Recipe | Chocolate Fudge Cake Easter Nests

As my love of the easter chocolate season grows I took a leap of faith in the baking world and decided to combine the chocolate fudge cupcake with an easter favourite of mine the chocolate nest. The equation of chocolate + chocolate always appears to be a winner. The verdicts from my brother and James (chief taste testers) were so good that they both immediately ate two each. The only test left for them to ace will be when my gran tries them - and she's the hardest cookie to crumble for taste testing - I'm secretly confident that these easter delights will achieve A* across the board.

Preparation Time: 40 minutes (20 minutes + 20 minutes)

Cooking Time: 25 minutes (plus a little cooling time)

Oven Temp: 180 degrees celcius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit (Fan)

Makes: 18 Cupcakes

Ingredients Required:

For the Cakes:

175g Self Raising Flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g Caster Sugar
2 Medium Eggs (Beaten)
1/4 Pint Semi-Skimmed Milk
1/4 Pint Sunflower Oil
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup

For the Icing:

75g Butter (Unsalted)
175g Icing Sugar
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
Drop of Milk

For the Nests:

4 Full size Mars Bars (Chopped Up)
100g Butter (Unsalted)
100g Shredded Wheat (Broken)
Mini Eggs - enough to top the nests to your preference

Method:

Pre-heat your oven
Line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases
Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl
Add in the caster sugar and mix well
Make a large well in the centre of the bowl
Add the golden syrup, beaten eggs, sunflower oil and semi-skimmed milk
Mix with an electric whisk until smooth and gooey
Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, ensuring that you only fill them about half way to allow room on top for the easter nests
Bake for approximately 25 minutes until risen and firm
Cool on a cooling rack

Once cool you can make the butter icing, if you would like to save some time and cheat this step, Betty Crocker do a great Chocolate Fudge Icing which is available in most supermarkets.

Beat the butter in a bowl until soft
Gradually sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder
Add enough milk to make the icing fluffy and spreadable
Spread on to the top of your cupcakes

As a kid at easter I always used to make nests with my gran and recently I discovered how amazing these can be when you incorporate Mars Bars into the mix. To make the easter nests for the top of the cakes:

Prepare a saucepan of boiling water over a low-medium heat
In a heat-proof bowl add the chopped mars bars and unsalted butter and place over the saucepan of boiling water
As the mixture melts it will curdle slightly, keep mixing until smooth, melted and well combined. Also watch that the mixture doesn't start to burn on the bottom of the bowl. Constant stirring is key to this.
Once combined, remove the mixture from the heat and mix in the broken shredded wheat and fold until fully coated in the chocolatey mar bar mixture. (If you prefer to use Rice Krispies instead of shredded wheat the same quantities apply)
Spoon the mixture on to the top of the iced cupcakes evenly
As a finishing touch while gooey add 2-3 mini eggs to the top of the nest
Allow to set and cool