Easter Egg Cakes Recipes

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large metal mixing bowl (about 10 1/2 inches in diameter) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• Combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and 1/2 cup water in a large bowl. (The water and oil is less than what the box instructions call for.) Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until fully combined, about 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the prepared bowl and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes in the bowl, then remove from the bowl and let cool completely on a cooling rack, about 2 hours.
• For the nest: Meanwhile, spray the same bowl you used to bake the cake in with nonstick cooking spray.
• Melt the butter and marshmallows together in a large pot over low heat, stirring frequently. Add the white chocolate and cinnamon and stir until fully combined. Add the brown and yellow food coloring and mix until blended. Add the chow mein noodles and mix until all the noodles are coated with the marshmallow mixture. Transfer the mixture to the prepared bowl and quickly press into the bowl to form a nest shape. If your hands start to stick, spray them with cooking spray (Caution: the mixture is hot, but you have to work quickly or it will harden; you can wear gloves for this step if necessary). Let cool about 2 hours.
• Remove the nest from the bowl and line the bowl with plastic wrap, letting some plastic wrap hang over the edge of the bowl. Place the nest back in the bowl, over the plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• For the eggs: Place the white chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. (Do not overheat.) Divide the melted chocolate into 2 bowls. Whisk 6 drops blue food coloring and 5 drops green food coloring into one bowl until a robin's egg blue color is created.
• Gently push the pointed end of a skewer into the bottom of each chocolate egg, slightly off-center (do not hit the seam of the egg, or the egg will split along the seam). Gently dip the egg into the blue chocolate and turn until the egg is evenly coated. Lift the egg out of the blue chocolate and hold above the bowl to allow excess to drip off. Push the flat end of the skewer into a foam block or container of sugar or salt to allow the egg to dry undisturbed. Repeat this process to dip 4 more eggs into the blue chocolate. Dip the remaining 5 eggs in the white chocolate in the same manner. (If at any point the melted chocolate becomes too thick, microwave for 30 seconds more to loosen.) Set the eggs aside to harden for 1 hour.
• Remove the eggs from the skewers and place on a paper towel-lined tray.
• Combine 4 drops green food coloring and 4 drops blue coloring with 1 tablespoon water in a small spray bottle. Lightly spritz the green mixture onto the eggs in a speckled pattern. Allow the eggs to dry again for 1 hour.
• For decorating: Spread 1 can of the cream cheese frosting into the nest, leaving the outer border unfrosted.
• Slice 1 1/2 to 2 inches off of the flat side of the cake so that it will fit well inside the nest. Using a spoon, remove some cake to hollow out a depression in the top (the flat side) of the cake, leaving a 2-inch border intact along the outer edge of the cake.
• Place the cake hollowed-side up into the frosted nest. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large tip with the remaining cream cheese frosting and frost the top of the cake; spread evenly using an offset spatula or a spoon. Sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top of the cake, making sure to coat completely. If not using immediately, refrigerate. (Let the refrigerated cake come to room temperature for 1 hour before serving.)
• Using the excess plastic wrap, pull the nest cake out of the bowl and place on a cake stand or platter. Arrange the eggs in the nest, then decorate with mint sprigs and edible flowers, and serve.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees, with a rack in the center. Generously butter the wells of an egg-cake pan, and dust the wells with flour; tap out any excess. Set pan aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine butter and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon zest; beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture. Beat until just combined. Spoon batter into each of 6 wells in the cake pan, filling to within 1/2 inch of the rim. (If you are using an egg-cake pan with more than 6 wells, alternate between the filled and empty ones.)
• Bake the egg cakes for 10 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake until the cakes are golden, 10 to 12 minutes more. Transfer egg-cake pan to a wire rack, and let cool slightly. While the cakes are baking make the first batch of glaze.
• Invert pan, and remove cakes. Using a serrated knife, trim the cakes to resemble eggs sliced in half. (To make trimming easier, place the eggs in resealable plastic bags, and transfer to freezer for 45 minutes.) Using a melon baller, scoop out a 1-inch-diameter hole in each cake. Set a wire rack over a baking sheet. Place the cakes flat-side down on the wire rack. Working quickly, pour the colored butter glaze over 3 cakes, completely coating the outside of the cake. Make second batch of glaze, and glaze remaining 3 cakes. Let glaze set completely, about 1 hour.
• Turn the glazed cakes over, and trim away any excess glaze with a paring knife so glaze is flush with the flat side of cake. Wash and dry wire rack.
• Place cakes glazed-side down on the clean wire rack; generously dust flat side with confectioners' sugar. Fit a pastry bag with a coupler, and fill the bag with lemon curd. (Alternately, the curd can be carefully spooned into the hole.) Fill each hole with lemon curd until it resembles a slightly rounded egg yolk.
• In a large bowl, combine fruit and Grand Marnier, and toss to coat. On each dessert plate, make a nest of fruit, and place a decorated cake in the center. Garnish with mint leaves, and serve.

Steps:

• For the devil's food cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment with an overhang on the longer side. Grease the parchment.
• Combine the chocolate, cocoa and instant coffee in a large bowl. Pour the hot water over to melt; let sit 2 to 3 minutes and then whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly.
• Add the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low to combine.
• Add the buttermilk to the chocolate mixture to cool it slightly more. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and chocolate-buttermilk mixture to the stand mixer. Turn the mixer on low and combine until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, scraping halfway through.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, 58 to 60 minutes. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan, then wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
• Unmold the by unwrapping the plastic, placing a fresh piece of parchment and a wire rack on top of the cake, then turning the cake out of the pan. (Cold sheet cakes are easier to unmold and have less chance of breakage.) Flip the cake onto a serving board. Trim the sides and level if necessary.
• Mix the buttercream with 2 parts green and 1 part yellow gel food coloring until it's tinted light green. Transfer about 1 1/2 cups of the buttercream to a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave it about 5 seconds to soften. Frost the top of the cake and then the sides with the warmed buttercream. Use a scraper to square off the edges. Chill in the refrigerator until the buttercream is no longer sticky, 20 to 30 minutes. Frost the cake a final time and chill in the refrigerator until the buttercream is firm, about 30 minutes.
• Fit a pastry bag with a grass tip. Divide the remaining green buttercream between two small bowls and darken 1 bowl with more green and yellow food coloring. Fill the pastry bag with the two colors, allowing them to mix slightly, then pipe grass on the top of the cake.
• Cut the rolled wafer cookies pieces in half so they are about 1/2-inch higher than the top of the cake. Attach to the sides of the cake with a little bit of extra buttercream, leaving some space in between. Place the chocolate eggs in the grass.