Thursday 5 April 2012

Easter Eggs with a twist!


This year, I'm giving out Easter eggs with at twist.  Not your traditional chocolate egg but a cake baked in an eggshell. Yes you read that right - it really is a cake in there. Just crack the egg and eat the cake :) 

I'm really excited to finally share this Easter treat with you. I got this idea more than 6 months ago from the cupcake project and thought how cool, I really must try that! Of course I had to wait very patiently for Easter to come around and finally got a chance to bake these last night.  I've been diligently saving eggshells for the last few weeks and managed a total of 34. Most have been used in baking which is a shocking amount of eggs or baking depending on how you look at it! 

The idea is very simple which is baking a sponge in an egg-shell. I decided to jazz it up a little and make my cake multi-coloured, very similar to my rainbow cupcakes.  I wanted pastel colours to fit in with spring so used a very tiny amount of food colouring and am really pleased with the final result. I used a basic vanilla sponge although I debated about carrot cake, lemon sponge and chocolate sponge. 

I'm sending these cute Easter egg cakes to Tea Time Treats hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.  The theme for this month is Easter so these are perfect for the occasion! 



I'm also sending these to Bookmarked recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this bookmarked since last year.


And to show your stuff hosted by Julie from Just winging it 









 my collection of egg-shells. I found the easiest way to save the egg shells was to poke a hole at the top with a sharp knife then slowly peel the edges back and pour the egg out. I worked out later that this is a great way to separate eggs. You need a skewer or something similar to get the egg yolks out. Rinse the egg-shells and soak in salted water for at least 30 minutes. Rinse again and dry on paper towels. Store in an airtight container until required. Click here for step-by-step photo instructions. 

 My selection of 'spring' colours 

 I know its not environmentally friendly but it really saves the washing up (and extra piping bags) I use ziplock bags to put a portion of sponge mix and food colouring. Seal and massage the bag gently until the colour is evenly spread. Cut a small hole at the end of the bag and use it to pipe the mixture into the egg-shells. 

 I used some foil to help prop up the egg shells. Pipe the mixture directly into the egg shells. 

 I got some cute Easter stickers to put on the eggs. 

 The 'egg cake' 


 I love the colours!! 

 packed into little gift bags with a baby chick and a spring themed ribbon. Who wants one? :) 

For the vanilla sponge
(I made 1.5 recipe to fill 34 eggshells and 1 cupcake)
For 1 recipe: 
250g butter
250g caster sugar
250g flour, sifted
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

  • Preheat the oven to 170C.
  • Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time until well mixed.
  • Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste.
  • Finally, add the flour and mix well.
  • Divide into portions and colour each portion. 
  • Pipe the mixture in layers to create a rainbow effect. 
  • Alternatively you can just pipe the vanilla sponge directly into the eggshells. 
  • Fill the egg-shells about 3/4 full or the mixture will overflow. 
  • If it overflows (mine did), just peel off the excess cake and wipe the egg-shells with a damp cloth.
  • If you underfill the eggshells, you won't get a proper egg shape.
  • Bake for approximately 16-18 minutes depending on size of egg-shells. 
Tips and variations: 
  • You can make a different flavoured sponge - lemon, orange or chocolate are perfect for Easter
  • You can make a white sponge mix, fill the egg-shells about 1/4 way then push a small oval of yellow marzipan. Top with more batter until 3/4 full. This will create an "egg effect" with the marzipan resembling the egg yolk.  Thank you mum for this brilliant idea! She also tried a piece of mango which worked well but the marzipan tasted better!
  • You can paint and decorate the eggshells (or be lazy and add stickers like me!)
~ Happy Easter ~

63 comments:

  1. Great idea and very cute cakes. I admire your patience in waiting until now to make them. Have a fine Easter.

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    1. I was just about running out of patience! Have a great Easter too :)

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  2. What a great idea! The resulting cakes are very cute.

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  3. Gosh, what a clever idea - they look brilliant! By the way I've given you a blog award... another one to add to your tally! Check it out here http://www.carolinemakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/im-happy.html

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    1. Thanks and thank you for the award. I havent had time to blog about the others! Have a great Easter weekend :)

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  4. What a novel idea, Ros. So cute too:)

    Thanks for sharing...

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    1. Thanks Louise. I thought they were really cute too :)

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  5. Happy Easter! (just in case I don't make it back:)

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  6. Wow! This is really an amazing idea! Looks gorgeous & colorful. LOVE IT!! So tempted to make these cuties!! An award is waiting for you at my blog but it seems that Caroline has also given it to you just before me. I love your blog full with delicious recipes & have tried more than few. And everyone of your recipe works & gladly to try again with my boys. Have a Happy Easter Ros ! HUGS :)

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    1. Thanks Kit! I'm so glad you like them - they are really easy to make and the kids would love them too. Thank you so much for the award. Wishing you and your family a very happy Easter too! X

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  7. Fantastic idea for Easter - love the different colours too! Have a great Easter :)

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  8. This is why I love reading blogs as you come across the most amazing ideas. I just love this. Thank you for writing it up. Will need to book mark myself as away over Easter, but will defo be trying. :-)

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    1. Thanks for your kind comments :) I'm so glad that everyone loved it as much as I did.

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  9. Lovely, lovely and you don't make it look too hard either. Brill idea! xxx

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    1. Thanks! It really is quite simple but time consuming if you are making the colours. Have a great Easter! x

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  10. Egg-cakes! What a fabulous idea! I've seen some shells hollowed out and filled with chocolate, but never cake... I love this - so cool! :)

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    1. Thanks! I've seen the chocolate idea too and may try it next year. This is one of my favourite bakes so far :)

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  11. You make it sound so easy :D. Loved the post. It's brilliant.

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    1. Thanks! The hardest part was saving the eggshells - sometimes the eggs cracked. Apparently you can buy an egg poker thing.

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  12. Oh my goodness that is SUCH a cute idea! :D I really wondered how it could be done! Happy Easter Ros! :D

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    1. Thanks Lorraine! I was a little worried about baking in the egg-shells initially but the cakes came out great as you can see. Happy Easter to you too! :)

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  13. A really unique idea! I love the spring colours and so lovely that the eggs hold the shape! Lucky Easter recipients! Have a fab weekend x

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    1. Thanks Ren! I was really impressed that the cake did not stick to the egg shells and came out perfectly egg shaped. Happy Easter :)

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  14. A really unique idea! I love the spring colours and so lovely that the eggs hold the shape! Lucky Easter recipients! Have a fab weekend x

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  15. Wow! Those are the cutest things I've seen! What a clever idea! And love that it's colourful! (: Happy Easter!

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    1. Thanks, so pleased that you like them too :) Happy Easter :)

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  16. These are inspired! Cake in an egg?! What's not to love! What a beautiful Easter gift- and thank you ever so much for entering these beauts into TTT! Happy Easter!

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    1. Thanks Kate! I thought it was a brilliant idea when I first saw it and couldnt wait to give it a try with my own twist of course :)

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  17. Those look like such a lot of fun!

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    1. They were fun to make and everyone loved them! Happy Easter :)

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  18. Wow, these look great...such a fab idea and the peeled eggs look so psychedelic!! What a novel gift!

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  19. Thanks for the invite, I've added it to the bloghop.

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  20. OMG OMG OMG Ros these look amazing :) I'd love to receive these for Easter!!! Even though I love chocolate and of course easter eggs its nice to receive something different from time to time YAY!
    Thanks for sharing ;) I'm definitely trying this recipe regardless of it being Easter hehe :P

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    1. Thanks Daisy - I'll send some over :) I could make chocolate cake then you'd get chocolate and cake :)

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  21. These are great much better than throwingthe shells away. I like how colourful they are. Where an earth did you store all the shells?

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    1. I love the colours too. I stored the shells in a large cake box. It took a few weeks to collect them all.

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  22. This is such a brillant idea! Happy Easter!

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  23. They came out adorable! Love the dyed insides! Too cute!

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    1. I'm so pleased the colours worked and the cakes didn't stick to the inside of the shell.

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  24. How much fun is this?! I've seen these once before with chocolate cake but the coloured version is totally inspired :-)

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    1. Thanks! They really were great fun to make :)

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  25. I'm so impressed with the colours! That piping bag trick must be genius to make those! Happy Easter!

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    1. Me too - last time I made a rainbow cupcake, the colours were very bright. Happy Easter to you too :)

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  26. Wow, beautifully done! I've baked brownies in egg shells, but I love the idea of a sponge cake! YUMMY!

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    1. Thanks! I've seen brownies in egg shells which I'll have to try next time. The sponge cake worked well and it's so versatile as you can add flavours and/or colours.

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  27. Oh these are so cute! They must have taken you sooo long, but they are definitely worth it! Perfect easter gifts, and extra fun that they were multi-coloured! good call on buying no label egg boxes next time!! Hope you had a great Easter weekend :)

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    1. Thanks! They were a little time-consuming as I wanted to make them multi-coloured but everyone absolutely loved them so it was well worth it :) Had a fab Easter weekend - hope you did too!

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  28. These are JUST amazing and I LOVE the idea, how inventive and so much fun too! I am chuffed to bits that you entered them into Tea Time Treats, thanks SO much! Happy Easter too! Karen

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    1. Thanks Karen! They really were good fun and everyone was so amazed by them. Plus they tasted good too - always a good thing :)

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  29. Wow. Just....wow. ;) Another great post and I KNOW I'd be far to terrified to try this... But I'm so glad you took this on - fantastic...

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    1. Thanks! I do feel quite proud of this little creation - it's really not that difficult to make, don't be scared... give it a try :)

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  30. OMG, everything just looks too delicious and decadent! Amazing post!

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  31. Thank you for participating in Show Your Stuff Blog Hop, You are invited to come back:
    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/04/white-chocolate-tropical-dessert-show.html

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  32. Oh no - I have just seem this and now I have to wait until next easter - brilliant idea for easter gifts

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    1. Thanks - they are really good gifts indeed. Everyone loved them :)

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