Easter is one of our favourite times of the year – what could be better than fresh flowers, cute animals and endless amounts of chocolate? Nothing, really!
To celebrate the long weekend, we’ve found some amazing Easter bakes to satisfy your sweet tooth, and use up some of that leftover chocolate… who are we kidding, there won’t be any leftover chocolate, but these bakes are great all the same!
Carrot Patch Cake
Ingredients
175ml vegetable oil
75g natural yogurt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
250g light muscovado sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ fresh nutmeg, grated
200g carrots, grated
100g sultanas or raisins
100g pistachios, finely chopped
For the icing
100g slightly salted butter, softened
200g icing sugar
100g full-fat cream cheese
100g fondant icing
Orange food colouring
Method
Heat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. Oil and line a 900g loaf tin with baking paper. Whisk the oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla together then in a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a pinch of salt.
Add the two bowls together along with the carrots, raisins and half the pistachios. Mix well and scrape into the baking tin. Bake for 1 hour 10 mins until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
To make the icing, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth, then add half the cream cheese, beat again and add the rest. Remove the cake from the tin and spread the icing thickly on top. Scatter with some of the pistachios. Dye the fondant orange by kneading in a few drops of food colouring, then roll into carrot shapes. Add a few pistachios to the top to look like leaves, then pop on top of the cake.
Easter Biscuits
Ingredients
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
150g white caster sugar
150g salted butter
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the icing
500g royal icing sugar
Your favourite food colouring gels
Method
Add the flour and sugar to a bowl, then mix in the butter and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like wet sand with no buttery lumps. Beat the egg with the vanilla and add to the bowl. Use your hands to knead the dough together, then shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for 15 mins. Heat the oven to 180c/160c/gas 4 and line two baking sheets with paper.
Dust your work surface with flour then halve the dough, rolling one half out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many egg shapes as you can, and put them on the baking tray. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Bake for 12-15 mins until pale gold. Cool for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.
To make the icing, add water to the icing sugar until it’s thick enough to hold its shape when piped. Put into a piping bag and pipe an outline around the biscuits, then draw patterns in the middle – we like lines, spots and zigzags. Leave to dry for 10 mins, then add food colouring to your icing and colour in the empty spaces on your biscuits. Once decorated, leave to dry for a few hours.
Easter Egg Cookies
Ingredients
175g butter, softened
200g light brown soft sugar
100g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
250g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
50g white chocolate, chopped
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g mini chocolate eggs, crushed
Method
Heat the oven to 190c/170c/gas 5 and line two baking trays with baking paper. Tip the butter, sugars and vanilla into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again. Mix in the flour, bicarb and a pinch of salt, using a spatula to combine, before adding the chocolate and half the crushed mini eggs. Mix until combined.
Scoop golf ball sized mounds of dough onto the baking trays, then push the remaining mini egg pieces into them. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden around the edges but still pale in the middle. Leave to cool for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack.
