Easter was two weeks ago, and here’s an Easter recipe, what ya gonna do about it? Probably just be less interested, oops. But hey, who says you can’t just bookmark this in preparation for next year? This is also the continuation of my Easter Scotland posts. One of the reasons it is late is because this was actually baked on Easter itself when I was, ya know, busy. It was also a fairly time consuming bake.

I came across this one on Pinterest for a Chocolate Carrot Cake Nest, and decided to do it but with a couple of twists. For starters, my parents living relatively remotely on a Scottish island means that they don’t have the best access to shops (if they want to do a proper supermarket shop, back to the mainland they have to go). So I went for a simpler Chocolate Carrot Cake with a crunchy Shredded Wheat Easter Nest on top. This is most certainly an occasion cake, and slightly out of my comfort zone (I’m not all that great at decorating).

This is not a quick cake, it will take you time. I baked the 3 layers (it would work with 2) on the Friday night after I arrived on the island, dirty iced it first thing in the morning before going for a hike and then finished decorating it once I got back and the first layer had set. This cake is giant. There were 7 of us and we ate less than half of it on the first sitting, a lot of it came back to the mainland.

Easter Nest Cake

 

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Prep time

1 hour 30 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

2 hours 30 mins

 

Author: The Bearded Baker

Serves: 1 Cake

Ingredients

• ***For the Cakes***
• 400g finely shredded carrots
• 600g sugar
• 350ml oil
• 6 medium eggs
• 380g all-purpose flour
• 200g baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• ½tps Nutmeg
• ***For the Frosting***
• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 800-900g confectioners' sugar
• 120ml milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 280g Milk Choc, Melted
• ***For the Nest***
• 7-8 Large Shredded Wheat, Crumbled
• 400g plain chocolate, melted.
• 2 packets Cadbury's Mini Eggs or small chocolate egg equivalent

Instructions

1. ***For the Cakes***
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C(160°C fan assisted) and line & line 3 9-inch circular cake tins.
3. In a large bowl. beat together the carrot, sugar, oil and eggs until well combined.
4. Combine the dry ingredients separately and gradually beat into the wet mix. Continue to mix until blended.
5. Divide evenly between the prepared tins and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
6. Once cool prepare the frosting.
7. ***For the Frosting***
8. Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over boiling water insuring the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl.
9. Beat half of the sugar, with the butter until smooth. Add the rest of the sugar gradually along with the milk, chocolate and vanilla and beat until smooth.
10. Construct the cake by spreading a layer of frosting on top of two of the cakes and layering.
11. Before you add any more icing, cut out the circular hole from the top layer (approx 4 inches diameter) and make sure you only go through the top layer. Eat whatever you cut out (I took mine as a snack up a mountain).
12. Using a palette knife "dirty" ice the cake, covering it all over and smoothing as much as possible.
13. Allow to set in a fridge for at least an hour.
14. With the remaining frosting add a second layer and smooth all over the cake.
15. ***For the Nest***
16. Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over boiling water insuring the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl.
17. Mix in the crushed shredded weather.
18. Layer over the top of the cake and inside the hole. If you've decided to make extra, cover the whole cake.
19. Cover the bottom of the whole with a few mini eggs and add the others once the whole thing has set.

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