Easter Recipes - Chocpot Crispy Cakes
So with Easter just around the corner (and then down the road a bit) I decided to create something dangerously chocolatey, and wonderfully indulgent. Because it's Easter, right, all diet bets are off?
Chocpot Crispy Cakes
For the Cake:
8oz plain flour
12 oz sugar
3oz cocoa powder
2 free-range eggs
9fl oz milk
4 fl oz vegetable oil
9fl oz boiling water
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Crispy Filling:
2 ½ oz butter, softened
2 ½ oz golden syrup
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
For the Buttercream:
4 oz butter, softened
6 oz icing sugar
2 oz cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp milk
Selection of chocolate mini eggs (I always use Cadbury's) & little chicks for decorating
What to do:
Start by pre-heating your oven to 180° (350° F, Gas Mark 4) and greasing two 8" sandwich tins. Once greased, line the bases with greaseproof paper.
For the cake:
Mix all of your dry ingredients with the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract in a large bowl or food processor. When completely blended, mix in the boiling water, a little at a time. This will make the mixture very runny, but that's how it is supposed to be. Pour carefully (or ladle) into the greased sandwich tins evenly, and bake on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes.
For the crispy filling:
Mix the softened butter, golden syrup and cocoa powder together in a large bowl. Once it is well blended, gradually add in the rice crispies, ensuring that all crispies are coated in the chocolate mixture. You can now cover with cling film and leave to sit at room temperature, so that the mixture sets ever so slightly. This will help the filling to hold it's shape.
Tip: Run a metal spoon under the hot tap for a minute before using to get the golden syrup out of the tin easier.
Back to the oven...
When the cake nears the end of the baking time, stick a skewer in the middle of each cake, and if it comes out clean, the cakes are done. (Do not open the oven during the main part of the baking, as this can cause the cakes to drop). Leave the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes in the tins, then transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cooled. (Run a knife around the inside of the tin if you have trouble sliding it out. If it's been greased well enough, it should slide out when gently turned upside down).
For the buttercream:
Blend the softened butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together, and add small amounts of the milk if needed. You should end up with a smooth and silky frosting. This may need a good beating to create the smoothness!
The final stages...
Once the cakes are completely cool, decide which cake will look best as a top piece of the finished result. Take the other cake, and if the surface is particularly uneven, carefully slice off with a sharp knife, but only enough to create a flat plane. (The surface of my base cake wasn't too uneven, so I actually left it to give texture for the crispies to cling to).
Now use a rounded knife (or palette knife) to smooth on a thin layer of the buttercream to the base cake, without going too close to the edges. Take spoonfuls of the crispy mixture and spread over the cake, using the bottom of the spoon to smooth out the bumps and fill the spaces. Spread more buttercream (still a thin layer) to the underside of the top cake, and carefully place on top, pressing down gently to bond the layers.
Using an appropriate round cutter, (I used this one from Steamer Trading - it's excellent) cut through the cake. You will have to be quite firm when the cutter gets to the crispy layer. The cut out should now sit inside the cutter. Use your fist to gently press the cake out of the cutter, and it should sit proudly in a wonderful 'tin can' shape. Repeat this for as many times as you can with the leftover cake. (There will be a fair amount of leftover cake - you can either get [even more] creative or really break the diet and destroy the evidence!)
Lastly, spoon some of the buttercream into a piping bag (you can freehand it if you wish) and pipe a small 'nest' onto the top of each individual tower. Rest three different coloured mini eggs together in the frosting of each cake, and add a dash of edible glitter and a little yellow chick if desired.
With the size cake tin that I've used for this recipe, it does only make three towers. Meaning that they can make a perfect present arranged in a trio... if you can stand to give them away!
Voila! It's a bit of a fiddly one, but my word, is it gooey! The total indulgence for
celebrating the end of lent and the beginning of summer.
I'd love to know what you think of these, and if you fancy them yourselves! I hope you have a brilliant run up to Easter (I will be posting before then anyway) and do let me know if you have a go at my Chocpot Crispy Cakes, I'd really like to hear your thoughts...
Thank you so much for reading,
3oz cocoa powder
2 free-range eggs
9fl oz milk
4 fl oz vegetable oil
9fl oz boiling water
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Crispy Filling:
2 ½ oz butter, softened
2 ½ oz golden syrup
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
4 oz rice crispies (I used chocolate ones)
For the Buttercream:
4 oz butter, softened
6 oz icing sugar
2 oz cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp milk
Selection of chocolate mini eggs (I always use Cadbury's) & little chicks for decorating
What to do:
Start by pre-heating your oven to 180° (350° F, Gas Mark 4) and greasing two 8" sandwich tins. Once greased, line the bases with greaseproof paper.
For the cake:
Mix all of your dry ingredients with the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract in a large bowl or food processor. When completely blended, mix in the boiling water, a little at a time. This will make the mixture very runny, but that's how it is supposed to be. Pour carefully (or ladle) into the greased sandwich tins evenly, and bake on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes.
For the crispy filling:
Mix the softened butter, golden syrup and cocoa powder together in a large bowl. Once it is well blended, gradually add in the rice crispies, ensuring that all crispies are coated in the chocolate mixture. You can now cover with cling film and leave to sit at room temperature, so that the mixture sets ever so slightly. This will help the filling to hold it's shape.
Tip: Run a metal spoon under the hot tap for a minute before using to get the golden syrup out of the tin easier.
Back to the oven...
When the cake nears the end of the baking time, stick a skewer in the middle of each cake, and if it comes out clean, the cakes are done. (Do not open the oven during the main part of the baking, as this can cause the cakes to drop). Leave the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes in the tins, then transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cooled. (Run a knife around the inside of the tin if you have trouble sliding it out. If it's been greased well enough, it should slide out when gently turned upside down).
For the buttercream:
Blend the softened butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together, and add small amounts of the milk if needed. You should end up with a smooth and silky frosting. This may need a good beating to create the smoothness!
The final stages...
Once the cakes are completely cool, decide which cake will look best as a top piece of the finished result. Take the other cake, and if the surface is particularly uneven, carefully slice off with a sharp knife, but only enough to create a flat plane. (The surface of my base cake wasn't too uneven, so I actually left it to give texture for the crispies to cling to).
Now use a rounded knife (or palette knife) to smooth on a thin layer of the buttercream to the base cake, without going too close to the edges. Take spoonfuls of the crispy mixture and spread over the cake, using the bottom of the spoon to smooth out the bumps and fill the spaces. Spread more buttercream (still a thin layer) to the underside of the top cake, and carefully place on top, pressing down gently to bond the layers.
Using an appropriate round cutter, (I used this one from Steamer Trading - it's excellent) cut through the cake. You will have to be quite firm when the cutter gets to the crispy layer. The cut out should now sit inside the cutter. Use your fist to gently press the cake out of the cutter, and it should sit proudly in a wonderful 'tin can' shape. Repeat this for as many times as you can with the leftover cake. (There will be a fair amount of leftover cake - you can either get [even more] creative or really break the diet and destroy the evidence!)
Lastly, spoon some of the buttercream into a piping bag (you can freehand it if you wish) and pipe a small 'nest' onto the top of each individual tower. Rest three different coloured mini eggs together in the frosting of each cake, and add a dash of edible glitter and a little yellow chick if desired.
With the size cake tin that I've used for this recipe, it does only make three towers. Meaning that they can make a perfect present arranged in a trio... if you can stand to give them away!
Voila! It's a bit of a fiddly one, but my word, is it gooey! The total indulgence for
celebrating the end of lent and the beginning of summer.
I'd love to know what you think of these, and if you fancy them yourselves! I hope you have a brilliant run up to Easter (I will be posting before then anyway) and do let me know if you have a go at my Chocpot Crispy Cakes, I'd really like to hear your thoughts...
Thank you so much for reading,
4 comments
Hi yeah, I'm having trouble er getting all the ingredients from my local supermarket casue everything is sold in grams and kilograms.. what is an oz? on a sperate note I think i've paid too much for eggs in the past, who's your egg guy?
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteSorry that you've had trouble, I'm a bit old fashioned and work with imperial rather than metric! I also don't specifically have an egg guy, I've got a couple of friends that have hens, but if I can't get fresh eggs from them, I just make sure I get free-range medium ones from the supermarket.
I will write out the quantities in grams below.
For the Cake:
225g plain flour
350g sugar
85g cocoa powder
2 free-range eggs
250ml / 9fl oz milk
125ml / 4 fl oz vegetable oil
250ml / 9fl oz boiling water
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Crispy Filling:
70g butter, softened
70g golden syrup
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
115g rice crispies (I used chocolate ones)
For the Buttercream:
115g butter, softened
175g icing sugar
55g cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp milk
I hope this has helped, let me know how you get on! b_t x
Thankyou for your help. Now I just need to work out what milk is lol.
ReplyDeleteHi again,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply! How did you get on with everything!? :)
b_t x
Thank you for stopping by!