A fudgy brownie cake smothered in rich chocolate ganache, in a Cadbury Flake nest. With a cracked Chocolate Egg covering the whole thing in creme egg filling! Ridiculously decadent, amazingly tasty and surprisingly simple!
I think I outdid myself on over-the-top dessert you guys. I didn’t think I could out do my Chocolate Chip Cookie Ultimate Layer Cake, yet here I am with a big chocolate egg spilling creme egg filling all over a fudgy brownie sitting in a nest of cadbury flakes! But this Easter weekend almost falls on my 30th birthday, so I figured I should go a bit crazy with it! Maybe we can call this cake my pre-midlife crisis!
I love anti-gravity cakes, I think they look so cool. But this is my first time having a go at one, and let me tell you it’s a lot simpler than it seems! I was expecting to end up with a collapsed mess on my hands and be in the kitchen all day, but this was done and dusted within about 4 hours – that’s including photographing it! I did bake the brownie base the night before so I wouldn’t have to wait for it to cool. I used my favourite, one bowl brownie recipe for this – it’s fudgy, delicious and really easy to make! I love it! Don’t you just love the nest too? It’s such a simple effect to get but it works so well. Rich chocolate ganache is used to stick the flakes on, and I also poured it over the top for good measure! I’m not sure if they sell Cadbury Flakes in the US, but anything similar in size will work.
And this crazy creme egg brownie nest isn’t only awesome to look at, it’s delicious too of course! All the sweetness from the creme egg filling (which is homemade and super easy btw) is a great way to balance the rich chocolateyness of the brownie and ganache. As you can imagine it’s extremely decadent, a small slice will satisfy most people! Once you cut into it the structure won’t hold up, but that’s okay, it just means you can eat the easter egg with your slice of brownie! I cut my slice as a wedge (and then ate it for lunch), but squares would probably work best when serving.
I’m not gonna make you wait for the recipe any longer, it’s coming up next. Following the recipe I’ll be giving a quick photo step-by-step on how I put it together so make sure you keep going for that!
Creme Egg Anti-Gravity Easter Brownie Nest
A truly decadent Easter cake - fudgy brownie smothered in rich chocolate ganache in a cadbury flake nest. With a chocolate easter egg cracked over the top, spilling homemade creme egg filling all over the top!
Ingredients
For the brownie:
- 115g unsalted butter
- 100g dark chocolate
- 50g sugar
- 125g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 115g plain flour (AP)
For the ganache:
- 250g dark chocolate (min 74% cocoa)
- 350ml double cream
- pinch of salt
For the nest:
- The above ganache
- 12 Cadbury flake bars
For the Creme Egg filling:
- 1kg Icing sugar (confectioners/powdered)
- 125ml water
- 2 tbsp golden syrup (or glucose/corn syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 drops of orange food colouring (or 2 yellow and 1 red)
To construct the cracked egg:
- 1 medium sized chocolate easter egg
- 2 wooden cake dowels, about 8" in length
- The creme egg filling above
- Two large piping bags (or zip lock bags with the corner snipped off)
To decorate:
- Creme eggs/mini creme eggs
- Fluffy easter chicks
Instructions
To make the brownie:
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a 6" round cake tin with foil, with overhanging edges for easy removal.
- Melt the butter, white sugar and chocolate in a bowl in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each interval. Or in a double boiler. Set aside.
- Put the brown sugar in a bowl and pour over the melted butter/sugar/chocolate mix and beat together with a wooden spoon. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and salt.
- Sift the cocoa over the top, then add the flour and baking powder. Beat until combined.
- Pour into your prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes, until set on top and a skewer comes out with moist crumbs (but no wet batter).
- Cool in the tin on a wire rack, remove from tin and wrap tightly in foil until ready to assemble cake.
To make the ganache:
- Finely chop the dark chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl.
- Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat. Pour half of the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Pour the rest of the cream over, add a pinch of salt and stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Leave to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Once cooled, whip the ganache with a balloon whisk or electric beater until thickened slightly - about 3 minutes.
To assemble the nest:
- Use a sharp knife to cut your flakes into three parts.
- Cover the brownie in the ganache, making sure all of the sides are completely covered.
- Place a layer of flakes around the bottom. Then add another layer, out of line with first layer to make a stacked pattern. Once you get to the top layer, use extra ganache as "cement" if needed. Leave in a cool place to set while you make the creme egg filling. Save any left over ganache for assembling the cracked egg.
To make the creme egg filling:
- Put the icing sugar, water, golden syrup and vanilla extract in a large saucepan and put on a low heat. Stir together and cook for for 1-2 minutes, until smooth. Add more sugar or water to adjust consistency as needed. You want it to be thick, but still able to flow.
- Transfer 1/4 of the mixture to a small bowl and stir in the food colouring.
To assemble the anti-gravity cracked egg (see photos below recipe):
- Put your cake dowels in the centre of the cake, next to each other but push them in at angles so they're going apart upwards.
- Unwrap your easter egg and carefully split it in two.
- Put a dollop of ganache on top of the cake dowels. Then position your egg halves on top and press down. Remove them and add a dollop of creme egg filling on the spots of ganache inside the egg halves. Then spread ganache on the edges of the egg halves that are gonna meet. Place the halves back on top, and push the halves together where the ganache is. Hold for about 30 seconds. It may take a bit of balance but they should hold now.
- Spoon the white creme egg filling into a piping bag and snip off the end. Carefully pipe the filling as high up the cake dowel, underneath the egg halves, as you can. Pipe a good amount and let it run down the dowels. You can also pipe some inside the actual egg halves. Then pipe some along the centre of the dowels, where they start to meet. Add as much as you can to get as thick a stream as you can. Lots will flow down and cover the top of the nest, you shouldn't need to add any to the bottom but you always can if enough hasn't flown down.
- Now spoon the orange/yellow creme egg filling into another piping back and snip off the corner. Do the same as you did with the white, but a smaller amount. Let it flow down again and it should create a nice little pool in the centre. Use your judgement on how much orange/yellow to add.
- Now decorate with creme eggs and easter chicks however you like!
Now you’ve got the words, let’s take a visual look at how I put it together!
After you’ve assesmbled your nest, you need to put your cake dowels in. They should go next together inside the brownie, and go outwards as they go upwards. I’ve not got a head for maths so I don’t have an angle for you, just use your eyes to judge how far apart you want them
Then you need to balance your eggs, this is admittedly the hardest part but it came together a lot quicker and easier than I thought. I found it easiest to mark where the eggs would need attaching to the top of the dowels by putting ganache on top of the dowels and then placing the eggs how they should sit, then use the marks left by the ganache to guide where I put the creme egg “glue”. Also spread some ganache along the edges of the egg halves that are going to meet, this will “glue” them together and make sure you’re not relying on balance!
Now it’s time to add the creme egg filling. The easiest way to do this is to pipe it, this way you can get right under the eggs and have full control on where it goes. Start with the white and pipe plenty as high up the dowels as you can and inside the eggs. Let it flow down the dowels and on to the top of cake. Pipe some where the dowels start to meet to get a thick flow. Use your own judgement to add as much as you think you need/want. Depending on how thick you have made the filling enough should flow down to cover the top of the nest, but you can add more to the bottom as needed. Then pipe the orange filling in the same way, but using a lot less so you can still see plenty of white and only a small circle pools at the base of the dowels.
As you can see I made a bit of a mess when piping, you can either wipe it away when you’re all done or leave it for the aesthetic – which, personally, I quite like.
And now you just have to decorate however you like. Touch up with more creme egg filling as needed and then EAT!
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Sharing with: Saucy Saturdays, Fiesta Friday with Hilda and Natalie, Foodie FriDIY
Absolutely stunning, Michelle!! Love it. 😀
Thank you so much, Nancy!!
Michelle, this is a show-stopper. You did outdone yourself. Such an amazing, creative work. So so pretty. Those little chicks are so cute and the cake is delicious. 😀
Aww thank you Jhuls! The little chicks are adorable aren’t they?
Oh Michelle, you’ve totally outdone yourself with this one. What a spectacular cake! Love the anti-gravity effect. Pinned!
Aww thank you Lily!
Wow, what an impressive brownie cake! So cute, too!
Thank you Marsha! <3
Wow.. what an amazing cake! I haven’t tried Cadbury Flake before, but will keep an eye out for it next time I’m at the store. Looks interesting! I also just posted a recipe using Cadbury Creme Egg.. Must be the season 😉
Thank you, Tina! Flake’s are the best, if you happen to be around a store that does British imports definitely pick one up – they’ll change your life haha!
Ooh will definitely check out your recipe, creme egg recipes are my favourite, I’ve done two this Easter!
Wow this is such a clever idea! This would totally be the centerpiece of the brunch table.
Thank you Sarah, that’s my kind of Brunch spread!!
Seriously, how adorable is this! I love it!!
Thank you Sarah!
Easter is so good isn’t Cadbury Flake chocolate, I’m there!
😀 Thank you!
I was drawn in by the title of the recipe, then by the picture. And that was before I got to the rich chocolate brownie and homemade cream egg filling. This cake is stunning! Thanks for sharing it at Fiesta Friday.
Thank you so much Natalie!
Darling you outdid yourself, most and definitely me with this!! Gravity defying indeed. LOVE that you actually show us how to go about achieving this kinda magic 🙂 PINNING, SHARING & TWEETING!!!
Aww thank you so much Swayam!!
Oh wow. This looks like a masterpiece, so impressive and it sounds delicious too. A total winner in my book 🙂
Thank you Petra!!
You cannot be serious!! This is ah-mah-zing!! It’s a blue ribbon masterpiece! 🙂
Aww thank you Angie!!
Michelle,
I am truly speechless looking at this brilliant anti gravity cake!
A true winner indeed!
Aww thank you Sandhya!!
WOW! That is all. 🙂
Hahaha thank you Debbie!
Amazing work! Too beautiful to eat!
Thank you! You should definitely eat it though haha!
Amazingly stunning. Love the idea!!
Thank you!
Michelle, I love the cake! I would have never guessed this was your first time making a cake like this. Beautiful job!
Thank you so much Antonia!
Just made this and it was so easy!it was mainly down to the great step by step instructions, but all in all fab!
I think I over did the Brownie slightly as it felt really sold and dry, but I cut it in half and filled it with the ganache so hopefully it won’t be too bad.
I hope it tastes as good as it looks! Cheers for the recipe 🙂 xxx
I’m so glad you liked it Emmalina, and the instructions were helpful!
Hope it tastes divine! Would love to see a pic of your finished result, if you post any photos on instagram, twitter or facebook feel free to tag @giraffescanbake so I can see!
Looks amazing! I was trying to come up with a cracked egg cake and here it is. Do you think it would be OK to decorate it the day before? Or will the creme just drip down onto the cake?
Thank you!
It should be okay, I haven’t let it sit for more than hour but as long as you keep it somewhere cool (ideally the fridge), and you don’t make the creme thin, it shouldn’t be a problem!
Would love to see how yours turns out, make sure you tag me on social media if you share any pics (@giraffescanbake) so I can see!
This is truly awesome!! I’m going to attempt this…fingers crossed it turns out as beautiful as this!! P.s How long does it keep for? X
Thank you Sarah! Don’t worry, it’s a lot easier than it looks! Sorry for my delay in getting back to you!
It will keep for a couple of days, but bear in mind it’s hard to cover so you’ll wanna store it in a cool and clean place. You may also need to reattach the egg – not tested how long it holds up on the stands past a few hours!
Happy baking!