millions of mini eggs-cake | a recipe

As I mentioned on Wednesday, one of the brilliant things about Easter is that you can just overindulge on chocolate and use it in baking everywhere and no one will bat an eyelid. After using an absolute overload of creme eggs in my last recipe, it's only fair that I now turn my attention to their cousin the Mini Egg. Because seriously, who doesn't enjoy scoffing themselves silly with mini eggs at Easter? 

I made the inside of this cake bright orange and bright purple too, using Americolor food colourings because it doesn't bake out. You could use whatever colours you want, as long as you know that they're resistant to the high temperatures of your oven.

This cake is so easy to make, that even I managed to do it! 

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 450g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 375g butter plus extra for greasing
• 375g caster sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 2tbsp milk

• 300g butter
• 600g icing sugar
• 1tbsp milk
• 12 x 90g packs mini eggs

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Grease and line the bases of two 22cm round cake tins.
• In a bowl, add the self-raising flour, baking powder, 375g of butter, caster sugar, the eggs and 2tbsp of milk. 
• With an electric whisk, beat for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. 
• Divide the mixture into two separate bowls.
• Add purple food colouring to one bowl, and orange to the other - to your desired shade. 
• Mix each bowl with a beat for 1 more minute, or until the colouring is fully incorporated.
• Pour the purple mix into one cake tin and the orange into the other. 
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool for 10minutes.
• Using a straight wire cake slicer, whip the tops off each half of the cake to make the top nice and even
• Leave to fully cool before butter creaming
• Make a basic buttercream mix by beating together the 300g of butter and icing sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy
• Add milk and stir until the mix is smooth
• Using the buttercream, sandwich the two layers together. 
• Spread the rest of the buttercream over the sides and top of the cake.
• Press the mini eggs into the icing (I did this by doing one line at a time, although I admit it nearly drove me barmy).
• I added shaved chocolate pieces onto the top of the cake - although this is completely optional.