Praline Easter Cake
This cake incorporates everything that is good about pralines - the chocolate, the sugar, the nuts - and turns it in to a show stopping Easter cake!
Prep Time1 hour hr
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British
Diet: Vegetarian
Keyword: butter, caster sugar, cream, dark chocolate, egg, hazelnuts, icing sgar, milk, nutella, self raising flour, vanilla pod
Servings: 16 people
Calories: 594.31kcal
Author: Emma
For the sponge cake
- 300 grams butter
- 300 grams caster sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 vanilla pod
- 300 grams self raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
For the buttercream
- 175 grams butter
- 175 grams icing sugar
- 350 grams Nutella or other chocolate spread
- milk optional
For the ganache
- 75 millilitres cream
- 100 grams dark chocolate
For decorating
- Chopped hazelnuts
- Praline Easter eggs
To bake the cake
Begin by lining three 6 inch cake tins with grease proof paper and place to one side.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar for the sponge until pale and creamy.
Add an egg and continue to beat well.
Keep adding the eggs one at a time (beat well each time) until the mix has become pale and fluffy.
Scoop the seeds out of the vanilla pod and beat into the sponge mix.
Next, sift the flour and salt into the bowl and fold through the wet sponge mix.
Divide the sponge mix between the three tins.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180C or gas mark 4.
Take the cakes out of the oven once golden and springy to the touch or a skewer placed in the centre comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool completely before attempting to decorate.
To decorate
To make the buttercream, beat together the butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy.
Add the Nutella and beat until combined.
If the buttercream is too stiff to spread and pipe, add a little milk and beat again.
Stack the three sponge cake layers with a thin layer of the buttercream.
Cover the cake in a crumb coat before finishing with a smooth layer of buttercream.
Make sure you save some buttercream for piping the nest.
Take some chopped nuts in your hand and gently press into the base of the cake.
Repeat until you have chopped nuts around the whole cake.
Place the iced cake in the fridge while you make the ganache.
To make the ganache finely chop the dark chocolate and place to one side.
Gently heat the cream until not quite bubbling.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir.
Keep stirring until all of the chocolate has melted.
Remove the cake from the fridge and, using a spoon, drizzle the ganache around the top edge of the cake creating the drip effect.
Cover the top of the cake with the remaining ganache.
Using the leftover buttercream, pipe a nest on top of the cake.
Add a little sprinkling of nuts and the praline eggs.
Calories: 594.31kcal | Carbohydrates: 60.07g | Protein: 6.34g | Fat: 36.92g | Saturated Fat: 24.64g | Trans Fat: 0.98g | Cholesterol: 131.82mg | Sodium: 250.42mg | Potassium: 186.1mg | Fiber: 2.31g | Sugar: 42.91g | Vitamin A: 903.37IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 50.52mg | Iron: 2.17mg