World Food and Wine
what people eat and drink worldwide

Easter bonnet cake

A special cake for Easter in the shape of a hat.

Ingredients

3⁄4 c butter
3⁄4 c sugar
3 egg (medium sized)
1⁄2 c flour (self raising flour)
2 T cocoa (powder)
4 T milk (for the cake)
1⁄2 c cream (whipping cream, whipped)
1 lb confectioner's sugar (sieved)
6 T milk (for the icing)
  food dye (green)
  mint (peppermint esence)
1 egg white (lightly beaten)
6 edible flowers

Instructions

Bake the cake

  1. Hheat the oven to 350º F. Grease and line 2 round cake pans, about 7 inches diameter.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour, cocoa and the milk for the cake.
  3. Divide the cake mixture between the two pans and smooth the top.
  4. Bake in the middle of the oven until the cakes have risen and they are golden brown and firm, about 25-30 minutes.
  5. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to rest in the pan a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack. Leave them there until cold.

Make the bonnet

  1. Join cakes together with whipped cream and place them on board.
  2. Make the frosting by mixing the confectioner’s sugar with the milk for the frosting.  Add a few drops of peppermint essence and enough green food dye to give the frosting a pale green hue.
  3. Cover the cake with the frosting, making it very smooth.  Extend some of the icing over the board to make the edge of the hat. Refrigerate the cake until the frosting has set.

Decorate

  1. Coat the edible flowers with the lightly beaten egg white and dip them in the sugar. Allow them to dry.
  2. When the bonnet has set, arrange some ribbon around the bonnet. Pin a bow to the back. Stick the crystallized flowers on top.
Total time
1 hour, 10 minutes
Cooking time
30
Preparation time
40
Yield
12 servings

Notes

The edible flowers are delicate, paint them with the egg white using a fine brush.

Source

British cuisine

Shortcuts

Use a package of cake mix, plus the ingredients required in their instructions, to bake the cake.

No time to bake? Get a ready-made round sponge and cut it in half crosswise.

Use vanilla pudding as filling, or mix vanilla frosting with a little butter to turn it into butter frosting and fill the cake with that.

Get ready made marzipan flowers.

Cover the cake with light green or yellow ready roll-out frosting, you would not need peppermint essence. Use the same frosting in dark green to make the ribbon and bow.

 

moderate, baking
dessert, tea time, cakes
British food recipes
Food in Europe