Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great long weekend because I sure did. I don’t know why we just can’t have more of them throughout the year. Most of my days were spent soaking up the sun, relaxing and eating; as you do. For the last several years, Easter, for me, was spent having a big Italian feast over at Ant’s family’s place. Every now and then I would make a dessert to bring along, this year was no different.
I came across this blog post by Stef of Cupcake Project sometime last year and made a mental note to make them for Easter this year. From first appearance, they look like regular dyed eggs but looks can be deceiving. Trust me when I say this but there is cake inside these eggs!
The process of preparing the egg cakes is fairly long and tedious but it is rewarding seeing the surprise on people’s faces as they crack the egg shells open to reveal cake inside.
Each time I had to pierce a hole into the egg, I would hold my breath fearing that it will shatter in my hands, but that never happened. The dying process is pretty straight forward but it just took so long for me; each egg took about 30mins to colour. Ideally, if I had eggs with white/pale shells, the colour would come out more but I didn’t have any to work with. Also, I didn’t really follow the instructions properly, I was supposed to add vinegar to the food colouring but didn’t, so I don’t know if that would’ve played a role in the long colouring time.
So as you can see in last picture on the bottom right corner that all the eggs overflowed with cake. I was just thankful that the shells held together perfectly and didn’t explode. It was a simple matter of eating cleaning off the excess cake from the shells, but this would remove some of the dye from the shells. For this reason, I would suggest slightly wrapping the eggs with foil (leaving the hole uncovered) to make it easier to remove any cake that has overflowed without removing the colouring.
Regardless of some of the hiccups, I am pleased at how they turned out. As I said, it is rewarding seeing the surprised looks on people’s faces as they discover that these eggs aren’t what they seem to be. Initially, I had to chuckle to myself when I would get comments about me bringing real eggs along or whether we’re going to play the Greek egg tapping game called Tsougrisma. Little did they know…
“Oh wow! How did you get it in there?!”
“That’s so cool…!
Little did I know that I would have suggestions for eggs to contain cake with a melted chocolate centre; something on the lines of a chocolate fondant/lava cake. Sure! Now that would be extremely tricky!
They also would make great gifts; I’ve individually wrapped some eggs in layers of tissue paper to give to some lucky people. I don’t think these eggs should be limited for Easter alone.
Recipe
Adapted from here
Makes 12 cake-filled eggs
Dyed eggs
12 white eggs (Only two will get used in the cake. The rest is just used for their shells)
1/2 cup of water for every egg colour
1 tbsp vinegar for every egg colour
Food colouring (as many colours as you like)
Chocolate cake (Adapted from here)
150g butter, cubed and room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour (click here to see how to make a substitute)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150g milk chocolate, melted
For the dyed eggs
- Carefully poke a small hole in the top of each egg (I used a cork screw bottle opener)
- Peel back the edges of the holes to make a hole about 1cm/0.5 inch in diameter
- Empty contents of the egg into a bowl; reserving two for the cake (If you plan to use the other eggs for baking, it might be helpful to store them according to the amount required)
- Rinse the insides of the eggs thoroughly over the sink. Then, immerse them in salt water for thirty minutes
- Rinse the egg shells in cold water to remove the salt
- Combine water, vinegar and drops of food colouring; stirring until you achieve the colour you want
- Dunk the eggs one at a time into the cups of food colour and leave them in for a minute. Have a look at the resulting shell color and dunk again if you want the color to be more intense (I had mine submerged for ~30mins, possibly because I didn’t add the vinegar)
- Remove from the dye and place eggs, hole side down, on a paper towel to dry
Making the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C (360F)
- Cream butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy
- Add eggs, milk and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix until combined
- Sift the flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined
- Mix melted chocolate into the batter
Filling and baking the eggs
- Place the prepared egg shells into a cupcake tin. Use aluminum foil to line the cupcake holes to help them stand upright (I’d also slightly wrap the eggs with foil so that when the cake overflows, it’ll be easier to remove it without removing the dye as well)
- Fill a piping bag with the cake batter and fill the eggs to about 1/2 to 3/4 full
- Bake the eggs for 25-30mins; until skewer comes out clean when tested
- Cool before serving
This is really cool! Easter eggs with a fondant would be really awesome if that was even possible!
This is amazing Phuoc! Definitely something I’d love to try for next easter as well. *bookmarked* hehe Hope you had a fabulous Easter x
I was wondering what were in these eggs when you posted a picture on twitter! Love it!
haha what a fun idea for the Easter! I reckon next time make different fillings on mousse, ganache, cake, pudding, jelly, so people don’t know what they going to get until they crack open it! is like a random pick surprises!
Egg fondant requests?!? Some people are never satisfied! 😉
Oh I’ve seen these on Pinterest but figured I’d bugger them up so didnt do them lol. You did a fab job 😀
Happy Easter :)!!
Oh wow they are awesome!! May have to have a go at making them for next year.
Too cute! But that;’s dedication right there – 30 minutes to colour each one! Patience of an angel, you have 🙂
This is a seriously cool idea! I’m banking this idea for next Easter!
Thanks for sharing!!!
Those look like a serious labour of love! What a cool presentation! And you could use the eggs you drained out of the shells in the cake recipe.
Definitely making these next year! Good job 😀
What a fun idea these are! And I love how you coloured the shells too! 😀
Food is our religion: I think the first step is to master baking the cake inside the egg without it overflowing first lol
Tina: Thanks! Easter break was needed. Good luck with the eggs next year 🙂
Jacq: Lol yeah they looked like ordinary dyed eggs from the pic hey?
Billy: Now that would be hilarious! Could you imagine someone cracking open an egg with chocolate mousse or jelly inside? lol
Richard: lol yeah… Well they were only mucking around 😛
Nic: Yeah I’ve been seeing a few variations of them online too, some look so pretty!
Sara: Do try it, it’s pretty cool
Tina: Thanks! If only my patience wouldn’t fail on me with everything else; baking calms me…
Cathy: Awesome, I would love to see how they turn out if you get a chance to make them next year. Good luck and have fun!
SarahKate: Yes, the main issue was thinking of what to make with the left over eggs…
Vivian: Cool, be sure to let me know how they turn out 🙂
Lorraine: Thanks!
wow this is amazing! i did a similar thing except i filled the egg shells with coconut jelly and a piece of mango! so when they removed the shells they really thought i bought along a tray of hard boiled eggs!
I love this idea! Kudos to you for taking the time to make such tedious little things.
What an absolutely gorgeous idea! Love it 🙂
Milkteaxx: Now that sounds great and delicious
John: Cheers! Seeing the expression on people’s faces made all the hard work worth it
Erin: Thanks 🙂
Cuuute! I imagine it would take a very steady hand and a lot of patience to pull this off to well done!
Alana: Thanks! 🙂 Oh yes indeed! I think the most challenging part was when I had to take a photo of me piping the cake batter into the egg!