Easter PinterTest Special

It's been a while since my last post, but I've finally gotten a bit of time off for Easter vacation, and I'm taking advantage by trying out lots of recipes and ideas. I also don't have to get up at 5:30 morning to do it, which is just wonderful.

I was excited to make some Easter food while I had the free time, so I started scouring the internet, and particularly Pinterest for inspiration, and inspiration is exactly what I found. It was hard to narrow down my choices, but I managed to pick two pins to try out in this month's Easter PinterTest baking special. These recipes can also be super fun to make with your kids!

The first PinterTest I attempted was for mini egg easter cake, which originally comes from Sainsbury's Magazine.

Photo from http://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk

Sainsbury's beautiful cake is a combination of sponge cake, shortening-based icing, chocolate topping and chocolate mini eggs. You can find their recipes and instructions on how to make your own cake here.

Instead of copying their recipe, though, I decided to make my own version of their lovely cake, which you can see below.

I replaced their sponge cake with a plain vanilla cake, baked in layers. Instead of shortening-based icing, I made real buttercream with vanilla flavouring, which you can make by beating 250 g of butter and 500 -600 g powdered sugar and vanilla (or other flavour of choice) until light and fluffy.

The topping is a dark chocolate ganache, which is made with equal parts of cream and chocolate. Finely chop chocolate and add to a bowl. Heat cream to the boiling point, then pour over your chocolate. Allow the chocolate to melt and whisk together. Use as a topping, or refrigerate and roll spoonfuls in cocoa powder for homemade truffles!

I cooked down equal portions of strawberry and rhubarb (from frozen) with just a tablespoon of sugar, and a bit of lemon juice. I then blended it smooth, and cooked a bit of potato flour into the mixture until it was thick, and allowed the mixture to cool. I wanted this mixture to be really tart to cut through all the fat and sweetness of this cake.

I used mini marcipan eggs, which are super popular in Denmark, and added the fabulous sparkle of edible gold glitter to the top. The speckling on the cake is a mix of kirsch alcohol and cocoa powder, splashed on with a clean fan brush.

And there you have it! Remember that practice makes perfect, and cake decorating is an art form. My cake isn't nearly as pretty as the one found at Sainsbury's, but it packed a punch with flavouring.

Find the vanilla cake recipe I used below.

Vanilla cake recipe

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215 g sugar
90 g butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
170 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
120 ml milk
Pinch salt

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Whip in eggs one at a time until smooth.
3. Beat in milk and vanilla
4. Stir in flour and baking powder until incorporated.
5. Spread in greased springform pan and bake 175°C/347°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to overcook, else this cake becomes very dry.
   

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Woven Bread Basket

No I don't mean a basket for my bread. I mean a basket MADE of bread. The next PinterTest is made using a simple bread dough, some aluminum foil, and a glass bowl to create a lovely little edible Easter basket.

Basket weaving is challenging enough, but you should really try it out with bread dough!

Image from http://wonderfuldiy.com

Ok, so mine didn't quite turn out like the one above, but the instructions were a bit confusing, and I'm just so crap at weaving. Hey, I tried!

As you can see, I made a basket...sort of. It was a bit thin, and crooked because the dough stretched out while trying to weave it, but I really liked it regardless. I could see myself making a much larger version for thanksgiving rolls. Of course, as I stated earlier in this post, practice makes perfect. If you want to make your own bread basket, try out the recipe below, and check out Wonderful DIY for instructions for this and other great projects.

Basic Bread Recipe

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165 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry yeast (4 g fresh yeast)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
250 g flour, plus extra for dusting

1. Mix sugar and lukewarm water together (no more than 38°C) and sprinkle dry yeast on top. Let it sit for 10 minutes, until frothy on top. If using fresh yeast, you don't have to let it sit.
   
2. Mix all ingredients together and knead by hand or with a stand mixer and dough hook until mixture is soft and elastic in texture.
   
3. Allow dough to rise 1 hr.
   
4. Form, rise ½ hour and bake 200°C/392°F.
   

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Thanks for joining me for this Easter PinterTest special. If you enjoyed this post, and would like to see more like it, feel free to leave a message below or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as QuiteChefy.

Sharing is caring! Share this with your friends and family, and let me know what you'd like to see more of in the future!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday, and if you don't celebrate Easter, then just have a wonderful week!

Until next time, lovelies, stay chefy!