I know that I’m cutting it a little fine (okay…very fine), but I didn’t want to let Easter go by without sharing a little sweet treat to mark the occasion! Luckily, this recipe is super quick and easy, so it makes for a great, last-minute bake.

Today’s recipe is a combination of two of my all-time favourite treats: Easter Nests & Mars Bar Rice Crispy Cakes. These are my… Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests!

Imagine, if you will, a chocolate cereal nest, filled with Mini Eggs (as it should be), but, instead of straight chocolate, this mixture is made with caramel-y, nougat-y Mars Bars (and the nests are drizzled with extra melted chocolate, because it is Easter, after all). These Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests are sweet and delicious: a super fun spin on an Easter classic.

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• How to Make Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests
• Tips & Tricks
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make these Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Mars Bars

The star of the show! You’ll need 4 x 39.4g bars (which, handily enough, equates to 1 multipack of the bars).

• Butter

I use unsalted butter for this recipe.

• Golden syrup

Golden syrup is melted together with the Mars Bars and butter to make a deliciously sticky, caramel-y mixture that holds the rice crispies together. I’ve given the amount in grams here, because wrangling golden syrup out of a measuring spoon is one of my biggest pet peeves: I won’t be inflicting that on you here— you can weigh the syrup right into the saucepan!

• Rice Crispies

These go by so many names: rice crispies, rice bubbles, rice pops… the list goes on! Basically, if you’ve got puffed rice cereal, you’re good to go. Theoretically, you should be able to make these nests with other types of cereal (shredded wheat and cornflakes are common alternatives for standard chocolate nests), but I’ve only ever tried this particular recipe with rice crispies.

• Mini Eggs

Mini Eggs are a vital part of any Easter Nest (apart from, you know, actual nests). I’ve used three eggs per nest here, but you can do as many or as few as you like.

• Milk chocolate

I like to drizzle the nests with a little chocolate because a) it’s Easter, b) it helps to secure the Mini Eggs in place and c) chocolate goes SO WELL with Mars Bar Rice Crispy Cakes! I’ve used milk chocolate, but feel free to use whatever chocolate you like: for an even sweeter treat, try white chocolate, or, for a slightly more grown-up snack, use dark chocolate.

How to Make Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests

These nests are SO easy to make! You basically just melt the Mars Bars, butter and golden syrup together, stir through the rice crispies, divide them between some fairy cake cases, add some Mini Eggs and drizzle the whole lot with chocolate. That’s it! They’re perfect for making with kids, because they don’t require any actual baking— just be careful with the warm Mars Bar mixture.

Start by lining a 12-cup fairy cake tin with paper liners and set it aside, ready for later.

Chop the Mars Bars into chunks, then dice the butter.

Put the Mars Bar chunks, diced butter and golden syrup into a medium saucepan and place over low heat.

Stir frequently while everything melts together. Eventually, you’ll end up with a smooth, thick and shiny mixture, like this.

Take the pan off the heat and immediately stir through the rice crispies.

The mixture will be quite stiff, so you’ll need to use a little bit of elbow grease for this! Work quickly, because the mixture will stiffen up even more as it starts to cool.

Still working quickly, use two dessertspoons to divide the rice crispy mixture between the 12 fairy cake cases (about a generously heaped dessertspoon’s worth of mixture per case).

Press 3 (or however many you fancy) Mini Eggs into the centre of each rice crispy heap, pushing them down a little to make sure they’re nicely stuck in and to help create that ‘nest’ shape. If your rice crispy mixture has cooled a bit by this point, the eggs might not stick firmly into it, but that’s okay: we’ll be adding melted chocolate next, which will help to keep them nice and secure!

The final step is to drizzle over some melted chocolate. I like to use a fork for this for ease (I think the tines help to get the drizzle effect!).

Drizzle the chocolate back and forth across each nest, then set them aside at room temperature to firm up for 1-2 hours before serving.

The finished nests can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. I recommend storing them in their paper cases, because the Mars Bar mixture can make them a little sticky.

Tips & Tricks

This is a super simple recipe to make, but I do have a few tips & tricks, particularly for working with the Mars Bar mixture, that I wanted to share!

• Don’t skip the paper cases

The Mars Bar mixture is significantly stickier than the classic chocolate mixture and won’t firm up as much, so the paper cases are essential for this recipe!

• Be careful not to let the Mars Bar mixture overheat.

Mars Bars are chocolate-y, so the mixture will seize up and split if it’s overheated. Stick to a low heat, stir frequently and make sure to chop up both the Mars Bars and butter beforehand to ensure they melt evenly.

• Use a flat-edged, wooden spoon to mix the rice crispies into the Mars Bar mixture.

Once the Mars Bar mixture starts cooling down, it will become increasingly stiff and hard to work with. Because of this, you need to use a strong utensil to stir through the rice crispies (along with some good old fashioned elbow grease!). I like to use a wooden spoon with a flat edge, because it means I can really scrape down to the bottom of the pan and ensure everything is mixed perfectly.

• Work quickly

Because the Mars Bar mixture gets harder to work with as it cools, you need to start working quickly as soon as you take it off the heat. That includes when you’re mixing in the cereal, dividing it between the fairy cake cases and adding the Mini Eggs. One of the reasons this recipe is so good to make with children is that it means you have a second pair of hands— you can be dividing up the mixture while they press in the eggs!

Recipe

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Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests

A fun twist on the classic chocolate rice crispy nests for Easter, these easy treats are made with a melted Mars Bar mixture and feature a melted chocolate drizzle.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword Chocolate, Easter, Mars Bars, Nests, no-bake, Rice crispies

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Set Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12 nests

Equipment

• 1 x 12-hole fairy cake tin, lined with paper cases.

Ingredients

• 4 x 39.4g Mars Bars, chopped.
• 40 g unsalted butter, diced.
• 25 g golden syrup
• 75 g rice crispies
• 36 Mini Eggs (approx. 120g).
• 40 g milk chocolate, melted.

Instructions

• Place the chopped Mars Bars, diced butter and golden syrup into a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently until the butter and Mars Bars have melted completely and you have a smooth mixture.
• Remove the pan from the heat and immediately tip in the rice crispies. Working quickly, stir through the cereal until all of the rice crispies are completely coated in the Mars Bar mixture.
• Divide the mixture between 12 fairy cake cases (approx. 1 generously heaped dessertspoon per case).
• Press 3 Mini Eggs into the centre of each case, pushing them down to help form the rice crispy mixture into a 'nest' shape.
• Drizzle each nest with melted chocolate, then set aside at room temperature to firm up for an hour or two before serving.
• The Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. I recommend storing them in their paper cases, because the Mars Bar mixture can be a little sticky.

Every Christmas, I make a whole load of my family’s favourite Peppermint Bark. We were sent some homemade peppermint bark as a gift many years ago and, ever since, it just hasn’t been the festive season without a full jar of the stuff!

However, my sister-in-law, Amy, is not a huge fan of peppermint, so, obviously, that particular bark isn’t exactly her treat of choice. Last year, we sat down and brainstormed some ideas for a zero-peppermint alternative and we landed on this: a Rocky Road-inspired bark, with a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate with raisins, marshmallows and digestive biscuits.

In today’s post, I’m sharing the recipe for Amy’s Bark: a fun, festive alternative to peppermint bark (for the candy cane-haters and the rocky road-lovers alike!).

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Method
  • Tempering the Chocolate
  • Assembling the Bark
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make Amy’s Bark, you will need:

• Dark chocolate

I like to use a 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate for this recipe. The dark chocolate that I use contains about 72% cocoa solids (so relatively dark). When combined with the milk chocolate, you get a perfectly sweet (but not-too-sweet!), chocolate base. However, if you prefer, you can use all dark or all milk: it’s up to you!

• Milk chocolate

The milk chocolate that I use for this recipe contains about 32% cocoa solids.

• Digestive biscuits

Biscuits add great crunch and texture to the bark. Digestives are a classic biscuit here in the UK and a key feature of our Rocky Road. They’re great, because they add a slight saltiness, which balances out the sweetness of the other ingredients, but feel free to experiment with different biscuits!

• Raisins

Dried fruit adds sweetness, tartness and a bit of a chew to bark. You can use raisins or sultanas for this recipe (I actually prefer sultanas myself, because they’re seedless!), but you could also really branch out and use dried cranberries, cherries or even chopped, dried apricots!

• Mini marshmallows

Marshmallows add even more chew and sweetness. I prefer to use mini marshmallows so they can be easily distributed throughout the bark (and it’s a lot less sticky than cutting up bigger marshmallows!).

Method

Amy’s Bark is pretty simple to make: the only tricky part is tempering the chocolate! Once the chocolate is in temper, you need to work fast, so it’s best to get everything weighed out and ready before you start:

• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
• Weigh out the marshmallows and raisins and have them to hand, ready to sprinkle over the bark.
• Break the digestive biscuits up into very small pieces (this helps to keep the bark relatively thin and ensures that the biscuits are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate).

Tempering the Chocolate

To make Amy’s Bark, you start by tempering the chocolate. This ensures the finished bark sets properly at room temperature and has a great snap.

This chocolate tempering process is complicated by the fact that we’re using a combination of two chocolate types: milk and dark, so it’s a little different to the chocolate tempering instructions given here. Luckily, dark chocolate is actually the easiest to temper, so it’s easier to temper this mix than it is to just temper milk chocolate!

You’re welcome to use your favourite method for tempering chocolate, but this is what I do:

Roughly chop all of the chocolate (milk and dark). Transfer about 4/5 of the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and microwave on the lowest setting for 1 minute (if you don’t have a microwave, you can do this over a pan of barely simmering water on the hob).

While the chocolate is in the microwave, continue chopping the remaining 1/5 of the chocolate so that it is super fine. We’ll use this later to help with the tempering process.

After 1 minute, give the chocolate a stir. It won’t look very different at this stage, so put it back in for another minute (don’t be tempted to skip the stirring step, though: chocolate can burn very easily, so you want to take it slow and steady).

Keep microwaving the chocolate in 30 second – 1 minute bursts, stirring in between each burst, until it is completely melted. Check the temperature as you go, using a probe thermometer: you want it to reach 45-47°C. Don’t let the chocolate go any higher than 50°C.

Once the chocolate has melted and is at the correct temperature, add a small amount of the finely chopped, reserved chocolate and stir it in well until it has melted into the rest of the chocolate. The additional chocolate is known as ‘seed chocolate’ and helps the melted chocolate to cool the right way. This, along with the stirring motion, is the key to perfectly tempered chocolate!

Keep adding seed chocolate and stirring, keeping an eye on the temperature of the chocolate, until it reaches 26-27°C. If you run out of seed chocolate, just keep stirring the chocolate until it comes down to temperature (or chop up a little more chocolate, if you have it!).

Next, return the chocolate to the microwave and heat it very gently (5-10 second bursts on the lowest setting) until it reaches 30-32°C. The chocolate is now in temper and is ready to use! You’ll want to work fast at this stage, because it will start to set quite quickly.

Assembling the Bark

Tip the broken up digestives into the bowl with the tempered chocolate. Mix them together quickly, but thoroughly, so that all of the digestives are covered in the chocolate. This helps to keep the biscuits slightly fresher and crunchier than if they were just scattered over the top of the chocolate, so your bark will last longer.

Tip the chocolate mixture onto the prepared baking tray and spread it out into a thin layer using an offset palette knife, or the back of a spoon/spatula.

Sprinkle over the raisins and marshmallows, pressing them down gently as you go to ensure that they stick to the chocolate. Continue to work quickly at this point, because if the chocolate sets too hard before the raisins/marshmallows are added, they won’t stick!

Set the bark aside at room temperature to harden completely (about 30 minutes).

Once firm, break the bark up into pieces and enjoy!

The bark can be stored at room temperature, but it’s important to keep it in an airtight jar/tin to keep the biscuits super crunchy. It can also be packaged up in little bags and given to your friends and family as gifts!

Recipe

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Rocky Road Bark (Amy’s Bark)

A 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate, digestive biscuits, raisins and marshmallows all combined into a fun bark, perfect for snacking on and gifting this festive season!

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword 5 ingredient, Chocolate, Rocky Road

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Equipment

• 1 Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Thermometer

Ingredients

• 3 digestive biscuits
• 180 g dark chocolate
• 180 g milk chocolate
• 50 g raisins
• 25 g mini marshmallows

Instructions

• Break the digestive biscuits into very small pieces. Set them aside. Weigh out the raisins and mini marshmallows and set them aside too, ready for later.
• Melt and temper the chocolate (both the dark and milk, together). See post above for detailed instructions on how to do this.
• Working quickly, mix the broken digestives into the chocolate until completely coated.
• Tip the chocolate/biscuit mixture onto the lined baking tray and use an offset spatula/the back of a spoon to spread it out quickly into a thin layer.
• Sprinkle over the raisins and mini marshmallows, pressing them down gently into the chocolate to make sure they stick.
• Set the bark aside at room temperature until hardened (about 30 minutes) before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

It’s time to introduce you to the delight that is the Chocolate Puddle!

What is a Chocolate Puddle, you ask? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a literal puddle (i.e., bigger than a drop, (much) smaller than a pond) of chocolate, topped with whatever delicious additions your heart desires. Chocolate puddles are one of the easiest candies to make and are super customisable (so they’re particularly good for families that can’t quite agree on the ideal, chocolate-y treat!). You can make them look (and taste) super elegant & fancy, or super fun & frivolous: it all depends on what you choose to top them with!

Keep these puddles in a jar for your family to snack on this festive season. Pile them into cellophane bags and give them to your friends as gifts. Host a Puddle Party and make hundreds of them, letting all of your guests sprinkle over their favourite additions and create custom puddles. The puddle possibilities are endless. That is the joy of the Chocolate Puddle!

Today, I’m sharing the recipe for two varieties of Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles, which will hopefully provide you with a) a blueprint for a delicious, cherry & almond snack and b) a starting point for any future puddle ventures. Let the puddles begin!

Table of Contents

• The Chocolate Puddle: Explained
• Tempering Chocolate
  • Equipment
  • The Seeding Method
  • Chocolate Tempering Temperatures
• Making Chocolate Puddles
  • Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
  • Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
• Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

The Chocolate Puddle: Explained

At its core, the Chocolate Puddle is just a scant teaspoon of tempered chocolate (white, milk, dark etc., the choice is yours!), sprinkled with delicious toppings and left to set at room temperature until it solidifies into a delicious, chocolate-y treat.

You can make puddles by simply melting the chocolate, skipping the tempering stage and leaving them to set in the fridge but a) you’ll have to store them in the fridge and b) they’ll be messier to eat (untempered chocolate is absolutely going to melt the second it hits your fingers, so hello sticky fingerprints all over your Christmas wrapping!).

Tempering the chocolate means that the chocolate will set at room temperature, so you can store the puddles in a jar on the counter (for optimal snacking!). It also makes it easier to give the puddles as gifts and ensures they have the perfect snap and shine (though, admittedly, the shine is the hardest part to get, as you can tell by the unfortunate bloom on my puddles this year… let this be a tempering lesson to you: don’t let your chocolate go above the ‘melting’ temperature range!).

You can use any type of chocolate and any topping you want to make puddles. Pick your favourite ingredients and flavour combinations: mini marshmallows, nuts and dried fruit are all delicious, but the possibilities are endless. Today, I’m making cherry & almond puddles, so I’m using a combination of dried cherries, whole almonds and flaked almonds, along with milk and dark chocolate.

Tempering Chocolate

I do already have a post on the blog where I talk about tempering chocolate (you can find it here), but I thought I’d re-share my method in this post to make it super easy for you guys to follow along! I’ve also updated my tempering technique a little since that first post to make the whole process a little quicker & easier (woohoo!).

Equipment

To temper chocolate, you will need:

• Heatproof bowl

I melt chocolate using the microwave, but you can also do it by placing the chocolate into a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Either way, you’ll need a bowl that can withstand the heat!

• Spatula

I like to use a silicone spatula (particularly one with a flat edge) for stirring the chocolate, because you can really scrape down the sides of the bowl with it: chocolate gets messy and you don’t want to waste any!

• Large knife

You’ll need to finely chop some of the chocolate and a large knife is the best tool for this.

• Chopping board

A large knife requires a sturdy chopping board!

• Digital thermometer

You’ll need to be able to monitor the temperature of your chocolate as you go. There are all sorts of candy thermometers available that will work perfectly well for this, but I like to use an infrared one (like this), because it means the thermometer stays clean and chocolate-free! I do recommend using a digital thermometer of some sort though, because the temperatures that you need to watch out for are very specific!

The Seeding Method

The method that I use for tempering chocolate is called the ‘Seeding Method‘. It involves introducing finely chopped, unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate to encourage the latter to recrystallise in the correct way. It sounds complicated, but it’s not too crazy (it’s basically just a lot of stirring).

The first step is to prepare the ‘seed’ chocolate. Take about 1/5 of the chocolate you plan to temper and, using a large knife, chop it up very finely. Set this aside for now.

The next step is to melt the chocolate. Place the remaining 4/5 of the chocolate into your heatproof bowl and melt it using your preferred method. For me, this is 30-60 second bursts on the lowest setting in my microwave, stirring in between each burst.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you do this. It’s important that the chocolate reaches a particular temperature (this varies based on the type of chocolate you use: see the ‘melting’ range in the ‘Chocolate Tempering Temperatures‘ table below), but does not go above the upper limit, or it won’t temper properly (see the bloom on my puddles for evidence of this… a definite case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ here!).

Now, it’s time to add the seed chocolate! Add the finely chopped chocolate to the melted chocolate a little at a time, stirring between each addition until the seed chocolate has completely melted into the rest of the mass.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you go. The aim is to get it down to within the ‘cooling’ range (see table below). If you run out of seed chocolate before the temperature falls within that range, just keep stirring the chocolate, allowing it to cool further, until it does. Conversely, if you reach the correct temperature range before you’ve used all of your seed chocolate, don’t add any more! You can always transfer the leftover seed chocolate to an airtight container for next time you’re tempering.

Next, you need to very carefully warm the chocolate back up a little. The required temperature increase at this stage is only very slight, so you won’t need to heat it for long. Start small (about 10 seconds on the lowest setting in the microwave), then give it additional 3-5 second bursts if needed.

Once your chocolate has reached its final temperature, your chocolate is officially ‘in temper’ and is ready to use to make your Chocolate Puddles! It’s important to work quickly at this stage, because the chocolate will begin to set straightaway at room temperature (that is, after all, the whole point of tempering!).

Chocolate Tempering Temperatures

Making Chocolate Puddles

Once you have your tempered chocolate, its time to turn it into puddles!

Use a teaspoon to place small dollops of the tempered chocolate onto a tray, lined with baking paper. Aim to make all of the puddles a similar size, but don’t worry too much: any variation just shows they’re homemade!

Give the tray a little wiggle or tap it gently on the work surface. This helps the chocolate to settle out and makes the puddles super smooth.

Scatter over your chosen toppings (think nuts, marshmallows, dried fruit— whatever you want!) while the chocolate is still wet (remember to work quickly!). If you have any larger toppings, it might be easier to press them into the chocolate individually instead.

Set the tray aside for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can peel them off the baking paper easily.

Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered milk chocolate, then scattered over flaked almonds and finely chopped dried cherries.

Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered dark chocolate, then pressed one whole almond and one dried cherry into each puddle.

Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

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Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles

Chocolate Puddles are a super easy, delicious treat to make, either for snacking on or for giving as gifts. They can be easily customised to include your favourite flavours, but these ones feature dried cherries and almonds.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword 3 ingredient, Chocolate

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Setting Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 34 minutes minutes

Servings 60 puddles

Equipment

• candy thermometer (see Note 1).

Ingredients

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• 100 g dark chocolate (I used 54% dark chocolate).
• 30 dried cherries
• 30 whole almonds

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• 100 g milk chocolate (I used 32% milk chocolate).
• 1 small handful dried cherries, finely chopped.
• 1 small handful flaked almonds

Instructions

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• Temper the dark chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Quickly press one almond and one dried cherry onto each chocolate puddle.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• Temper the milk chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface, to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Working quickly, scatter the chopped, dried cherries and the flaked almonds over the chocolate puddles, making sure each puddle has a bit of cherry and almond.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Notes

1. I like to use an infrared thermometer for this, because it stays clean and chocolate-free, which makes clean up a lot easier, but you can use your favourite candy thermometer.

If you missed yesterday’s post, I made the cake for my brother’s wedding last month and, over the next week, I’ll be sharing all of the recipes that I developed for it (as well as some fun, behind-the-scenes content too)!

Today, we’re starting with the largest tier of the cake itself: the Chocolate Tier. This 10-inch tier was made up of three layers of a deep, rich chocolate sponge and copious amounts of chocolate-y, American-style buttercream. This was a super popular tier at the wedding (which is good, because there was a lot of it!), so I’m really excited to share the recipe with you!

Table of Contents

• A Bit of Recipe Backstory
• Making the Cake Layers
  • Photo Tutorial: Chocolate Cake Layers
• Making the Chocolate Buttercream
  • Photo Tutorial: Chocolate Buttercream
• Assembling the Chocolate Cake
• Decorating the Chocolate Cake
• Scaling Down the Recipe
• Recipe

A Bit of Recipe Backstory

As you’ll have seen in the intro post to this series, I’ll be sharing a whole post on how I went about developing these recipes on Saturday, but I did want to share a little bit of chocolate cake-specific backstory here too!

I started out with a recipe that I had used in the past, which vaguely resembled the style of chocolate cake I wanted for this. However, when I made that, it just… wasn’t good, like, at all? The bake was bad and the flavour was significantly un-chocolate-y. It was… a bad start (to say the least!) and it did throw me a little bit, but it also made me more determined to get this cake right.

A few iterations later, after trying a plethora of adaptations to inject some more chocolate flavour into that sad, sad sponge, I decided to go back to square one and do some more research into different recipes.

In the end, I started working from the chocolate cake recipe in the Crumbs & Doilies Cookbook (which was, coincidentally enough, bought for me as a present by my new sister-in-law: a fun, full-circle moment that I have only just realised!).

Using that recipe as my starting point, I tweaked and changed and basically pretended I was a mad chocolate cake scientist, until I had (what was, by that point, essentially a brand new), ultimate chocolate cake recipe. Also, I discovered that good-quality cocoa powder actually does make a difference (who knew?), so I decided to splurge and use fancy, Valrhona cocoa for this cake for the best, richest chocolate flavour (I mean, if you can’t go all out for a wedding, when can you?)!

It was, if I do say myself, perfect.

And, as a bonus, it was incredibly easy to make!

Making the Cake Layers

Once I had my recipe nailed down, (multiple) practices made and fancy cocoa powder obtained, it was time to make the final cake. The chocolate cake was the moistest (so sorry for the use of that uncomfortable word— but it was!) of the three sponges and I actually felt that it improved with age, so I decided to make it first.

For reference, the wedding took place on a Saturday and I made the whole chocolate cake (layers, assembly, and final icing) on the Wednesday.

If you’re making the cake ahead, you do need to cover the whole thing in icing as soon as you’ve assembled it, because any cake that is exposed to the air will start to dry out (not the vibe). If you want to make the cake layers the day before you ice it, you can, but I would recommend wrapping each cooled layer individually in clingfilm to protect it from the air overnight.

I only had one 10-inch tin (and I could only fit one 10-inch tin at a time in my oven!), so I baked each layer separately. Cake batter doesn’t like to be left sitting around for too long before it is baked (and these cakes take a good while to bake), so I made the batter for each individual cake separately too. Honestly, this batter is so easy to make that it wasn’t that labour-intensive, just a little repetitive! While a bit of a faff, doing it this way was quite handy because it did ensure that all of my cake layers were exactly the same size, which made the finished cake feel very perfect.

Photo Tutorial: Chocolate Cake Layers

After a whole load of waffle then, we finally get to the recipe! Here’s how you make the cake layers for the chocolate cake tier…

Start by greasing a 10-inch sandwich tin with softened butter. Line the base of the tin with a circle of greaseproof paper, then set aside. Preheat the oven to 165°C (conventional setting, not fan-assisted).

Dissolve the instant coffee granules in the boiling water.

Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. The hot water will bloom the cocoa and helps make the cake taste extra chocolate-y.

Gradually add the diced, salted butter to the hot cocoa mixture, stirring each addition in until it has melted before adding more. Keep going until all of the butter has been added and everything is melted and smooth.

Next, add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk again to incorporate.

By this point, the hot mixture will have cooled down to room temperature (the addition of all those cool ingredients really speeds this along), so you can add the egg without risk of scrambling! Add the egg and whisk one final time until you have a homogenous, chocolate-y mixture. As delicious as it looks, you shouldn’t eat this (if not for the raw egg, for the fact that there’s no sugar in it at this stage, so it will definitely not taste as good as it looks!).

Sift the flour, sugar (here it is!) and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Whisk briefly to combine everything.

Pour the wet ingredients (i.e. the forbidden chocolate mixture) into the dry ingredients, whisking as you go, until all of the chocolate mixture has been added and you have a smooth, liquid batter.

Use a spatula to stir through the batter one final time, just to make sure that there are no lumps of flour. If there are any lumps, they will bake into the cake as little flour-y pockets, which is not the vibe, so don’t skip this step!

Once you’re happy with the batter, pour it into the prepared tin. The tin will be quite full, but it shouldn’t overflow in the oven (though, if you want, feel free to place the tin on a cold baking tray on the oven shelf, just in case).

At this point, give the filled tin a few taps on the work surface, just to get rid of any large air bubbles. I don’t usually condone this with cakes, but this particular recipe does seem to end up with some large crater-ish holes if you don’t do this!

Bake the layer in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin completely, then use a large, serrated palette knife to level off the cake, using the rim of the baking tin as a guide. It’s easier to cut a cooler cake, so don’t do this while it is still hot from the oven. I like to do it this way because it ensures that all of the cake layers are the same height, but you can level the cakes using your favourite method.

If you are using the tin method, I recommend keeping the flat of the palette knife pressed gently against the top of the tin as you gently ‘saw’ your way around the whole circumference of the cake before carefully sawing back and forth right across the surface. This will make it easier to cut through the crust of the cake and get a neat, even finish.

Once levelled, turn the cake out onto a wire rack (the cake is so large that there might still be a bit of warmth in the centre of the underside and you don’t want it to sweat if you turn it out onto a solid surface!), making sure to peel off the baking paper circle from the bottom.

Wash out the tin and dry it thoroughly, then repeat the whole process twice more, until you have three, perfectly even, levelled and cooled, chocolate cake layers.

Making the Chocolate Buttercream

Once the cakes are baked and cooled completely, you can make the buttercream. This is a super easy buttercream to make: it really is just a basic, American-style, chocolate buttercream, with the chocolate-y flavour turned up a notch through some extra little additions (and made extra smooth and creamy with a super simple technique!).

You need a lot of buttercream for this cake! I recommend making it in (at least) 2 separate batches (unless you’re using an industrial-sized stand mixer, which, who is?), just to make things easier on yourself.

You’re always supposed to use ‘room temperature’ butter for icing, but I must confess, I always microwave it gently to ‘soften’ it instead. My house isn’t the warmest, so ‘room temperature’ for me isn’t really warm enough!

To soften the butter (and this is specifically for a large amount of butter like this), weigh it out beforehand, then place the whole block in a heatproof bowl in the microwave and warm it for about 30 seconds on the medium heat setting. You should be able to press your finger into the surface quite easily (and, if it’s slightly over-softened, don’t worry: the beating stage will bring it back to a smooth and cohesive consistency!).

Photo Tutorial: Chocolate Buttercream

Now to make the chocolate buttercream!

Fit an electric stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the softened butter and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, significantly paler in colour and super creamy, pausing every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

This will take about 3-5 minutes— you can’t really over-mix it at this stage, so I like to just leave the mixer running while I prepare the other ingredients.

While the butter is mixing, sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together to remove any lumps. I also like to give these dry ingredients a little whisk at this stage, just to ensure that they are nicely combined, so that the cocoa flavour/colour distributes evenly throughout the icing later on.

Warm the milk gently, just enough so that you can dissolve the instant coffee granules in it (I gave it about 20 seconds, on the high setting, in the microwave).

By this point, the butter should be looking super light and silky, so you can get on with the buttercream. Turn the mixer down to low, then start adding the icing sugar/cocoa powder mixture, a spoonful at a time, until you’ve incorporated about half of it. This may sound tedious, but it’s just to protect you and your kitchen from an icing sugar mushroom cloud! It also helps to ensure that the icing is completely combined, with no sneaky patches of unincorporated ingredients.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then turn the mixer back to low and add all of the milk/coffee mixture, as well as the vanilla extract.

With the mixer still on low, add the remaining icing sugar mixture, still going a spoonful at a time.

Once everything has been incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl again, then turn the mixer back up to high and beat the icing for about 1 minute, until fluffy and well-mixed.

Take a generous amount of the icing (about 2-3 dessertspoon’s worth) and put it into a small, microwavable bowl.

Melt this in the microwave (on high heat, this will only take about 10-15 seconds), until it is super runny.

Give this a quick stir, then use a spatula to mix it back into the rest of the icing by hand.

This sounds like a weird step, but it really does help to smooth out the icing (which is particularly important if, like I was, you’re aiming for smooth sides on your cakes!). Additionally, it also helps to bloom the cocoa powder a little, which darkens up the icing and intensifies the chocolate flavour (it’s a win-win!).

If you’ve split the icing into two batches, you will need to repeat the whole process again once you’ve used up the first lot. The first half will be enough to fill the cake, but there won’t be quite enough to finish the crumb coat, so you’ll need to make the second batch before moving onto that stage.

Assembling the Chocolate Cake

With the cake layers and buttercream made and ready, it’s time to assemble! I’ll be sharing a detailed tutorial for how I assembled these layer cakes on Thursday, so be sure to check that out then!

To assemble this, particular cake, I used the following equipment:

• Cake lifter.
• Cake turntable.
• Piping bag and large round piping tip (I used a #1A tip).
• Offset palette knives (I used an 8-inch AND a 4-inch one, but you could get away with just one or the other).
• Cake dowels (I used these ones).
• Icing smoother (I used this one by Wilton).

Because I knew I would need to transport this cake to the venue, I assembled it directly I onto a cake drum (a thick cake board that could withstand the weight of the cake), which was the exact same size/shape as the cake. This meant that I could move the cake around more easily.

To keep the cake from sliding about in the transport box in transit, I temporarily adhered the cake drum to a thinner, square cake board that fit exactly into the box. When I arrived at the venue, I just slid my cake lifter (though you could also use a palette knife) between the boards, cutting through the adhesives in the process and separating them.

If you want to do this too, you’ll also need the following equipment:

• 10-inch, circular cake drum (the same size/shape as the cake layers).
• 12-inch, square cake board (the same size/shape as the cake box I planned to transport the cake in).
• Adhesive paper stickers (I used these, folded in half to make them ‘double-sided’ and easy to cut through with a cake lifter, but any thin, temporary adhesives will work).
• 12-inch, heavy duty cake box.

To assemble the cake, I spread a thick layer of chocolate buttercream in between the cake layers, added 4 cake dowels (for extra stability), applied a crumb coat and, finally, added a smooth layer of buttercream all over the top and sides of the cake (including the cake drum, for a clean, seamless look). As I mentioned, a detailed tutorial for this will be coming on Thursday, so keep an eye out for that!

Then, the cake was done! I set the cake aside at a cool room temperature until it was time to transport it. As I mentioned, I made this cake on the Wednesday, transported it on the Friday, then set it up at the venue on the Saturday (the day of the wedding!), so it can definitely be made in advance.

Decorating the Chocolate Cake

My brother and sister-in-law wanted very little in terms of decoration on the cake: aside from the gingerbread toppers on the coffee tier, the only extra adornment on each cake was a little arc of dried & pressed edible violas on the top. I used these ones, from Nurtured in Norfolk (in the shades: ‘Cream’ and ‘Midnight Blue and Cream’).

I didn’t want the violas to re-hydrate too much and look limp and sad, so I opted to put them on the cake at the venue, on the morning of the wedding. Once I had manoeuvred the tier onto the cake stand, I laid the flowers out on top of the hardened icing. This was actually really handy, as it meant that I could rearrange them if needed, before committing to sticking them down.

Once I was happy with the layout, I used some extra chocolate buttercream on the end of a skewer to attach each flower individually to the cake. I brought the icing to the venue in a piping bag, sealed using food bag clips back on Wednesday, when I made it, which worked really well. It did, however, need a little bit of warming up between my hands to bring it back to buttercream consistency!

Scaling Down the Recipe

This is a big cake: the biggest one I’ve ever made! If you’re not making it for a wedding/other event, you probably won’t need to make one this big. On the bright side, it’s quite an adaptable batter and icing, so you can easily scale the recipe down!

For reference, for 1 x 6-inch, round cake layer, the batter ingredient quantities are as follows:

• 3/4 tsp instant coffee granules
• 75ml boiling water
• 25g cocoa powder
• 35g salted butter
• 75g buttermilk
• 30g oil
• 1 egg
• 1 splash vanilla extract
• 100g plain flour
• 115g caster sugar
• 1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For this size cake, you can bake it at a slightly higher temperature (170°C), for 45-50 minutes, or, again, until a skewer comes out clean.

To make enough icing to frost the top and sides of this single, smaller cake layer, use the following quantities:

• 55g unsalted butter
• 105g icing sugar
• 10g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 generous pinch instant coffee granules
• 1 splash vanilla extract

If you want to make a multi-layered 6-inch cake, simply multiply both the batter and icing ingredients by the number of tiers you want.

Recipe

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The Chocolate Tier (Wedding Cake Week)

The full recipe for the 10-inch, 3-layer chocolate cake tier of my brother's wedding cake!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword American buttercream, Chocolate, Chocolate cake, Wedding cake

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Chill time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 7 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 57 wedding portions

Equipment

• 10-inch, circular cake tin (see Note 1).
• 1 piping bag
• #1A piping tip (or similar, large, round nozzle).
• 10-inch, circular cake drum
• 12-inch, square cake board (see Note 2).
• Temporary adhesives (I used paper adhesive stickers) (see Note 2).
• Cake lifter
• 4 cake dowels
• Icing smoother (see Note 3).
• Offset palette knife

Ingredients

For the 3 cake layers (quantities for 1 layer in italics):

• 2 tbsp + 3/4 tsp instant coffee granules, decaf (2 1/4 tsp).
• 675 ml boiling water (225ml).
• 225 g Valrhona cocoa powder (75g) (see Note 4).
• 315 g salted butter, diced (105g), plus extra for greasing (see Note 5).
• 900 g plain flour (300g).
• 1035 g golden caster sugar (345g).
• 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda (1 tsp).
• 675 g buttermilk (225g).
• 270 g sunflower oil (90g).
• 3 splashes vanilla extract (1 splash).
• 9 eggs (3).

For the chocolate buttercream (quantities for half batch in italics):

• 600 g unsalted butter, softened (300g).
• 1200 g icing sugar, sifted (600g).
• 110 g Valrhona cocoa powder (55g) (see Note 4).
• 110 ml whole milk (55ml).
• 1/4 tsp instant coffee granules, decaf (1/8 tsp).
• 2 splashes vanilla extract (1 splash).

To decorate:

• Pressed, edible violas (see Note 6).

Instructions

Make the first cake layer:

• Preheat the oven to 165°C (conventional, not fan-assisted). Grease a 10-inch round sandwich tin with butter and line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• Make the batter for one cake layer at a time, using the single layer quantities listed in italics in the ingredients list.
• Place the instant coffee granules (2 1/4 tsp) into a large jug. Cover with the boiling water (225ml), then stir to dissolve. Add the cocoa powder (75g) and whisk until smooth. 
• Gradually add the diced butter (105g) to the hot cocoa mixture, stirring in each addition until all the butter has been added and everything is melted and smooth.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour (300g), caster sugar (345g) and bicarbonate of soda (1 tsp) to combine. Set aside.
• Add the buttermilk (225g), oil (90g) and vanilla extract (1 splash) to the cocoa mixture. Whisk until incorporated.
• Add the eggs (3) to the wet ingredients and whisk again until completely incorporated. 
• Pour the cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until fully combined and you have a smooth batter. Stir with a spatula to make sure everything has been incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared tin (it will be quite full, but it shouldn’t overflow. Place on a cold baking tray on the oven shelf just in case), then bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs. 
• Leave baked cake to cool completely in tin, then run a knife around the edge of the the tin to loosen the cake before levelling and flipping out onto a wire rack.

Make the chocolate buttercream:

• I recommend making the buttercream in two separate batches (use the half quantities listed in italics in the ingredients list).
• Fit mixer with paddle attachment. Beat butter (300g) until smooth, pale and creamy (about 3-5 mins), scraping down the sides when necessary.
• While the butter is beating, sift together the icing sugar (600g) and cocoa powder (55g) to remove any lumps. Whisk to ensure evenly combined. Warm the milk (55ml) in the microwave (20 seconds on high), then add the coffee granules (1/8 tsp) and stir to dissolve.
• With mixer on low, add half of the icing sugar mixture to the butter, a spoonful at a time, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
• With mixer on low, pour milk mixture into buttercream, then add vanilla extract (1 splash) and mix until incorporated.
• Add the rest of the icing sugar with the mixer still running, a spoonful at a time. 
• Once everything has been added, turn the mixer up to high and beat until fluffy and fully mixed (about 1 minute). Add a little more milk if icing is too stiff.
• Remove a spoonful of icing and microwave on high for 10-15 seconds to melt. Stir to ensure evenly melted, then mix into the rest of the icing by hand to smooth and darken (this also helps to bloom the cocoa powder slightly). 

Assemble the cake:

• Secure the 10-inch cake drum to the 12-inch cake board (if using) with paper adhesive stickers (or other similar, temporary adhesive). Set on a turntable, with a layer of non-slip fabric in-between the turntable and the boards.
• Spread a dollop of icing onto the cake drum, then set the first, cooled cake layer on top, making sure it is level and centred on the drum. It should line up with the sides of the drum.
• Place some buttercream into the piping bag, fitted with the large, round nozzle. Pipe an even layer of chocolate icing all over the surface of the cake layer, making sure to go right to the edges. Use an offset palette knife to spread the icing out evenly, ensuring there is some overhanging icing at the edges.
• Place the next layer of cake on top, making sure it is centred and level. Repeat the icing process, adding another even layer of icing on top, then topping with the final layer of cake.
• Smooth the excess icing around the sides with a palette knife/icing smoother, then chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Insert 4 cake dowels, if using.
• Apply a thin crumb coat, then chill again for 15 minutes.
• Apply a generous layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake. At this stage, cover the sides of the cake drum with icing too. Smooth out the top, making sure to leave some overhanging icing all around the top edge, then use the icing smoother to smooth out the sides, moving the turntable, rather than the smoother, for best results. The overhanging icing should be pushed upwards and inwards during this process, forming a nice 'lip' around the top of the cake.
• If needed, apply more icing to any uneven sections and smooth again.
• Once happy with the finished cake, set aside at cool room temperature to firm up, until ready to eat/transport.

Decorating the cake with pressed flowers:

• As close to serving as possible, lay the pressed flowers onto the surface of the cake (on which the buttercream has hardened), making sure you are happy with the arrangement before sticking them down. Use a small amount of icing on the end of skewer to stick down each flower individually.

Notes

Notes:

1. I use the Silverwood 10-inch sandwich tin.
2. You can skip the extra board/adhesive if you don’t need to transport the cake— these just make it easier to manoeuvre the cake without worrying about it slipping/sliding.
3. If you want smooth sides on a cake, you really need to invest in an icing smoother.  I use this one by Wilton.
4. The cocoa powder you use makes a huge difference to the taste/chocolatiness of the finished cake, so, if you can afford to, I definitely recommend splashing out on the fancy stuff (I used this one, by Valrhona)!
5. I’ve used salted butter here, because salt really brings out the flavour of the chocolate, but you can use unsalted butter and add some fine sea salt separately, if you prefer.
6. I purchased the violas from Nurtured in Norfolk. On this cake, I used the colourways ‘Cream’ and ‘Midnight Blue & Cream‘.

Cake recipe developed using the End of the World Chocolate Cake recipe from the Crumbs & Doilies cookbook as a starting point. 

Buttercream recipe developed using the Favorite Chocolate Buttercream recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction as a starting point. 

This is such a simple bake that it barely even warrants a recipe (truthfully, we never used to use one and just did everything by eye), but I do like knowing the exact ratios, so I wanted to share the exact recipe here anyway.

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• How to Make Easter Nests
• Substitutions & Variations
• Recipe

Ingredients

You only need 3 ingredients to make these Easter Nests:

• Milk chocolate
• Rice crispies
• Mini Eggs

After a bit of trial and error, I found that the ideal ratio for these nests was a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to rice crispies (i.e. half the weight of rice crispies to that of the chocolate). With this combination, there’s enough chocolate to hold the nests together, but not so much that the nests set super hard (and are, as a result, super tricky to eat!).

You can absolutely tailor these nests to your preferences by changing up these basic ingredients. Check out the Substitutions & Variations section below for some ideas!

How to Make Easter Nests

Line a 12-hole fairy cake tin with paper cases and set it aside while you make the nest mixture.

You can serve the nests in the paper cases (handy for bake sales and keeping little fingers slightly less messy) or you can take them out of the cases before serving them (for maximum nest-iness), but definitely don’t skip the paper cases, or the nests will be a nightmare to get out of the tin!

For the nest mixture, start by melting the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. I do this in the microwave (on the lowest heat setting for 1 minute bursts at a time, stirring between each burst, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth), but you can also do it on the hob, by setting the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stirring frequently until the chocolate is melted, if you prefer.

As soon as the chocolate is completely melted, add the rice crispies and mix everything together thoroughly.

You want every bit of cereal to be nicely coated in the chocolate. Make sure you work quickly though, because you don’t want the mixture to set at this point!

Once everything is well-combined, divide the mixture between the 12 paper cases in the fairy cake tin (about 1 heaped dessertspoon of mixture per case).

Use a spoon to gently push the mixture to the edges of each case. This will create a slight dip in the centre of each one, which gives the treats a more nest-like shape (and makes the perfect little space for the Mini Eggs!).

Press 3 Mini Eggs into each nest, placing them in the little dip you just made. Make sure to press them in gently, rather than just setting them on top, so that they stick to the chocolate and won’t fall out later.

Then, set the nests aside at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until the chocolate has completely set and the nests have firmed up, before serving. You can speed this process up by putting the nests into the fridge to harden, but I prefer to leave them at room temperature, because the chocolate can sometimes bloom in the fridge, which isn’t very pretty!

Substitutions & Variations

It’s super simple to customise this recipe to suit your personal preferences! Each element can be easily swapped/adapted, so you can make any kind of Easter Nest you feel like:

• Chocolate

Swap the milk chocolate for dark chocolate, or a 50:50 mix of milk and dark for a slightly less sweet version (you could also use white chocolate, but it wouldn’t look quite so nest-like!).

• Rice Crispies

You can also swap the rice crispies for another type of cereal: Shredded Wheat, cornflakes and cocoa pops are all popular alternatives (Shredded Wheat, in particular, gives a very nest-like appearance, though I don’t think the finished nests taste quite as nice as the rice crispy ones!). Just remember that different cereals have different surface areas, so you might need to increase/decrease the amount of cereal you use. I’d recommend starting with less cereal than you think you’ll need, then gradually adding more as needed, while you stir it into the chocolate, until you have a good balance of chocolate to cereal.

• Mini Eggs

I’ve used Mini Eggs here, because a) they’re delicious and b) they really help drive home the whole nest vibe, but you can absolutely use different sweets on top. There are loads of other small egg-shaped sweets around these days (particularly this time of year), or, if you’re not too bothered about maintaining the nest-iness, you can use any shape of small sweet! You could even add some fun sprinkles, if you like.

And that is my not-really-a-recipe recipe for Easter Nests! Let me know if you try them out!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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Easter Nests

A super easy, no-bake, chocolate-y treat, perfect for making with kids this Easter!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword 3 ingredient, Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Mini Eggs, Rice crispies

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Setting time 1 hour hour

Servings 12 nests

Equipment

• 1 12-hole fairy cake tin lined with paper cases.

Ingredients

• 180 g milk chocolate
• 90 g rice crispies
• 36 Cadbury Mini Eggs (approx. 120g).

Instructions

• Start by melting the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. You can do this in the microwave (heat for 1 minute bursts on the lowest temperature setting, stirring in between each burst, until chocolate is smooth) or by placing the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
• Once the chocolate is completely melted, add the rice crispies. Stir well until every bit of the cereal is coated in the chocolate, working quickly so that the chocolate doesn't set.
• Divide the mixture between the 12 paper cases in the prepared fairy cake tin (about 1 heaped dessertspoon of mixture per case). Use a spoon to make a slight dip in the centre of each nest.
• Before the chocolate sets, place 3 Mini Eggs into the central dip of each nest, making sure to press them in gently so that they stick.
• Set the nests aside at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until the chocolate has hardened. Once set, the Easter Nests are ready to be enjoyed!

This no-bake, Small Batch Festive Chocolate Biscut Cake is basically a Christmassy, slightly more grown-up version of Rocky Road. Made with a combination of milk and dark chocolate for the perfect combination of bitter and sweet, it also includes crumbled amaretti biscuits, roasted, salted almonds and dried cranberries. The whole thing is finished off with a drizzle of white chocolate to make the bars look super pretty on your festive table this year!

Because there’s always so much chocolate and so many sweet treats around this time of year, I developed this as a small batch recipe: it only makes 12 small pieces (though it’s pretty rich, so that’s perfect!), so you can don’t feel overwhelmed by yet another chocolate-y treat! If you’d like to make a bigger batch, feel free to scale up the recipe and use a bigger tin.

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Method

Ingredients

To make this festive chocolate biscuit cake, you will need the following ingredients:

• Dark, milk & white chocolate

This biscuit cake uses a combination of dark and milk chocolate, for the perfect, sweet, but not-too-sweet combination. If you prefer, you can use all dark, or all milk. You will also need a small amount of white chocolate to drizzle over the top of the bars, but this is an optional step (it just makes the bars look SO pretty!).

• Golden syrup

Golden syrup is melted with the chocolate to make the bars slightly soft and fudgy (and easier to slice!).

• Unsalted butter

Like the golden syrup, this is combined with the chocolate to keep the bars nicely fudgy and sliceable, but it also makes them extra rich. I would recommend using unsalted butter, because there are already other salty elements in the recipe— it’s still a sweet treat, after all!

• Amaretti biscuits

These are crisp, Italian almond biscuits that are often served alongside coffee. They’re readily available in supermarkets across the UK these days and they add great crunch and flavour to these bars.

• Roasted, salted almonds

To echo the almond flavour of the amaretti, I’ve used almonds in this biscuit cake (though you could substitute them with another nut (or even just more biscuits), if you prefer). Using roasted almonds helps to ensure the bars have a really nutty flavour, while the saltiness really help to balance out the sweetness of the bars.

If you only have plain almonds, you can turn them into roasted & salted almonds super easily! Dissolve a generous pinch of sea salt in 1 tsp of hot water, then toss with the almonds, until they are completely coated. Bake the almonds at 180°C for about 5 minutes (or throw them in the airfryer at the same temperature, for the same amount of time), until golden and nutty-smelling. Allow them to cool before chopping and using in the bars.

• Dried cranberries

What could be more festive than cranberries? Traditionally, biscuit cake contains raisins, but cranberries add the same chew with extra festive-ness, plus, they’re more tart than raisins, so they help to make sure these bars aren’t too sweet. I recommend using unsweetened dried cranberries, if you can find them.

• Coarse sea salt

This is optional, but I like to sprinkle a small amount of coarse sea salt over the top of the bars before they go into the fridge to set. This echoes the saltiness of the almonds and makes these bars feel extra grown-up and delicious!

Method

To make the bars, start by preparing your tin. Like with my small batch pecan bars, I’m using a 900g (2lb) loaf tin (21cm x 11cm x 7cm), but you can use any shape tin, as long as it’s a similar size. Line the tin with baking paper, so that the chocolate mixture doesn’t stick to the sides of the tin and you can remove it easily.

Next, prepare your mix-ins. First, crumble up the amaretti cookies. Aim for small chunks— too big and your bars won’t be even, too small and you won’t get that nice, crunchy texture! Amaretti cookies are quite fragile, so it shouldn’t require too much force to break them.

Chop the almonds roughly. Again, you don’t want them too big or too small (though honestly, it doesn’t really matter— the bars will still taste great, so do whatever you feel like!)

For the cranberries, just leave them whole.

Next, prepare the chocolate mixture. Place both the milk and dark chocolate, along with the butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan and set over a low heat.

Stir frequently as the chocolate and butter melts.

Once you have a smooth mixture, remove the pan from the heat. It’s important that you don’t overheat the chocolate, because it might seize (at which point you’d have to start all over again!).

Pour out about 50g of the chocolate mixture into a separate bowl. Set this aside for later, when you’ll use it to level out the top of the bars, to make them extra pretty!

To the rest of the chocolate mixture in the pan, add the crumbled amaretti cookies, the chopped almonds and the dried cranberries.

Mix everything together thoroughly, until all of the mix-ins are completely coated in the chocolate mixture.

Tip the mixture into the lined tin and spread out into an even layer. It will seem like there’s not a lot of mixture, but just spread it out evenly— because these bars are small, they don’t need to be too deep to look proportional.

Pour the reserved 50g of the chocolate mixture all over the top of the bars, and gently spread it over the surface to fill in any gaps and level everything out a little.

Now, it’s time to decorate. Drizzle some melted white chocolate all over the surface of the bars— the messier the better!

Sprinkle over some coarse sea salt while the chocolate is still wet, so that is sticks.

Put the whole tin into the fridge to firm up for at least 3 hours, or until firm enough to slice. Once it’s chilled, remove it from the tin and transfer it to a chopping board.

Once chilled, cut the biscuit cake into 12 small bars and dig in!

The bars will keep in an airtight container at a (cool) room temperature for 4-5 days, but, if your house is particularly warm, I’d recommend storing them in the fridge to prevent the chocolate from melting!

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Small Batch Festive Chocolate Biscuit Cake

This rich, grown-up version of Rocky Road contains a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate, alongside crumbled amaretti cookies, salted almonds and dried cranberries. The perfect, quick and easy, no-bake recipe for Christmas!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British, Italian

Keyword almond, Amaretti, Cranberry, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Chill Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 12 small pieces

Equipment

• 1 900g (2lb) loaf tin (21cm x 11cm x 7cm)

Ingredients

• 90 g milk chocolate, roughly chopped.
• 90 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
• 60 g unsalted butter
• 50 g golden syrup
• 70 g amaretti biscuits, broken up.
• 40 g roasted, salted almonds, roughly chopped.
• 30 g dried cranberries

To decorate:

• 15 g white chocolate, melted.
• Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling.

Instructions

• Line the tin with greaseproof paper and set aside.
• Place the milk and dark chocolate, unsalted butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan and set over low heat. Stir gently while the mixture melts together.
• Once the mixture is smooth and completely melted, remove from the heat immediately. Pour about 50g of the mixture into a small bowl for later.
• To the remaining chocolate mixture in the pan, add the crumbled amaretti cookies, the chopped almonds and the dried cranberries. Mix well to coat everything in the chocolate mixture.
• Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth out into an even layer. Pour over the reserved chocolate mixture and smooth over to level out the surface.
• Drizzle the melted white chocolate all over the surface of the bars, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
• Place the bars into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, or until firm enough to slice. Remove from the tin and slice into 12 small pieces to serve. The bars will keep at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 4-5 days (though, if the weather is warm, I would recommend storing them in the fridge).

After 2 weeks of layer cakes, this week’s post is all about a simpler treat- the Mars Bar Rice Krispy Cake. This is a no-bake, quick and easy snack that has been a staple in our house for years. These bars may not look like much, but the taste is next level. Like, eat-a-whole-tray-and-still-want-more, next level. I’m convinced that there is no occasion that these aren’t perfect for. Bake sale? Perfect. Birthday party? Perfect. Saturday afternoon snack? Yes, please. Another brilliant thing about these bars is that they can be adapted to suit your purpose- the chocolate on top can be omitted, switched out with white/dark chocolate (even swirled with one or both), or topped with a variety of decorations- I’ve done Smarties before, but the world is your oyster- think sprinkles, nuts, popping candy, whatever you can dream up.

Now, I said these are easy to make and I stand by that. When it comes down to it, there are only four steps: you melt the Mars Bars, butter and golden syrup together, mix in the Rice Krispies, press the mixture into the tin and then top the whole thing off with melted chocolate. Simple, right? There are, however, a few little tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the years that take these bars from great to really great.

First, though, a brief intermission for the melted Mars Bar mixture:

You are welcome.

Anyway, into the tips and tricks…

1. Be careful not to overheat your Mars Bar mixture as it is melting. If you do, your mixture will seize and you’ll be left with a mess. Not pleasant. Keep the pan over a low heat and stir frequently. Make sure that you dice both the Mars Bars and the butter beforehand- this will ensure they take less time to melt (and will, therefore, need less time over the heat) and that they melt evenly. A win all-round.
2. Once your Mars Bar mixture has melted, you need to work quickly. As the mixture cools down, it will start setting very fast. The more it sets, the harder it will be to mix in the Rice Krispies.
3. Use a flat-edged wooden spoon to mix the Rice Krispies into the Mars Bar mixture. Once you add the Rice Krispies, the mixture will get very stiff. Unlike, say, a rubber spatula, a wooden utensil will be strong enough to mix it. The flat edge is absolutely essential for scraping the Mars Bar mixture from the bottom of the pan, making sure you are able to mix the whole thing super thoroughly. It can take a lot of elbow grease and perseverance to get it to come together, but it will eventually!
4. You need to press the mixture into the tin very firmly. Trust me, this will make all the difference- if you don’t, your slices will be more prone to falling apart, the chocolate will sink into the gaps and the bars will look a lot messier. Use a metal spoon to spread out the mixture, then place your index finger on the head of the spoon for more pressure and really press it into the pan. Once you think you have it as tightly-packed as possible, firmly rub over the surface of the mixture a couple times with the spoon- this will pack it down even more and smooth off the top, giving you perfect slices later on.
5. Don’t worry about tempering your chocolate for the topping- it isn’t necessary! Because you’ll be slicing these up, you don’t want the chocolate to be incredibly snappy, or you won’t get clean bars. The chocolate still sets at room temperature, but it will take a little longer than tempered chocolate would (which, actually, works out perfectly because the bars themselves need some time to set too!).

Now that I have successfully made this recipe seem like an incredibly intense military procedure, let me assure you that these bars are actually super straightforward to make. I was making these by myself when I was in primary school! Even if you don’t mix the Rice Krispies in perfectly, or press the mixture into the tin quite hard enough, they will still be delicious. I mean, they’re mainly chocolate- how could they not be?

Let me know if you try these! I’d love to hear what you think.

Gemma

xxx

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Mars Bar Rice Krispy Cakes

Mars Bars, Rice Krispies & melted chocolate come together to form one quick & easy, no-bake treat

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Chocolate, mars bar, no-bake, rice krispies

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Setting Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 20 slices

Equipment

• 26x21cm baking tin
• 1 wooden spoon with a flat edge (see Note 1)

Ingredients

• 8 x 39.4g Mars Bars
• 45 g golden syrup
• 75 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 150 g Rice Krispies

To decorate (optional):

• 180 g milk chocolate

Instructions

• Line the tin with baking paper and set aside.
• Chop Mars Bars into small chunks. Place in a large saucepan, along with the golden syrup and butter, over a low heat.
• Stir frequently until both Mars Bars and butter are completely melted.
• Remove from heat and, working quickly, mix in the Rice Krispies until completely combined. The mixture will be very stiff, so this stage requires a bit of elbow grease.
• Once the Rice Krispies are fully incorporated, tip the mixture into the lined tin. Using a metal spoon, press the mixture firmly into the tin (see Note 2 for tips). Set aside while you prepare the chocolate for decoration, if using.

To decorate:

• Melt the chocolate (see Note 3).
• Once melted, pour the chocolate on top of the Rice Krispy layer and spread out to form an even layer. Leave the Rice Krispy cakes at room temperature to for about 40 minutes, they will be ready when the chocolate has set completely (though they will still need this time to cool down and firm up even if you do not use the chocolate decoration).
• Once set, remove from the tin and use a large knife to cut into rectangles. The bars can be served immediately, or they can be kept in airtight container for about a week.

Notes

1. A flat-edged wooden spoon is essential for this recipe. You’ll need it to ensure you can scrape all of the Mars Bar mixture off the bottom of the pan when mixing in the Rice Krispies. Once the Rice Krispies are in, the mixture becomes very stiff and a rubber spatula will be too weak to handle it, so you’ll want to stick to a stronger, wooden utensil. 
2. You need to press the mixture into the tin very firmly at this stage. If you don’t, the bars will be difficult to cut neatly, will be more prone to falling apart/crumbling and the chocolate decoration will sink into the gaps and look a bit messy. Use a metal spoon and spread the mixture into an even layer, then press very firmly, placing your index finger on the head of the spoon for extra control/pressure, all over. Once the mixture is relatively packed in, still pressing on the spoon head, rub the utensil back and forth over the surface to really press the mixture together. This will make such a huge difference!
3. For this recipe, you do not need to temper the chocolate- just melt it. I prefer melting chocolate in the microwave. Place it in a heatproof bowl and microwave on low power in 1 minute bursts, stirring between each burst, until completely melted. 

Today’s post is another cake recipe, because it is the season for copious amount of sugar. This time, it’s my Easter Nest Cake, a celebration of the quintessential Easter treat, Mini Eggs. It’s 4 layers of vanilla cake, sandwiched together and covered with white chocolate buttercream (in Mini Egg colours!), decorated with a cocoa speckle, a chocolate Rice Krispy nest and many, many, Mini Eggs. Surprisingly, it’s not sickly-sweet like you would expect! Don’t get me wrong, it is on the sweet side- it’s a Mini Egg cake after all. But it’s not overwhelming! Weirdly, the Rice Krispy nest actually helps to balance out the sweetness. However, if you’re really worried, there are some adjustments you can make to tone down the sweetness a little bit. I’ll touch on those as we go through it.

Just a quick note before we get into it: there are a couple of things I did that I would do differently if I were to make this cake again and I have made sure that the recipe below reflects that. I’ll talk more about these things throughout this post. Baking is a learning curve, particularly when the appearance of a baked good is the main focal point. Some things work and some things don’t, but, ultimately, I figure if there’s sugar, it’s bound to taste okay in the end. And taste is what really matters, right?

This cake is made in 4 stages: the nest, the cake, the icing and the assembly. We’ll go through them in order.

Stage 1: The Nest

Growing up, we made chocolate nests for Easter basically every year. They were 3 ingredients: milk chocolate, Rice Krispies and Mini Eggs. I wanted a nest to go on top of my cake, but making them like we used to, with straight milk chocolate, would have caused problems. Once nests made with straight chocolate set, they are basically rock solid. Trying to cut through that, with soft cake underneath, would inevitably have caused havoc, so I opted for a rocky road-style chocolate/butter/golden syrup combo for my nest instead. This softens the nest a little bit, making it easier to cut through on top of the cake, without squishing the cake/icing layers.

Some notes here: if you want to make this cake a bit less sweet, you can substitute the milk chocolate in the recipe for the same amount of dark chocolate. You can also substitute different cereals for your nest- we have always used Rice Krispies in my family, so that is what I did here. Shredded wheat gives the most authentic ‘nest’ look (we’re just not as crazy about the taste of it), but cornflakes are also a good option! Whatever you have available will be great. Finally, be careful not to overheat the chocolate mixture when you’re melting it- this will cause the chocolate to seize, rendering it useless- you’ll have to start all over again! Finely chopping the chocolate, dicing the butter, heating the mixture very gently and stirring often will help to prevent this.

You want your nest to be slightly smaller than the surface of the cake. My cakes were 6 inches in diameter, so I made my nest a circle that was about 5 1/2 inches in diameter. To do this, I used a pencil to draw a circle on some baking paper, then flipped it upside down (you don’t want the pencil to touch anything you’ll be eating!) and put it onto a baking tray to use as a guide. When you’ve made your Rice Krispy mixture, you can use a spoon to press it into the shape you want. Ideally, you want to build the sides of the ‘nest’ up higher than the centre (perhaps even more so than I did, so you have a much thinner layer of Rice Krispies in the centre)- this way you’ll be able to fit more Mini Eggs in later!

On the topic of Mini Eggs, when I made this cake I actually put some Mini Eggs into the nest before I let it set in the fridge, so they would be stuck in there. I wouldn’t recommend doing this for 3 reasons:

1) Mini Eggs don’t love being in the fridge- their sugar coating tends to absorb moisture from the air, so you’ll end up with little damp patches on the surface of the eggs, as you’ll probably be able to spot in some of my photos. Not cute.

2) A single layer of Mini Eggs in the nest ended up feeling a little flat on the cake (see photo below). When I piled more of them on top, I felt it looked much more nest-y and fun. Seeing as you can’t stick them all down by pressing them into the chocolate when they’re piled up, you might as well just skip that stage.

3) As I’ll talk about later on, it’s better to stick the nest into the final layer of icing when it’s still soft, to avoid having a gap between the edges of the nest and the top of the cake. This means you’ll have to add the cocoa speckle while the nest is on the cake. You won’t see any stray speckles on the chocolate nest, but you will definitely see them on the Mini Eggs! Better to leave them off until the messy part is over and done with.

Anyway, you’ll need to set the Rice Krispy nest in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes to firm up completely. While it’s chilling, you can get on with the rest of the cake.

Stage 2: The Cake

The cake itself is just a plain vanilla cake- super simple. It’s a 3-egg cake, baked in 2 6-inch tins, each of which is then levelled (I did not do this, and it cause problems for me later on, so, I guess, do as I say, not as I do?) and cut in half, horizontally, leaving you with 4 thin layers. You could do any flavour you want for the cake- it doesn’t have to be vanilla, chocolate or coconut would also work really well!

I use a cake leveller to cut cakes horizontally- once you get the hang of them it makes the whole process so much easier! I like to put a cake layer on a flat chopping board, then hold the top of the cake with the palm of my hand as I gently wiggle the leveller through. When I get near the other side of the cake, I’ll move my hand so it rests against the side of the cake that is furthest away from me, then wiggle the leveller carefully until it meets my hand. This way, the cake won’t break off as the leveller comes out the other side. Most levellers are just wire, so this won’t hurt at all, but if yours has a sharper blade, you might want to use a different method.

Stage 3: The white chocolate buttercream

This was a last-minute addition to my cake. There’s something about vanilla buttercream that just… doesn’t do it for me? It feels very sweet-for-the-sake-of-being-sweet, and I was worried about this cake being too sweet. (It makes perfect sense, then, that I chose one of the sweetest possible buttercream flavours on the planet. Good job, Gemma- actually though, when you eat this buttercream with the cake, it isn’t overwhelmingly sweet- but it really does fit with the Mini Egg vibe! Success!). Anyway, like the cake, you can use whatever flavour buttercream you want, including less sweet alternatives- it just needs to be a pale one so that you can colour it later.

I’ve made white chocolate buttercream a couple of times before, and I could never get it to work. It always firmed up super quickly into a dense, almost fudge-y texture. Not what I was looking for. Anyway, I did some research and apparently the way to combat that is to use a lower proportion of icing sugar than you normally would in a buttercream. This works because, as the chocolate sets, it firms the buttercream up, so you don’t need as much sugar to get a stiffer consistency. The added benefit of this is it helps tone down the sweetness (slightly, a little, hopefully?), which is definitely a good thing when it comes to white chocolate! I also found that adding a little bit of salt (something I very rarely do in my buttercreams) helped to counteract the sweetness a little too.

Some tips for the buttercream:

1. Make sure your chocolate has cooled to room temperature after you have melted it. Adding warm chocolate to butter will just melt the butter!
2. Similarly, make sure your butter is at room temperature before beating it. Not only will it beat up more smoothly, but if you add the melted chocolate to cold butter, the chocolate will set super quickly and you’ll be left with a very lumpy buttercream!
3. Don’t be afraid to really whip the icing. The longer you whip it, the lighter, fluffier and paler it will be (which is ideal not only for a delicious texture, but also for ensuring you get accurate colours from your food colouring later on!).

Once you have your buttercream, you’ll need to split it up for colouring. I wanted to get all 4 of the Mini Egg colours into my cake somehow, so I used 3 of them to sandwich the layers together, and the final colour to decorate the outside of the cake. To do that, you’ll need to take out 3x100g portions of the icing, place them into separate bowls and colour each one either yellow, purple or white. (To get a super white buttercream, you can add a tiny bit of purple food colouring. This will neutralise the yellow tones in the buttercream, leaving you with a whiter icing). You then want to colour all of the remaining icing pink. With the icing done, you’re ready to assemble.

Stage 4: Assembly

To assemble the cake, place one of your 4 cake layers onto a serving plate (this cake will be pretty tall- make sure you don’t make the same mistake as me and build it on an equally tall cake stand, or you’ll never be able to fit it in the fridge for the chilling stages!) Spread all of the yellow icing on top, smoothing it into an even layer. Add another layer of cake, then repeat the process with the purple icing, then add another layer of cake, the white icing, then a final layer of cake. Use an offset spatula to smooth out any excess icing on the sides. Once the cake is layered, you can crumb coat it.

To crumb coat, cover the whole cake (top and sides) in a thin layer of pink icing. If your cake is feeling very unstable- don’t worry! It’s probably because of the high icing to cake ratio- just pop it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to firm up, then do your crumb coat. Once you’ve done the crumb coat, put it back into the fridge for another 15 minutes to set.

Once your crumb coat is set, you can cover the cake in a thicker, final layer of pink icing. Use an offset spatula to get the icing as smooth as you can (cleaning off the spatula using warm water, then drying it well before using it, can help you get a smoother finish). When you’re happy with the cake, take the chocolate nest out of the fridge, peel off the baking paper from the bottom and place the nest on top of the cake,. When I made this, I waited until after the icing had set to put the nest on top. The problem with that was that my cake was not perfectly level (I mean… I did not level them at all, so I don’t know what I expected), so the nest did not sit flush to the cake. If I were to do it again, I would definitely put the nest on top at this stage- it’ll also be more securely stuck down if you do this! Once the nest is on, put the cake back into the fridge for an extra 15 minutes.

With the icing done, it’s time to speckle the cake! To do this, you’ll need cocoa powder, vanilla extract and a pastry brush with firm bristles. Don’t bother using a super good quality vanilla extract- you’ll need a relatively large quantity of it (as vanilla goes), and you’ll barely taste it, so it would be a waste! Mix the cocoa powder and vanilla extract together in a small bowl (I used an egg cup), until completely combined. Dip the pastry brush into the mixture, then use your finger to pull back on the bristles, ‘splattering’ it onto the cake. You might want to practise against a plate before going straight onto the cake, just to get the hang of the technique. You’ll definitely want to move any important documents/items out of the way when you do this, and make sure your cake is on a wipe-clean surface, with a wipe-clean backdrop, because this can get messy. Make sure to wipe off any speckles that have landed on your serving plate, as well.

When you’re happy with your speckles, you can add the Mini Eggs! You can do this however you like, I added a row of eggs in a repeating pattern around the bottom edge and filled the nest on top of the cake with a pile of them. And there you have it: an Easter Nest Cake. As with all cakes, this is best eaten the day you made it, but it will last, at room temperature, for a few days if needed. Don’t keep it in the fridge though, because, as we have already discussed, the sugar shell of your Mini Eggs will absorb the moisture in the air, and discolour.

Let me know what you think of it!

Gemma

xxx

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Easter Nest Cake

A 6-inch, 4-layer vanilla cake, iced with white chocolate buttercream, decorated with a Rice Krispy chocolate nest, cocoa speckles and a multitude of Mini Eggs.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Cake, Chocolate, Easter, Milk Chocolate, Mini Eggs, rice krispies, Vanilla, White Chocolate

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Chill Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Equipment

• 2 6" round cake tins
• 1 pastry brush, with firm bristles

Ingredients

For the Rice Krispy nest:

• 30 g Rice Krispies (or other cereal, e.g. cornflakes or shredded wheat)
• 100 g milk chocolate, finely chopped (can be substituted with an equal amount of dark chocolate)
• 20 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 tbsp golden syrup

For the vanilla cake:

• 170 g unsalted butter, softened (I use Stork)
• 170 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 170 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp milk

For the white chocolate buttercream:

• 140 g white chocolate, melted and cooled
• 190 g unsalted butter, softened
• 210 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tbsp milk
• gel food colouring (pink, purple and yellow)

To decorate:

• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (see Note 1)
• 300 g Mini Eggs

Instructions

For the Rice Krispy Nest:

• With a pencil, draw a 5 1/2" diameter circle on a piece of baking paper. Flip the paper upside down and place onto a baking tray. Set aside.
• Place the chocolate, butter and golden syrup into a heatproof bowl. Melt gently (either in microwave or over a pan of barely simmering water), until smooth. Stir in the Rice Krispies until completely incorporated.
• Working quickly, tip the Rice Krispy mixture onto the lined baking tray, into the centre of the marked circle. Using the pencil as a guide, push the mixture into shape. Use a spoon to press the centre down and build up the sides to mimic a nest.
• Place the nest into the fridge to firm up while you make the rest of the cake.

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Grease and line 2 6" round cake tins
• Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high until light and fluffy.
• With the mixer on a medium-low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to incorporate fully between each addition.
• Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture, and mix on medium-low speed until just incorporated.
• Add the vanilla extract and milk, and mix to combine.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until cakes spring back when touched.
• Leave cakes to cool in tins for 5-10 minutes, then remove carefully and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, use a serrated knife/cake leveller to level each cake, then split each in half horizontally, to leave you with 4 even layers.

For the white chocolate buttercream:

• Place the softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for about 3 minutes, until very pale and fluffy.
• Pour the cooled white chocolate into the whipped butter, then mix on medium speed for a further minute to combine fully.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, until fully incorporated.
• Add the salt and milk, mix on medium speed to combine, then turn the speed up to high, and beat for a further 3-5 minutes, until fluffy and significantly paler. Turn the mixer down to its lowest setting, and mix for a further 30 seconds (this will help to reduce the air bubbles in the icing).
• Once the icing is ready, divide it into 4 for colouring. You will need 3x100g bowls of icing for filling, while the rest will be used for decorating. Colour one each of the smaller bowls yellow, purple and white (see Note 2). Colour the final, largest portion pink.

To assemble:

• Place one layer of cake onto a serving plate. Place all of the yellow buttercream on top and spread out into an even layer. Add another layer of cake, then repeat the process with the purple buttercream. Add another layer, top with the white buttercream, then add the final layer.
• Use an offset spatula to smooth out any icing that has squished out from the filling. Smooth a thin layer of pink icing all over the top and sides of the cake, to act as a crumb coat (see Note 3). Put the cake into the fridge for about 15 minutes, to allow the buttercream to firm up before proceeding.
• When the crumb coat has set, use the remaining pink icing to generously ice the top and sides of the cake, using an offset spatula to smooth it out as much as you can (see Note 4).
• At this point, you'll want to remove your chocolate nest from the fridge. Carefully peel the baking paper off the bottom, then set the nest on top of the cake, making sure to centre it. Once you have added the nest, put the whole cake back into the fridge for a further 15 minutes, to firm up the final buttercream layer.
• When the buttercream has chilled for 15 minutes, mix together the cocoa powder and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Remove the cake from the fridge, then dip the pastry brush into the cocoa mixture. Use your finger to pull back the bristles and flick the mixture towards the cake to make little chocolate speckles, reminiscent of a Mini Egg.
• The cocoa mixture will set relatively quickly, so you can move onto adding the Mini Eggs. Place a row of the eggs all around the base of the cake, then pile the remaining eggs into the chocolate nest on top of the cake.
• The cake can be served immediately, or left at room temperature until you are ready to eat it. As always, cake is best eaten on the day it is made, but it will last for about 2-3 days if necessary.

Notes

1. You don’t need to use a particularly good quality vanilla extract for this stage- it’s just to dissolve the cocoa powder and counteract the bitter taste.
2. To colour icing that has a slight yellow tinge white, add a very (very) small amount of purple gel food colouring. The purple will neutralise the yellow tone, leaving you with a much whiter icing. 
3. Because of the high icing-to-cake layer ratio in this cake, your cake may be a little unsteady when you come to crumb coat it. If this is causing you problems, smooth out any residual filling icing on the sides as best you can, then pop the filled cake into the fridge for about 15 minutes before crumb-coating. This will firm up the filling icing, making your cake a bit sturdier and easier to deal with. 
4. If you’re having trouble getting a smooth edge on your cake, try using warm water to rinse off your spatula. The clean, slightly warm spatula will make it much easier to smooth out the icing, and you can repeat this as many times as you need to when icing. 

Phase 1: Conception

I am no architect. In general, I have very little practical sense, maths is not my strong suit and I often wonder if GCSE Physics was really just a fever dream. Nevertheless, I dreamt up a gingerbread project that required mathematical, architectural and functional planning, so plan I had to. Of course, I turned to The Sims. Using my hard-earned ninja building skills, acquired from hours of designing mansions for my filthy rich super-Sims, I made myself some concept art:

To be frank, I feel the Sims render was not overly necessary. The basic concept was this: big tree in middle, small stalls around tree. Pretty simple.

While I was conceptualising my magnum opus, I came across a Scandinavian celebration cake: the kransekake. I believe this translates to ‘wreath cake’, but, to me, these almond-y confections resemble a big Christmas tree. It was fate! I was sold. The central tree of my market would be a kransekake and the huts would be made of gingerbread. The conceptualisation was complete.

Phase 2: Planning

After much scouring and much being appalled at the extortionate cost of some of the tins, I finally managed to track down a kransekake tin set at a (relatively) reasonable price. It was a second hand version of this one, from Lakeland (which has been discontinued – sad face).

Once I had my tins and I could visualise how big the central kransekake would be, it was time to model the huts themselves, which I would be making out of gingerbread. I made a prototype from card, which I then used to cut out templates for each of the individual pieces. I decided to make 5 stalls, with each hut consisting of one front piece, one back piece, two side pieces, two roof pieces, 1 shelf piece, 2 long divider pieces and (at least) 4 short divider pieces:

I wanted to be able to light my huts up from the inside, using electric tea-lights, so I made sure to leave a gap on the back pieces large enough for the tea-lights. The fronts had a rectangular hole to mimic the store front. I also made a small, rectangular template to make a few chalkboard stand-up signs. I used small heart and star-shaped cutters for some merchandise and a larger star cutter to make the topper for my kransekake tree.

I then had to decide what to build my gingerbread market on, since it would be too large for a standard cake board. In the end, I found a circular piece of recycled plywood, which I wrapped tightly in foil (secured with masking tape). The plywood was roughly 50cm diameter (though, had everything gone to plan, a slightly larger board might have been preferable).

All that was left to do was to decide what each of my 5 stalls would sell and calculate the amount of gingerbread I would need to make. One of these jobs was much more enjoyable than the other. The calculation part (obviously) required a lot of maths, which was an unpleasant, yet wholly necessary, task. I worked out that I would need a double batch of my gingerbread recipe. This ended up being the perfect amount (yay for successful maths-ing!), after I broke 2 of the walls (boo…) and had enough dough to rebuild them. Phew. For the stalls, I simply selected merchandise that I loved and that I felt were easy to recreate in miniature form. I settled on: nuts, sweets, hot chocolate and cookies, and I dedicated the final store to my brother and his girlfriend, who came to spend Christmas with us (read: I was undecided about the merchandise and hoped to gain inspiration later on, while decorating).

And, with that, my gingerbread Christmas market had been conceptualised, planned and prepared. It was time to get baking!

Phase 3: Baking

I began with the gingerbread. Following my plan, I made a double batch of my usual recipe and, once it had chilled in the fridge, I cut out the shapes I needed using my templates. I tried to bake similar sized pieces together, so that they would cook evenly. Immediately after the main pieces came out of the oven, I placed the corresponding template on top of each piece and trimmed the edges with a small, serated knife. This would ensure that the pieces fit together properly later, when I was building. There is a very small time frame in which the gingerbread is soft enough to do this in (literally about 1-2 minutes). My advice is to start with the edges that truly require trimming (all the outer edges of the walls of the house, and the short sides of the shelves). The roofs can stand going untrimmed, but trimming one of the long sides (for the middle of the roof, where the two pieces join), would be helpful if you have time. It was at this stage I met my first hurdle: the combination of burnt fingertips from touching super-hot, straight-from-the-oven gingerbread and the rapid cooling of said gingerbread led to a couple of breakages. Luckily, as I said, I had just enough gingerbread to remake those unfortunate pieces!

Each stall required 13 separate pieces, as shown here:

Again, that’s one front, one back, two sides, two roofs, one shelf, two long dividers and four short dividers (though I ended up using a few more of the short dividers on each hut). I also cut out a large star, 6 blackboard signs, 5 mini stars and 5 mini hearts.

Once I had all my gingerbread pieces, I was thoroughly tired out- it was quite a process! I packed all my walls and pieces into tins, and called it a night.

The next day, I baked my kransekake. I used this recipe. However, I did run into a few issues with it. Despite giving my larger layers an extra minute of baking time, and the fact they were indeed golden on top, as Paul requested, they were underbaked (to the point where they collapsed on assembly…RIP bottom 3 layers…). I wonder, perhaps, if a lower temperature and longer bake would have been more suitable? I hope to try another recipe at some point, to compare.

With that, the baking phase was done! It was time for the next stage: decorating.

Phase 4: Decorating

Finally, it was time for the fun part! Decorating! I compiled my various sprinkles, sweets and snacks, ready to use:

To start with, I used the mini m&m’s (which are almost impossible to get in the UK- you could easily substitute them with mini Smarties if needed), the gold edible balls and the dark chocolate. (Side note: this post is absolutely not sponsored by Waitrose, despite what this layout might suggest).

I began by cutting the mini m&m’s in half. I say I, I did one and promptly let my dad take over. Yay for sous-chefs! (But seriously, thank you, Dad). You want to cut them through the side with the ‘m’ on it, so you have little almond shapes. These will form the coloured lights that are strung around the stalls.

Once I had my m&m lights at the ready, I tempered some dark chocolate (you can read more about my tempering process on this post) and put it into a piping bag with a small round tip. Using the chocolate, I piped a a slight arc across the top of the front and side pieces, to form a string for the lights. While the chocolate was still wet, I (and my dad- mainly my dad) stuck the half m&m’s onto the chocolate ‘strings’. I also piped small rectangles and ovals above the strings on the front and slightly larger versions on 5 of the 10 sides, to form the signs. On the backs, I piped around the opening for the candles and placed gold balls onto the chocolate to resemble little lights. I also attempted to pipe a little chocolate Christmas tree above the arch on each back.

As you can see, some of my attempts were more successful than others! Let’s focus on the one, perfect tree I managed to do!

Isn’t she pretty? I was very proud. I also piped rectangles of chocolate onto my blackboard signs, and ‘decorated’ (I use the term very loosely) some of the mini cookies.

While the chocolate was setting, I whipped up some royal icing. I ended up using 4 egg whites’ worth, but I made it in two separate batches, so that it wouldn’t dry up during the process. I put a small amount of the icing into a piping bag with a very small, round nozzle and used it to pipe the finishing touches on the signs. I wrote out the full name of the shops on the sides:

And then drew a little symbol for each shop on the smaller signs on the front:

Finally, I added some finishing touches to the blackboard signs/mini cookies:

And, with that, the initial decorations were complete!

Phase 5: Assembly

I feel like the assembly is the part of gingerbread-house making that feels the most daunting. What if you break your decorations? What if the whole thing collapses? Needless to say, I was very nervous. Anyway, I began by assembling my kransekake in the middle of the board (which I placed on a Lazy Susan, for ease). I spread a thin layer of icing down, then began to build the kransekake, drizzling each layer with icing in the traditional way, as Paul instructs. I think I should, perhaps, have used the finer nozzle for this, but we live and learn.

This is a delightful photo of the kransekake in process, before the bottom 3 layers (which you can see here) decided they had had enough of life at the bottom of the tower and promptly gave way, toppling the kransekake. I ended up lifting the top 15 layers up, removing the bottom 3, and putting the smaller kransekake back onto the board. It has since held up perfectly and actually fits better on the board with the houses! All’s well that ends well, I suppose. I placed the larger star gingerbread on top of the kransekake, for the finishing touch. Below is the kransekake, before the Big Squash.

Once the kransekake had been assembled, rescued and then reassembled, I began to build the stalls. Working on 1/5th of the board at a time, I spread a thin layer of icing down and built a stall directly onto the board. I began by placing the front wall, facing out, where I wanted it, then used the same piping bag I used to ice the kransekake to stick the walls together. I used the piping bag with the thinner nozzle, the one I used for writing on the signs, to stick the shelves together. I did have to break off parts of my dividers to get a good fit, but this was actually quite easy! Unfortunately, I have no photos from this stage because I was absolutely COVERED in royal icing. It was all very sticky.

My shelves were a bit top heavy, so I ended up using 2 extra small dividers per stall as supports, placing them upright on the board and using icing to stick them to the bottom of the shelves. They worked perfectly!

I repeated this process for every stall, spacing them evenly around the board. Once they were all constructed, I placed my blackboard signs randomly around the board, propping 2 up against each other and securing them with a little royal icing. After giving everything a little time to set up, I could move on to adding the finishing touches.

Phase 6: Finishing touches

The first thing that I had to do was to cover the roofs of the huts with snow. For this, I thinned my remaining royal icing slightly with water, so that it would cover the huts more easily and drip off the edge a little, mimicking icicles. I hope you can see that in the pictures!

I then used a little more royal icing to stick down the ‘merchandise’ in each tray. For the hot chocolate stand, I divided the shelf into 3 sections and filled one with chopped milk chocolate, one with chopped white chocolate and one with micro marshmallows (seriously, micro, not mini- they’re even smaller!).

For the sweet stall, I again divided the shelf into 3 and filled the individual sections with mini jazzies, mini fudge chunks and crushed candy canes.

For Ben and Amy’s stall, I divided the shelf into 2 and filled it with chocolate chips and small lengths of strawberry laces (I was, as I had hoped, eventually inspired by Amy’s love for chocolate and my own leftover toppings).

For the nut stall, I divided the tray into 3 and chopped up one each of my Copycat Christmas Market Nuts: a pecan, an almond and a cashew, to put in each section.

Finally, for the cookie stall, I left the tray undivided and filled it with 5 of my mini gingerbread cookies (plus a couple of white chocolate chips for good measure).

Then, all that was left to do was to scatter a few snowflake sprinkles around the place and dust the whole thing with icing sugar snow!

Overall, this project was a MASSIVE undertaking, but I’m really proud of how well it turned out. Of course, there a bits that are messy, there are parts that I could have done better and I’m not sure the clothes that I was wearing will ever truly be clean again. BUT, it is a little bit of festive fun that I took from concept to completion and I think, all in all, it looks pretty good! I hope you like it, and I’d love to hear about any gingerbread projects you undertook this year!

Gemma

xxx

A few things to note before we get into it:

• Traditionally, peppermint bark uses dark chocolate instead of the milk chocolate I use here. My excuse for this is that I have an excessively sweet tooth! Milk chocolate is just my preference. Having said that, my family members have a significantly lower tolerance for sweetness and they love this bark just as much as I do. Of course, if you would rather use dark chocolate, go ahead!
• I am by NO means a professional chocolatier! In the recipe card below, I have given quite vague instructions (‘melt (and temper) the chocolate’). In the following section of this post I tell you how I do this. While my method does produce a bark that sets at room temperature and has a lovely snap, I haven’t quite nailed achieving the shiny finish (not that it really matters… the bark still looks very pretty)! I have read that it can be more difficult to temper smaller quantities of chocolate. Maybe that’s my problem! If you have your own method for tempering chocolate that works well for you, use that instead (and please tell me all about it!).
• I haven’t included any servings/dimensions for this recipe. It is a very adaptable, customisable process, so you can make as much or as little as you want, make more smaller shards or fewer larger shards- whatever you want! The quantities given below make about 360g of bark.

Anyway, let’s get into the recipe!

The first thing you need to do is crush the candy canes. I like to do this in a mortar and pestle, but you can also use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. You want to aim for a variety in texture- some dust, some small pieces. Keep all of the pieces relatively small to make the bark easier to eat later.

Once you have your crushed candy canes, you can move on to melting (and tempering…) your chocolate. Tempering can be a bit of an involved process, but it’s worth it to get a finished product with a beautiful snap. Tempering your chocolate also means you can keep the bark at room temperature and that it will melt in your mouth, just like chocolate should!

I melt and temper my chocolate using a microwave. I start by melting the chocolate for 1 minute at a time on the lowest setting, stirring in between each blast. You want your chocolate to be completely melted and to be at the correct melting temperature. I use the following temperatures for tempering:

Once you have reached the correct melting temperature for your chocolate, you need to cool the chocolate back down to its cooling temperature. As the chocolate cools, I stir it frequently to agitate the molecules, which helps with the tempering process.

When the chocolate has cooled sufficiently, I place it back into the microwave for about 10 seconds, still on the lowest setting, to bring it back up to the ‘tempered’ temperature. You need to work quickly at this stage, because the chocolate needs to be used while it is ‘in temper’ (i.e. at the ‘tempered’ temperature)!

Now you have your tempered chocolate, you can pour it onto a lined baking tray and spread it out into a thin, even layer. You the need to set it aside to harden while you repeat the process with the white chocolate.

Do you see what I was talking about earlier? My chocolate is perfectly hard and snappy at this point, but it just doesn’t have that beautiful shine you see on professional chocolates! Ah well, there is always another mountain to climb. Let me know if you have any tips and tricks of your own when it comes to tempering chocolate!

Anyway, as I said, you now need to repeat this process with the white chocolate. Yes, I know, how tedious! I promise it will be worth it in the end, though.

So, again, melting, tempering and then spreading the white chocolate into a thin layer, this time right on top of that now-hardened layer of milk chocolate.

Now, working quickly so that the candy canes have time to stick to the chocolate before it sets, you need to sprinkle the crushed candy canes all over the surface of the bark.

You should end up with a slab of chocolate that looks something like this. So pretty! You’ll want to let it set for about 30 minutes, so that it has enough time to harden completely. Once it has set, you can snap it into shards.

And then you’re done! You can eat it, store it at room temperature, or package it up and give it as gifts. I can guarantee it won’t last long, whatever you do!

Print

Peppermint Bark

Layers of milk and white chocolate, sprinkled with crushed candy canes: a perfect, festive treat!

Course Snack

Keyword Candy, Chocolate, Christmas, Peppermint

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Author Gemma

Equipment

• Digital thermometer
• Mortar and pestle
• Baking tray, greaseproof paper, spatula, microwave safe bowl

Ingredients

• 180 g Milk chocolate
• 180 g White chocolate
• 2 Candy canes

Instructions

• Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• Crush the candy canes using a mortar and pestle. Aim for a mix of fine dust and small pieces.
• Melt (and temper) the milk chocolate. Spread it onto the lined tray in a thin, smooth layer. Set aside at room temperature to set.
• While the milk chocolate layer sets, melt (and temper) the white chocolate. Pour over the hardened milk chocolate layer and spread out to the edges. Working quickly, sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the chocolate. Set aside at room temperature and allow to harden completely, about 30 mins.
• Once the peppermint bark has hardened completely, break into shards. The bark can now be stored at room temperature, packaged into bags and given as gifts, or enjoyed immediately!