Chocolate cake with cream and easter eggs

Chocolate cake with cream and easter eggs is a perfect Easter treat for little and grown-up chocolate lovers alike ;). If you’d like to add this chocolate cake with cream alongside your Easter babkas, mazurkas and cheesecakes, you simply must try this recipe. You may already know it – it’s Nigella Lawson’s famous chocolate cloud cake. Here, the decoration and flavour have been slightly changed to give the cake a more Easter-inspired feel. After baking, the cake gently sinks as it cools, creating the place for the chocolate cream and Easter eggs. Simple, impressive and intensely chocolatey – highly recommended!

Ingredients for the chocolate cake:

• 250 g dark chocolate
• 125 g butter
• 6 large eggs
• 175 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Line the base of a 23 cm springform tin with baking paper.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. After this time, stir until smooth and glossy. Leave to cool slightly.

Whisk 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 75 g of the sugar until pale and fluffy. The mixture should at least double in volume. Slowly add the chocolate sauce, mixing continuously on low speed. Add the vanilla extract and mix briefly. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 4 egg whites until stiff. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously – just as you would when making meringue. You should have a thick, glossy meringue mixture. Add the meringue to the chocolate mixture in batches and fold in very gently with a spatula, just until combined. Pour the mixture into the springform tin.

Bake at 180ºC for about 45 minutes, until the cake has risen and cracked. Check with a skewer – it should come out without any traces of raw batter. If necessary, extend the baking time by 5–10 minutes. After baking, the cake will sink as it cools, creating the characteristic hollow for the cream. Leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for the chocolate cream:

• 250 ml double cream
• 125 g dark chocolate, chopped

Place the double cream in a small saucepan and heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. After this time, stir until smooth and glossy. Chill in the fridge.

Once the sauce is thoroughly chilled and has thickened, whip until you have a thick chocolate cream. Do not leave it in the fridge overnight, however – chilling it for that long may make it too firm and difficult to whip.

Additionally:

• a small packet of chocolate sugar-coated Easter eggs

Spread the chocolate cream over the cooled cake and top with the chocolate Easter eggs.

Enjoy!