Indulge in Easter bliss with every bit of this tantalizing Easter mini egg traybake – a symphony of vanilla, chocolate, and mini eggs! A delightful crunch in every slice.
Indulge in the delightful spirit of Easter with this scrumptious Easter Mini Egg Traybake. Crafted with care, this heavenly treat features a moist and delicate vanilla sponge infused with the irresistible crunch of mini eggs and the creamy sweetness of chopped white chocolate. Topped generously with velvety chocolate buttercream, each bite promises a symphony of flavours that will captivate your taste buds.
But wait, there’s more! To elevate the festive joy, adorn the traybake with a sprinkle of bashed up mini eggs, adding a delightful crunch and vibrant burst of colour. Whether you’re celebrating with family, friends or simply treating yourself, this Easter mini egg traybake is the perfect indulgence to elevate the fun in your festivities.
Star Ingredient
For this Easter traybake, the stars of the show are the chocolates that makes it more than just a vanilla cake. This traybake has a combination of simple chocolate along with the more festive sugar coated mini eggs for the season.
This mixture of chocolates, help create a variety of textures as you enjoy your slice of traybake. The white chocolate is creamy, and pieces are towards the bottom or sides it may caramelise which changes the flavour profile adding an extra layer to the taste.
The sugar coated mini eggs not only add in a chocolate note but also a crunch thanks to their sugary shell. Mini eggs that you can find in zero waste shops can be bother dark chocolate or milk chocolate along with different shades of colour. Shopping at zero waste shops, means that you can therefore have a mixture of chocolate flavours but also reduce the plastic packaging that traditional mini eggs come in.
Want to love more about where you can pick up your white chocolate or mini eggs plastic free, head across to my A to Z guide of zero waste baking ingredients. It lists which zero waste shops stock them so you can go and support them.
How to Purchase Ingredients to be Conscious to the Planet
Making cakes without plastic packaging is becoming easier to do. The basic components of the sugars, eggs and flour are purchasable plastic free from supermarkets as well as from zero waste shops. With my eggs, I favour farm shops and markets as I can reuse my cartons therefore reducing packaging.
Vanilla extract or paste can be found within glass bottles or aluminium. This may not be through shopping at supermarkets. Explore your zero waste shops as they may be a stockist of LittlePod who champion real vanilla. You may also find that they have vanilla as a refill so can repurpose a bottle that you already have.
Cocoa powder is a great ingredient to pick up in zero waste shops. Glass jars can be a good container to take long to pick it up in. In supermarkets, tubs of cocoa powder turn to have plastic lids and the boxes of refill cocoa powder tends to have mixed material bag within it, therefore making it harder to recycle. If you already have a tub that was fully of cocoa powder, reuse it to begin with. When you then have the opportunity to upgrade to a more anaesthetic container such as clip top jars or bamboo lidded glass jars this could replace it, but try and get the most out of what you already have to start with. This helps with reducing overall consumption.
Butter can be made at home if you want to go completely plastic free for the recipe. Simple pick up some double cream in glass jars and this could be part of a circular system such as through Milk and More. However, you do not have this service in your area or wanting to make this dairy free, plant butter or margarine works really well in this sponge recipe. Try and pick up the largest tub as possible so that you can have a larger product to packaging ratio. Consider repurposing your tub as well once it is empty as well maybe to transport bakes in.
Ingredients you can buy Plastic Free
- Caster Sugar
- Butter – homemade recipe here
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Self Raising Flour
- White Chocolate Buttons / Chips
- Mini Eggs
- Icing / Powdered Sugar
- Cocoa Powder
Equipment You Will Need
- Freestanding Mixer or Bowl with Handhold Mixer
- Spatula
- Teaspoon
- Reusable Food Bag
- Rolling Pin
- Sharp Knife (optional)
- 9” Square Cake / Baking Tin
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Bowl
- Tablespoon
- Cooling Rack
- Palette Knife
Tips and Tricks when Making Easter Mini Egg Traybake
Butter
When it comes to making the sponge and buttercream, butter doesn’t have to be the only option. Using butter, does give you the opportunity to make this recipe completely plastic free as you can make it yourself simply by whipping up double cream. Double cream is a product you can pick up in glass bottles which are recyclable.
However, if you need to make the recipe dairy free, plant butter and margarine work just as well in both components. When I was younger and learning to bake, margarine is what we always used within our sponges.
If you are using butter or plant butter, leave it out for a little bit to soften as it will make it easier to beat for both the sponge and especially the buttercream, as you can beat this smaller quantity by hand.
My Batter Looks Curdled
When adding in the eggs, sometimes it can appear if the mixture splits and curdles. You can combat this by adding in a bit of flour with each egg. I tend to add a bit of flour with each egg above 2 that I add to a sponge mix.
However, if you do not do this, do not panic. When you fold through the flour this will smooth out the cake batter and it will bake up regardless in the oven.
Bonus tip – use your spatula to scrap the sides of the bowl at each egg addition to help with creating an even batter. Even when beating the sugar and butter initially it is a good idea to do this a few times to ensure butter is fully beaten.
Chocolate for the Sponge
The recipe calls for white chocolate. The form of this white chocolate is important. If you have chocolate chips, you can add them as they are. A bar or buttons or white chocolate can be chopped up to have smaller pieces.
If you are not a fan of white chocolate, you can of course use milk or dark chocolate. I like to use white chocolate as you then have a variety of all chocolate types within the traybake. The plastic free eggs I purchase are a mixture of milk and dark chocolate middles.
The chocolate and Mini Eggs Sink to the Bottom
If you find that your chocolate and mini eggs tend to sink to the bottom of the sponge when baking, you can try this to even suspend them more evenly in the batter.
Take a tablespoon of your flour and pop it into the set aside chocolate and mini egg pieces and toss to cover them. This floury coating assist the pieces not sinking as much therefore increasing the distribution throughout the sponge.
If you do find the white chocolate sinks, it can caramelise at the bottom of the tin. This can add a different flavour profile to your traybake.
Baking your Traybake
Covering the traybake halfway through baking, protects the top for colouring too much. I find foil is the best for cover cakes. I would also recommend rotating your cake 180 degrees. This can account for any differences in how ovens are heated during the bake.
Easter Mini Egg Traybake
Equipment
- Freestanding Mixer or Bowl with Handhold Mixer
- Spatula
- Teaspoon
- Reusable Food Bag
- Rolling Pin
- Sharp Knife (optional)
- 9” Square Cake / Baking Tin
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Bowl
- Tablespoon
- Cooling rack
- Palette Knife
Ingredients
Sponge
- 200 g Butter / Plant Butter / Margarine
- 200 g Caster Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 200 g Self Raising Flour
- 100 g Mini Eggs bashed
- 100 g White Chocolate chopped
Buttercream and Decoration
- 75 g Butter / Plant Butter / Margarine soften
- 200 g Icing / Powdered Sugar
- 4 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
- 2 Tablespoon Water
- 50 g Mini Eggs bashed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
- Line a 9” square cake tin with parchment paper.
- Add the mini eggs into a reusable food bag and using a rolling pin, bash into smaller pieces then set aside.
- Chop up the white chocolate using a sharp knife then set aside.
- In the bowl of a freestanding mixer, add in the butter and sugar to cream together until pale and fluffy.
- Add in the vanilla extract and 1st egg and beat together.
- Add in the remaining eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition – add in a small amount of flour with the 3rd and 4th egg.
- Add in the self raising flour and fold through using a spatula, until almost incorporated.
- Tip in the chocolate and mini eggs and fold through until the flour is fully incorporated the chocolate is evenly distributed.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly, and then create a slight dip in the middle.
- Baking on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes.
- Cover the cake with a square of foil and return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes in the tin before lifting out and allowing to cool fully on the cooling rack.
- To make the buttercream, add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter, and water into a bowl, and using a spatula beat together until a smooth chocolate buttercream is formed.
- Pop the mini eggs into the reusable food bag, and with the rolling pin bash to bake them into smaller pieces.
- Once the cake is cooled, spoon the buttercream onto the top of the cake and spread out evenly with a palette knife.
- Sprinkle over the mini egg pieces.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the traybake into 16 pieces.
- Store in an airtight container.
Other Easter Recipes that utilise Mini Eggs
- Mini Egg Easter Shortbread Biscuits
- Bunny Bottom Easter Cupcakes
- Mini Easter Cookies – New York Style
- Plastic Free Mini Egg Chocolate Brownies
- Easter Rocky Road with Plastic Free Chocolate
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