A buttery vanilla loaf cake hides a cute chocolate bunny in the centre for a delicious Easter cake!
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Now there was always a chance that this recipe may not work 100% as I would like and that's because it's reliant on the type of bunny-shaped cookie cutter you use. Mine, as you might be able to tell, is a side-on bunny, so it does lose its shape a little in the baking process (I kind of think it looks like a dog but let's pretend it's still a bunny). So I'm really sorry it doesn't look quite as obvious as I would have liked. But it's still hidden, there's a little reveal when you first slice into it (exciting right?) and it's still nice to have a chocolate centre so you can't go too wrong with this recipe. I do hope I haven't put you off but I must be honest!!
Both sponges are really easy to make, perfect for making with little ones for some Easter baking. And also its topped with an easy vanilla buttercream (you could also make this chocolate if you wanted) and I've no doubt that you've got some Easter chocolates ready to be gobbled up that will top the cake beautifully. Easter is my second favourite time to bake (after Christmas of course) and I was kindly sent a beautiful plate from Mason Cash to stage my cake on which I will be showcasing on our Easter Sunday dinner table.
If you love loaf cakes and Easter chocolates....
Check out my other recipes for more inspiration!
Recipe
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 1 hour 20 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Notes:
- Any shaped cookie cutter is fine if you don't have a bunny, but no more than 6cm in height.
- Freezing the chocolate bunny cut-outs helps to keep their shape when you put them back into the loaf tin. The weight of the vanilla batter can make them distort if still warm so don't skip this step.
- You can make both cakes different flavours by adding different extracts: add some lemon zest instead of vanilla or add orange to the chocolate!
Ingredients:
Chocolate cake
- 115g butter
- 115g caster sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
- x1 large egg
- 90ml milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 20g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
Vanilla cake
- 120g butter
- 120g caster sugar
- x2 large eggs
- 3 tbsp milk
- 155g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Icing
- 150g unsalted butter
- 300g icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Easter chocolates on top - I used some Malteser chocolate bunnies and mini eggs!
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease and line a 1lb loaf tin.
- Make the chocolate cake first. Beat the butter and sugar together for 4-5 minutes until light and creamy using a standing mixer or an electric hand whisk.
- Mix the milk with the lemon juice and leave to thicken for a few minutes to create a buttermilk.
- Beat in the flour, eggs, milk mixture, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and salt until smooth.
- Scrape into the loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes until risen and a knife inserted comes out clean. Do not turn off your oven.
- Cool the chocolate cake in the tin for 10 minutes and then lift out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- Slice the cake into 2cm thick slices. Using a bunny shaped cookie cutter, cut bunny shapes from the cake slices. You should have about 10 bunnies.
- Very carefully lay them out on to a lined baking tray and transfer them to your freezer.
- Meanwhile make the vanilla cake. Grease and line the loaf tin again.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding 1 tbsp of the flour if the mixture begins to curdle.
- Mix in the flour, milk and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Remove the bunny cake cut-outs from the freezer.
- Spoon a thin layer of vanilla cake batter along the bottom of the loaf tin. Stack the bunnies together to make a long log of cake and then line them along the bottom of the loaf tin on top of the vanilla cake batter.
- Pour the remaining vanilla cake batter over the cake cut-outs so they are completely covered, smoothing the batter over the top with an offset spatula. It doesn't matter if they aren't completely covered as the cake will rise.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. if the edges start to brown you can cover the cake with some foil so that the middle can bake but the cake doesn't burn.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy for about 5 minutes.
- Sift the icing sugar then gradually add into the butter mixing each time.
- Once the sugar is all added, add the vanilla and milk (you may need more milk if the buttercream is too stiff).
- Once it is the right consistency and the cake has cooled, spread the buttercream on top of the cake.
- Top with the Easter chocolates then slice and serve.
- You can set the icing in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes before serving.
- This cake is best stored covered at room temperature for up to 4 days. Enjoy!
Christina
xx
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