Speckled Easter Chocolate Cake

Celebrate Easter in style with a gorgeous, speckled cake that you can master at home!

Equipment
Tala Performance 23cm Springform Cake Tin 
Tala Decorating Icing Set ( leaf, grass and Star nozzle) 
Tala Blue Mixing Bowl
Tala 18cm Sieve
Tala Nylon Spoon 
Tala Icing Wooden Spatula

Ingredients

Sponge
250g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
290g golden caster sugar
200ml vegetable oil
250ml buttermilk
2tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs – beaten

Buttercream
300g slightly salted butter
675g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
4tbsp milk
Food gels (pink and green used here)

Speckled splatter
1tsp cocoa powder
1tbsp vanilla extract

Meringue chicks
1 large egg white – approx. 40g
80g caster sugar
yellow food gel
edible pens

Chocolate nest (optional)
100g milk chocolate
Balloon
Grass tip and piping bag

Method

Sponge

1. Preheat oven to 160 fan and grease and line a 9” cake tin
2. Put flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and caster sugar in a bowl. Add oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs and mix well.
3. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for 45-55 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave cake to cool.
4. Trim top if needed and slice cake in half.

Buttercream

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy then add half of icing sugar and beat well. Add remaining icing sugar, vanilla and milk and beat until smooth.
2. Remove a spoonful of buttercream and place in a bowl with pink food gel for the flowers. Pop in piping bag with flower tip.
3. Remove a spoonful of buttercream and place in a bowl with green food gel for the leaves. Pop into piping bag with leaf tip.
4. Colour the remaining buttercream pastel pink.
5. Place one piece of sponge on a cake stand and spread over some pink coloured buttercream. Top with another layer, then cover the whole cake and use a large palette knife to make it nice and smooth.

Speckled Splatter

1. Mix the cocoa powder and vanilla extract together in a small bowl and use a little brush to create little splatters all over the cake to make it look like a speckled egg shell.

Meringue Chicks

1. Heat oven to 100 fan. In a mixer, whisk egg white until frothy and dry, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time until all sugar is used up and the meringue is thick and glossy. Add a little yellow food gel and place in piping bag.
2. Snip the end and pipe small triangular shapes onto baking paper and bake for 30-35 minutes.
3. When dry, draw some eyes, a beak and some feet onto the meringues with edible pens to look like little chicks.

Chocolate nest (optional)

1. Melt milk chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
2. Blow up a little balloon and balance it on a bowl.
3. Place the melted chocolate in a piping bag with grass nozzle and pipe roughly over the balloon.
4. Leave to set and place in the fridge.
5. Pop balloon and place next on top of cake, securing with a little chocolate icing.
6. Pipe chocolate buttercream inside nest and tom with meringue chicks, mini eggs.
7. Slice and enjoy!