Chocolate Easter Eggs with a Twist

I'm really excited to share this Easter treat with you. I made it 2 years ago and everyone was so impressed by it I thought it was time to make them again.  It's a really simple idea but it's so effective and it's guaranteed to impress. Last time I made multi coloured pastel eggs but this time I chose to make chocolate eggs (cake) and some lemon ones too. I used my favourite Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe but substituted the sour cream for yoghurt as that was what I had in the fridge. I also made up a lemon sponge batter and made some lemon cupcakes as well.

The most time consuming part is saving the eggshells. I saved a total of 40 eggshells over the course of a few weeks. I poked a small hole at the top with a sharp knife and gently peeled back the edges to make a hole large enough to pour the egg out. You will need a skewer to help get all the egg out especially the egg yolk. Then rinse the eggshells thoroughly in water and place in a large bowl of salted water. The salt helps the eggshells sink to the bottom and also helps to clean them. Soak for at least 30 minutes.  Then rinse the shells again and dry them upside down (hole side down) on a paper towel until completely dry -this is very important as the shells will go mouldy otherwise. Store in an airtight container until you need them. 

Pipe the cake batter into the eggshells and bake in the oven for about 15-18 minutes until cooked. The cake batter will overflow as there is not much room for the cake to expand. If you underfill the eggshells, you won't get a full egg shaped cake but a half egg. Remove the excess cake gently and wipe the eggshells with a damp towel. I cracked a few eggs doing this so it was a good thing I had extra! I also have a lot of excess cake which is good for making cake pops.

I'm sharing this with a few blog challenges

We Should Cocoa founded by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and hosted by Rachel from Rachel Cotterill. The theme this month is Easter.

Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is 'Spring into Easter' and these are perfect for Easter.

The Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... has the theme of 'fun' this month. These were really fun to make and especially fun to watch people's reactions on receiving the cake and eating them as you crack the eggs open to reveal cake inside.

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes. The theme this month is Easter Bakes.

Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

Easter Bake & Make Competition hosted by Ruth from The Pink Whisk and Two Little Fleas 

 

 Scrunch up a small piece of foil to use as a base to support the egg shells 

 Fill up to about 3/4 full of cake batter 

 Don't worry if they look like this when they come out of the oven! Just peel away the excess cake and wipe the shells with a damp towel 

 How cute are these? 

 Here's what the cake looks like once you've peeled the shell 

 They make great gifts for Easter - I also saved up egg cartons in addition to the eggshells and decorated them with Easter stickers and easter chicks and bunnies. You can also paint the eggshells. 

 I also made some lemon cupcakes with the extra batter. I spread some chocolate cream cheese on top and sprinkled over some green coconut 'grass' (leftover from my minecraft cake) and topped it with mini eggs.