I remember a wonderful older Italian couple living next door to us for a few years while I was growing up. There were many things I missed about them when they moved away and in later years, passed on, but every Easter I think about the lady's (her name was Elsie) beautiful Easter egg cakes she would make and bring over to us. In her honor, this year, I decided to give it a whirl myself...or at least make something similar.
I found inspiration on this webpage:
And decided to make one large egg, out of a 9 x 5 pound cake I baked (from a mix in a box).
I shaved it, shaped it, and cut it horizontally to make 4 filling layers.
The bottom and third layer I made of strawberry preserves, the second and fourth layer I made of a almond-flavored sugar frosting, tinted yellow. I apologize that I can't show you a picture of the layers, I took two, but they both came out too fuzzy. I guess I had it on the wrong setting.
For the outside of the egg cake, I made a chocolate ganache frosting, consisting of:
1/2 C milk, heated with 1 1/2 T margarine
and poured over
6 oz. dark chocolate chips (Nestle)
This made plenty for the egg cake, so I used the leftovers, drizzling it over the scraps of pound cake, sliced some strawberries and added french vanilla pudding on top. Excellent use, I must admit!!!
I used a basting brush to apply a crumb coat of the ganache, filled in any airpocket holes, and then I poured the rest of the ganache over sections (side, side and then top) and quickly spread it evenly over the cake.
When this was all set in the fridge, I piped colored frosting designs over the chocolate, and there you go!! Here is my Easter Egg Cake, as reminiscent as I muster of Elsie's great treats.
This cake needs to be refrigerated, and for presentation purposes, I recommend cleaning the knife after each slice.
Personally, this was only something that I would make around Easter, it's a bold combination of flavors, and very rich.
No comments:
Post a Comment