Robin's Egg Cake!

HAPPY SPRING!

Every Easter holiday friends and family of ours gather round the dining table as we serve up the traditional Easter meal. This year keeping close to the Spring theme I decided to create a Robin's Egg cake with nest and all!  Here's how I went about it. 

You will need:

Your favorite cake mix.

Egg baking mold (I got my from Wilton on Amazon.com)

4 cups buttercream frosting

Lt Blue and green food coloring dye to make Turquoise, or make your life easy and buy SKY BLUE by Wilton

5 oz Chow mein noodles

8 oz of chocolate, bittersweet or semisweet

1 very fine paint brush for 'speckling'
wax paper
microwaveable bowl for melting chocolate
1 cookie sheet

Buttercream Frosting

1-1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature

2 lbs confectioners sugar - sifted

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tbsp whole milk

standing mixer

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix butter and salt on medium until pale and smooth. Roughly 5  minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add confectioners sugar, one cup at a time. Mixing on low after each addition. Scrape down sides on bowl as needed. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Add up to 2-3 tbsp of milk to reach the desired consistency of icing. Add a drop at a time of sky blue food coloring to create the Robin's Egg blue shade of frosting. Mix on low once more to blend and smooth. Makes about 4 cups.

After you have baked your cake in each egg cake mold and assembled the egg cake by placing a layer of frosting in between you are now ready for frosting.  Carefully smooth over a thick layer of robin's egg color frosting on your cake. Chill so that the frosting hardens.

Creating the Nest

In a small heatproof and microwaveable bowl heat and melt the chocolate 30 seconds at a time until you reach a smooth, lump-free, liquid-like consistency. You will need the chocolate for 2 things: creating your 'nest' and speckling the egg cake. Once the chocolate is melted and ready pour a small amount into a  very small bowl, about 1 tbsp. This will be for speckling the cake. 

Place a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet. In a medium size bowl pour half of the chow mein noodles. Carfully pour/drizzle the heated chocolate over the chow mein noodles. With a large fork move and stir the noodles so that they are coated evenly, add more chow mein noodles if needed. Once all the chow mein noodles are coated pour onto the sheet of wax paper that is on the cookie sheet. It's OK if the noodles are clumped together or loose.  Place into your refrigerator to cool and harden for about half hour.

To create the speckled texture on the frosting I dipped the fine paint brush a little at a time into the melted chocolate and slowly added little dark brown flecks of 'paint'. Warning: this will take some time, be patient and get creative!  

HAPPY NESTING!