Description
A beautifully decorated Easter Cake featuring three layers of vanilla cake with a pastel blue vanilla buttercream frosting, speckled cocoa decorations, toasted coconut flakes forming a nest, and topped with pastel-colored Easter eggs. Perfect for festive celebrations, this cake combines classic flavors with elegant presentation.
Ingredients
Scale
Cake
- 1 Vanilla Cake, 3 layers (20cm/8″ cake of choice)
Pastel Blue Vanilla Buttercream
- 340g unsalted butter, 1.25cm / ½” cubes, softened to 18°C/64°F
- 750g soft icing sugar, sifted
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 drops blue gel food colouring
- 1/8 tsp salt
Frosting Speckles
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened or sweetened)
- 3 tbsp boiling water
- Toothbrush (or basting brush)
Decorating
- 2 cups coconut flakes (or shaved)
- 200g small Easter eggs, pastel coloured speckled
Instructions
- Trim Cake Layers: Level the tops of the cake layers if desired to ensure an even stacking surface and better appearance.
- Chill Cake Layers: Place the cake layers in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. This helps prevent crumbs from mixing into the frosting during assembly.
- Toast Coconut: Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F (140°C fan). Spread coconut flakes evenly on a baking tray, bake for 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Prepare Buttercream Frosting – Cream Butter: Beat the softened butter in a stand mixer on speed 8 for 3 minutes until it changes from yellow to almost white due to aeration.
- Add Icing Sugar: Add the sifted icing sugar in three batches. Begin mixing on speed 1 to partially incorporate, then gradually increase speed until mostly mixed in.
- Add Vanilla and Salt: Mix in vanilla extract and salt, then beat on speed 8 for 2 minutes until the frosting is fluffy and nearly white in color.
- Color Buttercream: Remove 1 tablespoon of frosting into a small bowl and add 1 drop of blue gel food coloring. Mix well, then return 1 tablespoon of the colored frosting back into the main frosting. Beat until evenly incorporated. Repeat adding more colored frosting 1 teaspoon at a time until the desired pastel blue tone is achieved, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Make Speckle Mixture: Mix cocoa powder and boiling water to form a speckle liquid for decorating.
- Assemble Cake: Spread ¾ cup of the frosting evenly between each of the three cake layers. Then, use the remaining frosting to cover the sides and top of the cake. Reserve about ½ cup frosting as extra.
- Decorate Cake with Speckles: Place a board behind the cake to catch splatters. Dip a toothbrush into the cocoa speckle mixture and use your fingers to flick speckles onto the cake’s top and sides. Angle the toothbrush 45 degrees downward when flicking over the top to avoid large drips.
- Create Coconut Nest: Pile toasted coconut in the center of the top of the cake to form a nest shape.
- Add Easter Eggs: Place a mound of small pastel colored speckled Easter eggs inside the coconut nest on top and dot around the base of the cake with more coconut and eggs.
- Serve and Enjoy: Proudly bring the cake to the table and enjoy the compliments from your guests.
Notes
- You can use any preferred cake recipe; this recipe uses a 3-layer vanilla cake.
- This buttercream recipe is for a 3-layer cake; for a 2-layer cake reduce icing sugar to 500g accordingly.
- Butter should be softened but still cool to achieve the right texture and color when beaten.
- Gradual addition of blue gel food coloring helps achieve a pastel blue without oversaturation or green tint.
- European butters with lighter color enhance the pastel blue frosting better than yellow butters.
- Small pastel colored speckled Easter eggs work best for decoration but any similar eggs can be used.
- Store the finished cake refrigerated for up to 4 days depending on the cake used.
- Freeze any leftover frosting for up to 3 months for future use.
