Easter may be a time of hot cross buns and fish dinners and slow-cooked lamb lunches for some,but for me it is the childish obsession with Easter eggs that comes to the fore.
I love them. So much so it's problematic when they start turning up on supermarket shelves by February.
I can't hide my obsession with the coloured bits of foil,the crack of a candy-covered egg as it hits your teeth – it is my favourite way to eat chocolate.
These recipes are a celebration of glorious Easter eggs. Use them to stir through,to adorn or as the centrepiece. The possibilities are many,and I for one could not be happier.
Old-school slab cake with milk chocolate ganache and Easter eggs
A couple of tips:1. Don't overwork the batter – the thinner level of cake means you have nowhere to hide,despite the simplicity.
2. Don't waste your money on coverture chocolate for the ganache unless you are very confident. The slightest overheating or touch of steam and your ganache will become grainy and useless. Decent quality cooking chocolate is far more forgiving and will still give excellent results.
INGREDIENTS
Cake
This cake uses the reverse creaming method. Mixing the butter then eggs into the dry ingredients helps create a far more superior crumb and a light and lovely sponge. The results are far more consistent,and this is what we want and need when we go to the effort of making a cake.
INGREDIENTS
Marbling
- 85ml hot water
- 30g Dutch cocoa powder
Cake
Biscoff ganache eggs with dulce de leche
There was a wild and furious internet moment of eggs filled with cheesecake and then Biscoff. Loved the concept,not so much the cheesecake filling,so I have swapped it out for a Biscoff ganache. Given the richness,I have suggested each half eggshell to serve 2. You could also fill smaller hunting-sized Easter eggs for individual serves.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium-sized Easter egg,gently halved
Biscoff ganache
Easter egg frypan cookies
You can make this in one larger nonstick ovenproof frying pan instead of 3 individual pans,just note you will need to bake it for slightly longer if using one larger pan,add 5-minute increments to your cooking time and check as you go.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- sea salt flakes
- 225g unsalted butter,softened
- 1 cup brown sugar,firmly packed
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup mixed mini Easter eggs,some chopped,some whole
- ½ cup chocolate chunks (I used a mix of dark,milk and white)
- sea salt flakes
- ice-cream (optional),to serve
METHOD