February 26, 2016
Mini Egg Cake!
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A four-layer vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting, mini eggs, a chocolate drip and more – the perfect mini egg cake showstopper!
I posted a photo of a ‘drip cake’ a few weeks ago on my Facebook page, and you lot are OBSESSED with it (Thank you!). This led me to wanting to treat you to a delicious recipe that is not only a ‘drip cake’ but is a mixture of two of my favourite flavours, vanilla & chocolate. We all know they go so well together, and I just love the combination.
Of course, with it being close to Easter, I wanted the cake to be full to the brim of mini eggs as well. Yes, I realise you got that from the title of the recipe, but seriously… what could be better?! Four layers of cake, mini eggs stuffed in between with the buttercream, and a delicious chocolate drip on the outside.
I wanted to really start off my Easter baking this year with a bang, and I honestly think that this is the way. I know that there are thousands and thousands of drip cakes going across social media all the time, and the obsessions with them hasn’t really stopped. They always just look so good.
This may be partly my fault I won’t lie, as I am also obsessed – I much prefer these sort of cakes in comparison to regular fondant covered cakes as I love chocolate and frostings and all things delicious. You can have so much fun with the decoration on a drip cake, especially when its at easter and you can make it into a mini egg cake.
I decided that with this cake I would use a vanilla recipe for the actual cake as I wanted it to be something that most people would love. I went along with it and made the frosting vanilla as well, but I think the lighter colour of the frosting makes it very ‘Easter-y’ and the contrast with the dark chocolate ganache is amazing!
I based the recipe on my Victoria Sponge – Celebration Cake which has always been one of the most popular cake recipes on my blog. For four layers I always tend to use a 500g mixture of cake – so 500g butter, sugar, flour and eggs, with vanilla extract added in. For best results with a cake like this, you should weigh your eggs in shells and match the weight of the flour, sugar and butter to this weight (for example, 512g).
There is something so delicious about the simplicity of a vanilla cake, with a simple buttercream. I don’t usually bother adding vanilla to a buttercream like this as I often find that its Vanilla-y enough on its own, but its something you can easily do like I did. Or, you can even substitute 100g of the icing sugar for cocoa powder to it to make it chocolatey! The possibilities are endless with a recipe like this.
These sort of cakes can be utterly mind boggling to some people, and I can get that. The first one I made was an absolute disaster. Like, I question whether I should’ve eaten it its was a pile of smush, but hey… never waste anything! Baking a cake is always about practice and following the recipe for best results.
Seriously though, to get the perfect bake on a drip cake like this mini egg cake, you want to use the right tools. Without a shadow of a doubt, you will need a cake turntable. Along with this, I use a large metal cake scraper, and some small angled spatulas for best results, and oh my days it’s so much easier.
Honestly, using any of the tools makes life so much easier. If you like, you can do a thin crumb coat of the buttercream first, chill it, and then go over again in a thicker layer. This prevents the cake going with the buttercream and causing a failure. You don’t want your buttercream to be too thick, but its best to not have it too thin either. It’s one of those annoying things to say, but its true.
This cake also goes the extra mile because it has crushed mini eggs between the layers. And I mean come on, crushed mini eggs in a cake? YES PLEASE. I tend to get a layer of my sponge, spread on some of the buttercream, and add on some of the crushed mini eggs and repeat until the top of the cake.
After the buttercream has been added around the edges and top of the cake, I add my drip. I use the same drip as on my other mini egg drip cake because it really is perfect. The mixture of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and cream creates the perfect drip texture in my opinion, and you can see how shiny it is from the photos!
Use a small disposable piping bag, I just snip off the end to do the drip, and then I will pour the rest of the drip into the top. I used a small angled spatula to create the pattern in the middle, by simply angling it and turning the cake turntable as I go, and slowly moving the spatula towards the edge of the cake.
For the decoration I used a mixture of leftover buttercream and my 2d closed star piping tip, a small Cadbury’s Easter egg half (with the other half in shards), mini eggs and crushed mini eggs – and huzzah! Look at how cute it is, how perfect it is, and how obsessed I am with it.
Recipe updated February 2022
The original cake recipe was: 450g unsalted butter, 450g caster sugar, 6 large eggs, 450g self raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp vanilla extract. The original buttercream ingredients were 350g unsalted butter and 800g icing sugar. The original decorations were 100g dark chocolate, 100g double cream, 300g mini eggs and 100g mini eggs crushed, along with a small Easter egg.
Mini Egg Cake!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 500 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 500 g caster sugar
- 9 medium eggs
- 500 g self raising flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream Ingredients
- 500 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1000 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Decorations
- 75 g milk chocolate
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 150 ml double cream
- 300 g Mini Eggs (Crushed)
- 100 g Mini Eggs (Whole)
- Small Easter egg
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Heat the oven to 170ºc/150ºfan and line two DEEP 20cm/8inch cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
- In a stand mixer, beat together the unsalted butter and aster sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the self raising flour, eggs and vanilla extract and beat again briefly until combined – try not to overbeat!
- Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth it over – bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is golden and when the cake springs back (skewer should also come out clean).
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
For the Decoration!
- In a stand mixer, beat the unsalted butter on it's own, with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes so it's supple.
- Add in the icing sugar, and vanilla extract, and continue to beat so it combines.
- Keep beating the buttercream for 5-6 minutes on a medium speed so it starts to get fluffier and lighter. If too thick, add one tablespoon of boiling water at a time till its smooth enough.
Decoration
- Once the cakes have cooled, level them off so that they are flat, and then divide the cakes into two – so I end up with 4 layers.
- Add the first layer of cake to your board with a small spoonful of buttercream underneath to act as a glue.
- With the first layer of the cake, spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer and sprinkle on 1/3 of the crushed mini eggs.
- Add the second cake on top, and then top again with some of buttercream and mini eggs etc until you reach the top layer. Only use about 1-2 tbsp of buttercream per layer so that you have enough to decorate with!
- Using a small amount of buttercream, do a crumb coat on the cake by smoothing as little as possible around the edges and top of the cake with ana angled spatula. Chill the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes after this.
- Once chilled, spread more buttercream around the edges and top of the cake, and smooth with a large metal scraper until you have a smooth edged finish. Chill the cake again for 30 minutes.
- Once finished, make the ganache – add the dark chocolate, milk chocolate and double cream to a small bowl/jug and heat on a low heat in the microwave until smooth (stir often).
- Gently pour/pipe the ganache around the edge of the cake to cause the drips, and pour the rest onto the top and smooth over/create a pattern.
- Pipe on any leftover buttercream how you like, add an Easter egg (I did half standing up, and then the other half broken into shards like it had exploded), and add mini eggs all over.
Notes
- If your ganache isnt fully melted after the mixing the chances are that the cream wasn’t hot enough – heat it for 10 seconds at a time in the microwave until its smooth. Its important to leave it to cool before decorating the cake otherwise it might melt the cake.
- As its for easter, you could easily dye the frosting a pale shade of pink, blue, etc – add in a little of colouring as you’re whipping the frosting up!
- All of the decorations are completely optional – but I love this style of cake! (You can also make half of the recipe to make a smaller cake, as this is a beast… but it really is a showstopper!)
- I bake the cake at 150ºfan in my oven as its a deeper cake, and it makes it bake flat. It also tends to stay moister. If you’re in a rush you can bake it at the usual temperatures, but adjust the baking time accordingly.
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days, at room temperature.
- Recipe updated February 2022 - notes on the post for the original recipe.
- For this cake I recommend using:
ENJOY!
Find my other Cake & Easter Recipes on my Recipes Page!
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J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Hi Jane, this cake looks really amazing! If I want to do a smaller two tier cake can I just half the ingredients and the cooking time? Thanks! X
Hi. I followed this recipe exactly and my cakes became more liquid in the oven than the batter was originally after 50min, and were still liquid after 3h. Any idea what happened?
Hiya – something will have been measured in correctly, or your oven temp is very wrong as no cake would be liquid still after 3 hours!
I’m attempting to my make my first show stopper cake for my birthday next month so this recipe looks perfect. Can I ask why this cake has baking powder in I noticed that other cakes like the sprinkle fondant cake on dani’s blog doesn’t have baking powder in. There is so many variations in recipes it’s so hard to choose 😊
They are different cakes, different examples, and just different recipes! x
I want to make this cake but my cake tins are only 3 inch tall, would that work or are they not deep enough? I’m wanting to make a vanilla sponge cake with jam and buttercream but this size cake so would I just use this recipe for quantiles?
Hey, yes the tin will be fine and yeah that could work!xx
Hi Jane, I made this cake this morning and sadly it sunk in the middle. I’m in the USA so I know our ingredients can differ but I’m from the UK and I have a good set of scales 😊 I’m wondering if US eggs are bigger than UK and maybe I should try 5 instead of 6?? I find the self raising flour here hard to work with , it’s less inclined to rise, should I add more baking powder or will it affect the taste? Thank you in advance, Wendy
Hi jane another amazing recipe!! I have a couple questions this is my first time trying a cake like this… does the butter cream have to be thinner then cupcake buttercream? And my ganache was too thick..could I just heat it abiy more? Thank you in advance
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Hello 😊 I’m planning on making a smaller version of this. I have 20cm take tins but they are not deep. What quantities would I use if I used 3 tins?
Hiya, when I do my second layer of butter cream and go to scrape it Smooth I end up on some parts scraping back down to sponge and in others there are air bubbles In the buttercream. Where am I going wrong? I just want super smooth and even sides x
That sounds like you aren’t putting enough buttercream on – watch a few of my videos on YouTube or any other drip cake video and it may help!
If I don’t have 2 deep tins, how many normal 8inch tins would this batter fill?
My 8inch tins are probably about 2inchs deep
You’d want four so that they don’t over flow x
Hi Jane!
I’m looking to make this for my friends daughters birthday but I am wanting to do 3 layers. Could you please let me know how much of Each of the ingredients I would need to do this in 3x 9” tins please? Thank you so much x
For a 3 layer/9″ cake I would do maybe 500g flour/sugar/butter and 10 medium eggs – and then increase the decoration by about a 1/3 to make sure you have enough! x
Hi Jane, Your recipes are always amazing. Thank you!
could you use milk chocolate for the ganache?
Hiya – you can, but it’s not a straight swap! You need to use 2:1 chocolate to cream! x
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Hi, I want to use the base of this recipe but decorate it slightly differently – would I be able to substitute the dark chocolate for white chocolate for the ganache, so I can add blue food colouring to make it blue?
No – different chocolates work very differently! White chocolate is a 3:1 ratio!
[…] Mini Egg Cake from Janes Patisserie […]
Hi Jane!
Could this mixture be divided into two 9″ tins or do i need to add more ingredients?
Thanks
I believe that should work!
Hi! Love your recipes! Have a small question…could i use your chocolate frosting recipe (found in Easter Chocolate Cake) for the inside layered buttercream part and the simple buttercream posted in this cake for the outside decoration part? are the tastes compatible you think? Thank you!
Yes, that would work! x
hi, again! thnx for answering so soon. One more question though…if i am to use the buttercream posted in this recipe, only on the outside part of the cake, should i minimize the ingredients? the amounts listed i mean.
Thank you!
You could probably try halving it, but with drip cakes you need a little excess to make sure you have enough? So you could try 2/3, and freeze any leftover?
hi! thanks for answering each time so quick! one more question can i finish the cake (buttercream, decoration and all) one day before the party that i’m taking it too?? and could i bake the cake maybe one day before that? that means 2 days before the party…
I hope i wasnt too confusing…xx
Thanks!
Yes you can, cakes usually last 4-5 days easily, but I stick with 3 days to be safe!
The cake was a total success! Honestly! this was the first time trying a stacked layered cake and i think it came out great! Choosing to use the chocolate buttercream as a filling was an awesome choice. That thing tasted awesome! Had great feedback from friends and family and people left with the few pieces that were left. The only thing, the cake wasnt too moist but i think is my fault. Probably left it in the fridge longer than necessary or it was because i made it 2 days before serving date instead of 1! Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. I would love to send you a picture!
Yeah, the cake shouldn’t be kept in the fridge, or it was slightly over baked! x
Hi, Could I use stork for the butter cream or does it need to be unsalted butter?
It looks amazing! I’ve loved all your recipes so far!
You should not use stork, it MUST be unsalted butter. Stork doesn’t ever work for buttercream!
Hi Jane, if I baked this cake today (or used a madeira recipe) and wrapped it tightly in baking paper and cling film until Thursday then decorated on Thursday and served on Friday do you think it would still be fresh? Thanks, Terri
I would say that’s leaving it a little long, I would personally bake it on wednesday evening if I couldn’t bake it on the thursday!
[…] Mini Egg Drip Cake (by Jane’s Patisserie). Here is an Easter example of a drip cake. Pipe on some buttercream nests and top with Easter candies. This link also gives you the details on how to make the cake. […]
Hi Jane!
I’m just wondering how you managed to cut the Easter egg in half? Did you find it difficult? Any tips?
Thank you!
Most Easter eggs are actually already in halves and just not stuck together so I just used a half! Otherwise, cutting carefully down the line is good x
Hi Jane I made this the other day and it was fab. I was going to make it again but I was wondering would it be possible to make into a chocolate cake as it’s the perfect size and amount of layers I need?
Yes you can! You can take out 65g of flour, and add in 65g of cocoa powder!
Hi Jane, if you’re dividing the batter by 3 shallower 8 inch tins how long do they need to bake for?
Thank you in advance!
I would bake them at 160C in my fan oven, rather than 140 – and then bake for 30-35 minutes or so maybe?!
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Hi! Would it be ok if I kept the same amount of ingredients but split it between 3 8″ cake tins? Thank you X
Hiya! Yeah it would!! x
Thank you!! I have made 3 of your cakes now and every time they turn out perfectly!! You’re my go to now!!
Hi Jane I’m looking at making a ‘vanilla naked cake’ could I use this recipe for the sponge ? Or do you have an actual recipe for this many thanks fiona xx
Umm yes I guess you could use this one! Or just use a Victoria sponge type recipe! X
Hi Jane, Love the recipies, I bake your chocolate orange brownies all the time!
Going to make this on a larger scale… ie. a 30cm tin. how much do i need to increase the ingredients, and baking times?
Thank you! You need to increase the cake ingredients by roughly 2.5 so butter you’d need 1125g in the sponge. To be safe you could make it 1250g. Timing wise I can’t tell you an exact time, but with 12″ cakes I tend to bake at 140C, and probably for above two hours? Keep an eye on it at the two hour mark! I wouldn’t bake it all in one, and would recommend baking two sponges and splitting them like in the recipe x
Thank you for your quick reply! Yeah my plan was to do identical to your recipe, but on a larger scale! so def going to do two sponges and split them! glad I asked now, as i would never have thought it would take as long as two hours! i would have taken them out far too early!
Thank you for your quick reply!
My plan was to follow your recipe exactly but on a larger scale, so two sponges is def the way to go! glad I asked, as i would never have thought it would take 2 hours! Thanks again!
Hi Jane. Making this cake for a birthday but as I work full time, I’m having to make it over a couple of days. When refrigerating the cake after adding the buttercream, how long do you do this for? I was going to do a crumb coat and leave overnight but I’m worried it’ll dry the cake out. Also, if I bake the cake one day and then make the buttercream the next, would you say it’d last 3 days from baking the cake or 3 days from making the buttercream?
Thanks!!
You only need to leave it in there to set, then take it out the fridge. And I would say three days from baking personally, but often they do last longer. As long as you tightly wrap the sponges in clingfilm once fully cooled if you’re waiting to decorate, it’ll be fine! x
Perfect thanks Jane! Sorry one more question how many medium eggs would you put in this? Having trouble finding large ones in Tesco!!
8 Medium! X
Hi Jane, this looks amazing! I’m looking to make something very similar to this in the next week or so. I’m just wondering what size cake board you used? Thank you !
I always use a cake board thats two inches bigger than the tin, so theres an inch boarder. So for this, I used a 10″ xx
Hi! I’m making this cake 2moro for my daughters birthday, but only wanted to do 6” rather than 8”. Do I just halve the recipe to 225g flour, sugar & butter and then 3 eggs? Really looking forward to baking this! I made your kinder egg cheesecake this weekend and the mini egg cookie bake and they were amazing!! I have loads more of your recipes to try! Thanks in advance 💗 x
I’m trying to make this cake and my batter was very thick because there was no liquid in it, was I supposed to melt the butter or something.
This is a standard cake recipe that I always use – they are naturally thick. You don’t need to add liquid to cake mixes such as this one. You can thin it out with milk if you wish, but there really is no need.
I’m looking to make a similar drip cake maybe a little taller however I don’t think I’ll have an airtight contacting big enough to store it in for a day or so. Will storing it in the fridge affect the cake?
Hiya – Yes storing the cake in the fridge will dry it out and it won’t be very nice. I recommend trying to buy a cake cardboard box online as they’re designed for taller cakes!
[…] A drip cake for Easter! See how to make this Easter egg cake! […]
Hiya Jane,
Is the butter frosting supposed to be thicker than a normal frosting for you to spread it on to the cake as smooth as you do. Im making it at the moment and it seems very thick to the point my mixer is struggling to mix it.
Many Thanks
Ruth
It shouldn’t be THAT thick that the mixer is struggling with it. The recipe worked well for me… you can loosen it slightly, but you don’t want it too loose otherwise it can buldge? x
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can you please add the measures in cups ?
Sorry I wont be as I measure in grams, and personally find cup measurements too unreliable. A set of digital scales is a great investment for all recipes ☺️
This looks amazing! I was wanting to make mini versions of these for my daughters teachers. How would I adjust the cooking times/recipe?
How mini are you talking?
10cm
I’m afraid I have no idea for that size, sorry!
LOVE this cake! Could you do this recipe but use 4 8inch sandwich tins instead of 2 deep ones?? 🙂
Yes you can indeed! 🙂 x
Wow I have not tried baking it yet but it looks amazing but it looks amazing can you sell them or do we have to make them? What other cakes ? do you do?
I’m a recipe blog, I don’t sell cakes ☺️
Hi Jane was just wondering what depth are your 8″ tins?
Hiya, theyre 4″deep 🙂 x
Wow this cake looks amazing!! I really want to make this!
Thanks Kelly! Please do! 🙂
I would not mind diving into that cake!
Hahaha thanks Marisa! 🙂
Beautiful cake! Well done – plus it looks soooo delicious!
Awww thank you Lyne! 🙂
Beautiful. Well done
Thank you! ☺️