Hop into the Easter spirit with this delicious Easter Bunny Surprise Cake from @bakingenvy. Every piece of this pound cake reveals a hidden chocolate cake bunny in every slice.
For the Cake Batter
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan/convection) or 170°C (standard). Grease and line a 24 x 13 cm loaf tin and a 27.5 x 17.5 cm slice tin with baking paper. Set aside.
Step 2
In the large bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer), beat together butter, sugar and vanilla essence until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well in between. The mixture should be very pale and fluffy.
Step 3
Sift over flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well incorporated. Do not over mix.
Step 4
Add milk, a little bit at a time, stirring until well combined. Try not to push too much air out of the batter.
For the Chocolate Bunnies
Step 1
Transfer two cups of batter to another bowl. Sift over the cocoa powder. Stir until well combined.
Step 2
Spread the chocolate cake batter evenly over the base of the slice tin. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Step 3
Allow to cool for 20 minutes. Using a bunny-shaped cookie cutter (or any Easter themed cutter), carefully cut out as many pieces of chocolate cake as possible. NOTE: your cookie cutter should be no taller than 6 cm or it will pop out the top of the cake.
Step 4
Transfer the bunny-shaped cake pieces to a separate tray or plate lined with baking paper. Freeze for 20 minutes.
Assembling the Cake
Step 1
Spread a thin layer of vanilla cake batter into the bottom of the loaf tin. Starting from one end of the loaf tin, place the frozen bunny-shaped cake pieces side by side so they form a bunny-shaped log in the centre of the loaf tin. Make sure they are firmly pressed against each other to prevent vanilla batter seeping in between.
Step 2
Carefully distribute the remaining cake batter around the bunny-shaped log. The bunnies should be completely covered by a layer of cake batter.
Step 3
Bake for 1 hr 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean (or with a just few moist clinging crumbs). If the top of the cake begins to brown too much during cooking, cover with aluminium foil.
Step 4
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the loaf tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
