Chocolate Easter cake for kids

Instructions

1. For a simple buttercream icing mix the butter with the icing sugar and vanilla essence and the chocolate powder. Continue to mix until smooth adding the milk to loosen the buttercream.
2. Pre heat the oven to 180C gas mark 4.
3. Prepare your two 6” round cake tins.
4. Put all the ingredients except for the milk and chocolate chips in the processor and then blitz till smooth. Pulse while adding milk, to make for a soft, dropping consistency, down the funnel. Stir in the chocolate chips. Alternatively put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer. Or using a bowl and wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour. Add the vanilla extract and fold in the rest of the flour, adding the milk to get the dropping consistency as before. Add the chocolate powder and chocolate chips.
5. Fill the 2 tins evenly.
6. Bake in the oven for 50 - 55 minutes, checking that the centre of the cake is cooked through fully by inserting a skewer.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the tins.
8. Turn them out placing on a cooling rack.
9. Allow the cakes to cool fully on the wire rack before trimming off any domed excess to give both the two layers a nice flat surface to buttercream together.
10. Put a small amount of frosting/buttercream onto the centre of a serving plate or cake stand, place the first cake on it and press gently to secure it to the plate.
11. Put a big dollop of buttercream on the top of the bottom cake. Using a palette knife, start in the middle of the cake and spread the buttercream evenly over the top and just past the edge, making sure there is a generous layer it should be approximately ½ cm thick. The slight overhang of buttercream will help you frost the sides of the cake.
12. Place the second cake layer upside down for a lovely flat top, and press gently to make sure it sticks. Take a step back and check that it is level and centred.
13. Using a mug or small glass as a template, scoop out the centre of the cake, about 2cm deep using a dessert spoon to create a nest effect.
14. If the frosting feels cold and firm to handle, put into the microwave and give it a 30 second blast, stir well and this should now be a lovely spreadable consistency.
15. Put 2 big dollops of frosting/buttercream on top of the cake and using the palette knife, spread the buttercream to the edge in a circular motion, carefully spreading inside the middle of the nest. If you get crumbs in the frosting, simply scrape the dirty frosting off your palette knife into a separate bowl.
16. Be generous when you start to frost. You can always scrape some off if you have too much, but if you start with too little, you risk pulling crumbs from the cake into the frosting/buttercream.
17. Now for the sides, smooth any oozing frosting/buttercream from the centre along the edges giving a nice flat side. Take some frosting/buttercream onto your palette knife and working on one quarter at a time smooth back and forth to get a nice thick even covering as you did on the top of the cake, making sure you cover all the way down to the plate. Don’t worry too much about a smooth finish as it will shortly be covered in Cake Angels Chocoholic's Delight.
18. For a nest effect, take some Cake Angels Chocoholic's Delight from Cake Angels, put into a shallow bowl and holding the cake over a tray, gently grab a handful of Cake Angels Chocoholic's Delight and carefully pat onto the sides of the cake, the excess will drop onto the tray where they can be scooped up and used again. Rotate the cake and repeat until all the sides are covered, filling in any gaps. Do the same for the top of the cake. The effect can be quite rough to recreate the texture of a nest.
19. Place some Chocolate mini eggs into the centre of the cake and serve!