Michelle Darmody: Zesty Easter Bundt cake — and some chocolate recipes too of course
Yummy bundt cake with easter eggs and pink frosting
I quite like using Bundt tins, my only gripe is that you have to eat the cake a bit quicker than cakes of another shape. This is because more of the cake's surface is exposed to the air, so Bundt cakes tend to harden if not kept in an airtight tin. You can use a more standard round cake tin for the Zesty Easter cake instead if that is what you have to hand. An 8-inch round tin is perfect.
It is important to grease a Bundt tin well, as it is really annoying to spend time making your cake only for it to stick to the tin. Bundt tins vary in how deep the ridges or patterns are. If you have a particularly deep ridged pan I would melt the butter and brush it all over the inside of your tin. This can work well for any Bundt tin. Make sure to flour it very well after adding the butter. Place a few spoons of flour into the tin and tap and turn it until all of the butter is coated.
When zesting citrus fruit I run hot water over them first and give them a vigorous scrub with a clean tea towel to get any wax off the outside. You can often buy unwaxed lemons, which are great for baking, but I find it difficult to source unwaxed oranges or limes.
It is not Easter without chocolate. Chocolate ganache can be added to the coconut buns to make them more chocolaty. One of the favourite chocolate buns with little people in our family, is the easiest one to make, rice crispy nests filled with little eggs.
The chocolate slice recipe is left quite open so you can adapt it as you wish. I like to use dark chocolate but you could use milk if you prefer — or a mixture of both. Likewise with the biscuits, if ginger is your thing gingernuts would work great. I often use an oat-based biscuit and crush them up well. On the other hand if you do not like ginger you can make this recipe with dried fruit instead: dried cherries or cranberries taste great.
- 250g soft butter
- the zest of 2 oranges
- the zest of 2 limes
- the zest of 1 lemon
- 300g golden caster sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 225g self-raising flour
- 75g plain flour
- 170mls orange juice
- 80g icing sugar
- 3 tsp lemon juice
Pre heat your oven to 170°C and grease and flour your Bundt tin (about 2lb in size), or line an 8-inch round tin with parchment.
Beat the butter, zest and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the eggs until combined. You can use a spatula to get all of the butter mixture from the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed together.
Add in the flours and the juice until combined.
Scoop the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about 50 minutes if using a Bundt tin or nearer an hour with a round cake tin. A skewer should come out clean once the cake is ready. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then gently turn the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together. You can judge how much lemon juice you need. The icing should be pourable but not so runny that it all comes off the cake straight away. Once the cake has cooled, ice it and decorate.
- 150g butter and a little extra for the topping
- 3 tbs golden syrup
- 20g golden caster sugar
- 15g cocoa powder
- 220g chocolate, broken into small even-sized pieces
- 220g biscuits, crushed
- a small handful of crystalised ginger, roughly chopped
Line a 6 by 8 inch tin with parchment.
Place the butter, syrup, sugar and cocoa powder into a saucepan and allow to melt.
Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Do not stir when it is melting in case you get steam into the chocolate which will make it seize up.
Stir half of the chocolate, the crushed biscuits and the ginger into the butter mixture.
Scoop the mixture into your prepared tin and flatten it down with the back of a spoon.
Add about a teaspoon of butter into the remaining cholate and stir it in. Spread this over the biscuit mixture and place into the fridge to cool completely. Cut into whatever size squares you wish with a hot knife. Decorate with little eggs or other Easter decorations.
- 225g soft butter
- 210g golden caster sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly whisked
- 225g self-raising flour
- 20g desiccated coconut
- 100mls thick coconut milk
- 40g icing sugar
- 20g desiccated coconut
Pre heat your oven to 180°C and line a bun tin with 12 paper cases.
Whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the eggs, adding a few spoons of flour as you do, to stop the mixture curdling. Add the rest of the flour and the coconut and combine everything well.
Scoop the mixture into your paper cases and bake for about 15 minutes until baked through and nicely risen.
Place onto a wire rack to cool once you can handle them.
To make the icing, whip the thick coconut milk and sugar and add in the desiccated coconut. When your buns have cooled completely, ice them and decorate them as you wish with little eggs or other Easter decorations.
