Creme Egg Cake – A very chocolatey chocolate cake, with smooth white chocolate buttercream and plenty of Cadbury Creme Eggs.
A few weeks ago I shared my White Chocolate Mini Egg Cheesecake, which I described as the perfect Easter dessert. But, it turns out there’s more than one dessert that’s perfect for Easter as this Creme Egg Cake would also fit the bill very well.
It’s a rich, chocolatey chocolate cake, with white chocolate buttercream and loads of Creme Eggs and it tastes absolutely delicious. When I tested it on my family, they described it as 200% yum, so even more than the yummiest you can get apparently 🙂
Can I use other filled Chocolate Eggs instead?
Absolutely.
This cake would also work extremely well with Caramel Eggs or any other similar filled Easter eggs.
But you’ve not actually used the Creme Eggs in the cake mixture!
Yes, that’s right.
Personally I don’t think that Creme Eggs and heat mix all that well (as I discovered to my disappointment when I tried it out!). The type of chocolate used for Creme Eggs and the fact that they’re filled with fondant means that when they’re heated they sadly go a bit grainy. To ensure you have the most delicious cake I can make, I’ve stuck to using them to fill and decorate my cake, basing the main cake on my Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe which uses lots of melted milk chocolate and cocoa powder instead to pack it full of flavour.
Other recipes you might enjoy
If you’re a fan of Creme Eggs then take a look at my Creme Egg Rocky Road…
- Easter Fudge from Cooking With My Kids
- Creme Egg Cheesecake from Jane’s Patisserie or perhaps a gluten-free version from Gluten Free Cuppa Tea
- Creme Egg Scottish Tablet from Foodie Quine
- Creme Egg Cookie Bars from Baking Queen 74
- Creme Egg No-Churn Ice Cream Cake from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
If you’re feeling extra creative then have a go at these Creme Egg Minions from Casa Costello (there’s also got a Creme Egg Gruffalo too if you prefer), or these cute Creme Egg Easter Chicks from A Mummy Too.
You might also like to take a look at all of my other Cake Recipes, or if you’re after more Easter baking inspiration then channel your inner Easter bunny and hop on over to my Easter Recipes.
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Creme Egg Cake
INGREDIENTS
For the chocolate cake
- 200 g self-raising flour - or 190g or plain flour and 2½ tsp baking powder
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 230 g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 230 g soft margarine - you can also use softened unsalted butter too
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g milk chocolate - choose something from the baking aisle in the supermarket as it will cope well with the heat in the oven without going grainy.
- 2 tsp milk
For the white chocolate buttercream
- 250 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 250 g icing sugar
- 150 g white chocolate
- A little milk
To decorate
- 9 Creme Eggs - Six for the top and three for the middle
- Orange gel food colouring - optional - to add an orange swirl in the buttercream
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the chocolate cake
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
- Line your tins (2x 20cm sandwich tins) with liners or greaseproof paper.
- Melt the milk chocolate (100g). I melt mine in short bursts in the microwave (20 seconds), but you can also use a bain marie or a pan over a very low heat.Set aside to cool.
- Put all of the cake ingredients except for the melted chocolate into a large bowl (200g self-raising flour, 40g cocoa powder, 230g caster sugar, 4 large eggs, 230g soft margarine, ¼ tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp milk) mix on a low speed until fully combined. Add the melted chocolate and mix to combine.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and spread it out so it’s pretty even (it doesn’t have to be perfect as it’ll even out in the oven, but roughly flat is good).
- Put the tins into the oven and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes put a skewer in the middle and check if it comes out clean. If it does, it’s done, if not pop it back in for a couple more minutes and check again.
- Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tins for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the cakes from their tins and pop them onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Make the white chocolate buttercream
- Melt the white chocolate (150g).Set the chocolate aside to cool - it must be fully cooled before it is added to the other ingredients.
- Beat together the butter (250g) and icing sugar (250g) in an electric mixer on a low speed or by hand until fully combined - I like to add the icing sugar a little at a time as it's easier to mix it all in.Gradually add the cooled white chocolate and beat into the buttercream mixture until fully combined.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream (it should be soft but not runny). If the buttercream is a little too firm then beat in a little milk (no more than 1tsp at a time) until it is the right consistency.
Build your cake
- Slice six of your Creme Eggs in half (see my tips below the recipe for getting a clean cut). Roughly chop the remaining three Creme Eggs.
- Place the bottom half of your chocolate cake onto your serving dish. Put half of the white chocolate buttercream on top and smooth with a small palette knife or the back of a spoon until the cake is evenly covered. Add the three roughly chopped cream eggs over the buttercream.
- Place the second layer of chocolate sponge on top, then add half of the remaining buttercream and spread it evenly.(Optional) Use a toothpick or skewer to swirl a little orange gel food colouring into the remaining buttercream. Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle (I use a JEM1B nozzle) and then pipe twelve stars of buttercream around the edge of the cake. If you don't want to pipe then simply spread all of the remaining buttercream on top of the cake, before adding the Creme Eggs.
- Place a Creme Egg half on top of each buttercream star and serve. I recommend adding the Creme eggs to the top just before serving as if they are tilted, the fondant centre will start to drip (although this does create quite a cool drip effect around the cake if it's left for a couple of hours which also looks good!).
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
How to cut Creme Eggs in half
Over the years I’ve sliced many Creme Eggs in half, and I’ve discovered there’s a bit of a knack to getting a clean cut down the middle.
- Chill your Creme Eggs – you want to ensure that the chocolate is firm). Don’t be tempted to freeze them as the chocolate will be too hard to slice.
- Grip your Creme Eggs with tongs – this allows you to get a nice firm grip without risking your fingers!
- Use a large, sharp knife to cut along the join in the Creme Egg – if you can spot any bits that are slightly apart then this is the best place this put the knife in.
- Clean the knife with warm water (and then dry thoroughly) between each egg – each time you slice a Creme Egg the knife blade will get very sticky. If you keep using the same knife without cleaning then by the last egg you’ll be in a bit of a sticky mess.
I have found that even following these steps; there’s the occasional egg that will break unevenly (usually if the chocolate is cracked before you start). In this cake there are six Creme Eggs that are cut neatly in half and three that are roughly chopped. I recommend neatly slicing the six first and then roughly chopping the three afterwards as it means that any don’t slice neatly can be relegated to the roughly chopped pile and you don’t have any waste (either that or have them as a cooks snack 🙂 ).
Free From/Suitable For
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
Laney says
Hi,
Can I use your bday cake converter for this recipe?
Charlotte Oates says
You can use it as a guide to get an idea on how much you need to increase the quantities but you will then need to apply that same increase to the ingredients in this recipe as they are slightly different.
Linda says
My cake was really nice and we all enjoyed it. My only disappointment was the white chocolate butter cream. I think it would be better to melt some butter or milk with it as of course when it cools, as instructed, the chocolate becomes hard again and impossible to make the cream a smooth mix. Mine was full of hard lumps of white chocolate which was ok if that’s what you want but I wanted mine to be smooth.
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds like the chocolate was allowed to cool too much unfortunately, it should still be liquid when you use it.
Emma Matthews says
I loved this recipe. I made it for my creme egg mad mum for her birthday. It was so easy to follow and so delicious. I’ve used your easy vanilla birthday cake recipe for years too to make my daughter’s birthday cakes it never fails thank you so much.
Leslie Bigos says
I had both failure and success with this recipe. I used my self-rising flour but it must have expired as the cake came out like a hockey puck, albeit a tasty one. I made it again using baking powder and got a rise! Woo Hoo! I realize that my American-sized cake pans are larger than the ones this recipe called for so I cut down the baking time.
Did you use extra frosting for the piping? After frosting the cake, I had nothing leftover for piping but the egg decorations made it look pretty enough.
Thanks for the recipe & the inspiration!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m glad it worked after you added the baking powder. I didn’t make extra buttercream for the piped bits, but the layer in the middle and on top are quite thin so there will be leftover for piping. What diameter was your tin? Even a small increase in size can need a lot more icing to cover it. Given your tin was bigger, that may be why there wasn’t enough left to pipe.
jackie shaw says
I made this cake for my daughter to share in her office. The recipe was easy to follow and the cake looked amazing. I received so many lovely comments and everyone said the cake not only looked fantastic but tasted it too! Cant wait to try more recipes.
Charlotte Oates says
Aww, I’m so glad you all enjoyed it 🙂
Natalie says
This cake looks and sounds so delicious! Perfect for Easter ♥