Whether you have them for breakfast or as a pre-dinner snack, your Easter weekend would be incomplete without chocolate nest cakes. A tin full of these also makes an excellent alternative to an Easter egg for gifting. Lots of recipes add butter and syrup to the melted chocolate to make it go further, but if you are using a good milk chocolate, the nest cakes are best when they are made with just chocolate and cornflakes (preferable to puffed rice on both taste and aesthetic fronts). Do not scrimp on the chocolate. This recipe recommends using double the weight of chocolate to cornflakes, but you can always add more. If you need a large batch of chocolate nest cakes, you can simply double or triple the quantities and store them in an airtight container. White chocolate also works well but takes less time to melt.
Ingredients (for 12 muffin-sized nest cakes):
200g milk chocolate – 100g cornflakes – 36 mini chocolate eggs
Method:
- Bring water up to the boil in a large saucepan and place a heatproof bowl on the top to create a bain-marie. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in the bowl. Stir the chocolate at regular intervals and remove from the heat when completely melted.
- Add the cornflakes to the melted chocolate and gently stir until all the cornflakes are coated in the chocolate.
- Divide the chocolate coated cornflakes between 12 muffin cases. Top each cake with three mini chocolate eggs in the centre to fashion a nest. Leave the cakes for at least two hours to allow them to set at room temperature.