs
– 300g plain flour
– 4 tbsp cocoa powder
– 2 tsp baking powder
Buttercream
– 100g softened butter
– 200g Siúcra Icing Sugar
– 2 to 3 tbsp milk
– 4 tbsp strawberry jam
– 2 x 454g Siúcra Rollout Icing Sugar
– Siúcra Icing Sugar, extra for rolling out
– 70g Siúcra Royal Icing Sugar
To decorate
– Coloured ribbon
– Mini Easter eggs
– Sugar flowers
– 6 x 6cm thin cake boards or cardboard circles
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / fan 160°C / Gas 4.
2. Line a 32cm x 23cm baking tin with parchment.
3. To make the cake, place the chocolate, milk and half the Siúcra Rich Dark Sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat.
4. Place the butter and the remaining sugar in a mixer and beat until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs.
6. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and add while mixing on a slow speed.
7. Once the flour is combined, pour the chocolate and milk mixture into the cake batter.
8. Once combined, pour into the prepared baking tray.
9. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, inserting a skewer in to check that it is cooked. The skewer should come out clean. Once baked, leave in the tin for 15 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
10. To make the butter cream, place the butter, Siúcra Icing Sugar and some milk in a bowl and whisk well with an electric beater until fluffy and soft.
11. To assemble, slice the cake in half, spread some butter cream and jam on one half of the cake and place the other half on top. Use an 8cm cutter, cut 6 circles.
12. Place the cake on the cake boards or circles of thick cardboard and spread butter cream around the top and sides of each mini cake.
13. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to set.
14. Roll the Siúcra Rollout Icing Sugar to about 15cm circle in diameter but it must fit over the cake, sprinkling icing sugar underneath. Cover the cakes and smooth the icing to fit the sides and top.
15. Add about 1 to 2 tbsp water to the Siúcra Royal Icing Sugar and stir well. It must be a running consistency and spoon into a piping bag.
16. To decorate, fix the ribbon to the base of the cakes and use the Siúcra Royal Icing to secure it.
17. Arrange the Easter eggs and flowers on top fixing with Siúcra Royal icing and place on a cake stand.
Catherine Fulvio the award-winning cookbook author has developed a series of sweet and savoury mini recipes exclusively for Siúcra, to showcase the functionality and breadth of the product range as well as demonstrating how fun, quick and easy it is to make delicious dishes from scratch, regardless of ability.
For more information on Siúcra products and/or recipes visit Siúcra’s Facebook page or www.siucra.ie.