This Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Easter Nest Cake consists of a delicious brown butter sponge, chocolate chips and brown butter frosting topped off with a chocolate Easter egg nest. It's the perfect indulgent Easter dessert!
Happy first day of Spring! Oh my goodness, I don't know about you but I'm ready. I'm so ready. It's been a tough old winter and I'm just ready for it to be over. And it is! Technically. It's still pretty chilly out there but at least the snow has thawed now. And I'm hoping we don't have any more. The crocuses are out and the first blossoms are peeking from the still bare trees. Everything is slowly coming back to life. The mornings and evenings are getting lighter. The thought that my favourite months are just around the corner fills me with joy. Eep! Life giving time of year is also about Easter, why not try our Chocolate Hot Cross Buns.
Ah, seriously. The thought of evening walks, fresh berries galore, not wearing a million layers every day. That's the dream right now. The actual dream. And it's actually not that far from being a reality! See also: foods that are not brown. I'm so excited about green spring food! (ok ok just ignore the fact that this entire blog post is about a brown cake.) Definitely check out our Chocolate Cornflake Cakes too if you want something a bit simpler or this impressive Tiramisu Cake instead.
And what better way do I know how to celebrate than with a big indulgent cake?! There is no better way! And there's so much chocolate around at this time of year anyway, we might as well make good use of it, no? I'm a sucker for mini chocolate eggs so I knew they had to feature somehow. I've had the idea in my head for weeks and weeks to make a really simple cake with a chocolate nest on top so I knew I had to make it happen. But for ages I didn't know what flavour cake to go for. I didn't know whether to go the chocolate route or vibrant fruity route like I did last year with this Blueberry Passionfruit Layer Cake. Yeah. Chocolate won. And brown butter - lots of it. Trust me, you need to try this. The brown butter adds so much flavour to the cake! And chocolate chips too because why not? And two types of brown butter frosting. Are you drooling yet?
Let me break it down for you. Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Easter Nest Cake. 4 layers of brown butter sponge studded with dark chocolate (or your choice of chocolate!) chips. Sandwiched together with brown butter chocolate frosting. Coated in even more brown butter frosting. Topped with a dark chocolate shavings 'nest' and as many chocolate eggs as you can squeeze in there. Have I convinced you it's a good idea yet? You know it needs to happen!
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📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Easter Nest Cake
Equipment
- 6 inch cake tin (loose bottomed)
Ingredients
Brown Butter
- 675 g (3 cups) unsalted butter
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cake
- 225 g (1 cup) browned unsalted butter, at room temp, see previous step
- 225 g (1 cup) caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 225 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 60 ml (¼ cup) milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 175 g (1 cup) chocolate chips
Brown Butter Frosting
- 225 g (1 cup) browned unsalted butter, at room temp, see previous step
- 500 g (4 cups) icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1-2 tablespoons milk, or as needed
- 100 g (3.5 ounces) dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
To decorate
- dark chocolate bar
- mini chocolate eggs, micro chocolate eggs, golden eggs
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Begin by making brown butter. You need to complete this step ahead of time as the cake recipe requires room temperature butter.
- Cut the butter into slices and place in a large saucepan. Melt the butter over a medium heat. Once melted, keep heating the butter, whisking frequently to keep the milk solids moving, until the milk solids start to brown. This can take a while, 10-15 minutes, but you don't want to rush it by turning the heat up too high as it can soon go from browned to seriously burnt. When the butter starts to froth, you know you're getting somewhere.675 g (3 cups) unsalted butter
- The brown butter is ready once you have reddish-brown bits at the bottom of the pan and it smells wonderfully nutty. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl immediately. Leave to cool for a while then transfer to the fridge to set (or freezer if you're in a rush).
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cake
- Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/350F. Lightly grease and line 2 6" loose-bottomed baking tins (or 4 if you have them).
- Place your room temperature brown butter in the bowl of your stand mixer (or use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer). Add the sugar and cream together with the paddle attachment for a few minutes until pale and fluffy.225 g (1 cup) browned unsalted butter, at room temp, 225 g (1 cup) caster sugar
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.225 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Crack in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour mixture with each one to prevent curdling, beating well for a minute or two between each egg.4 large eggs
- Add all but one tablespoon of the flour to the butter/egg mixture. With the mixer on low, slowly mix in the flour until combined.
- Pour in the milk and vanilla extract and mix gently until combined. Do not overbeat the mixture.60 ml (¼ cup) milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Toss the chocolate chips with the remaining flour and then gently fold these into the batter.175 g (1 cup) chocolate chips
- Divide the batter evenly between the 2 (or 4) tins. If using 2 tins, keep the other half of the batter at room temperature until the other cakes have come out of the tins. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat for the remaining batter if you have it.
Brown Butter Frosting
- Place the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or in a mixing bowl and use a hand mixer). Add half of the icing sugar and beat well for a few minutes until well combined.225 g (1 cup) browned unsalted butter, at room temp, 500 g (4 cups) icing sugar
- Add the remaining icing sugar, vanilla and salt and keep beating for several minutes until it's pale and fluffy. Add a tablespoon or two of milk and beat until the buttercream reaches your desired consistency - you want it to be spreadable but not too soft.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1-2 tablespoons milk, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave if you prefer).100 g (3.5 ounces) dark chocolate
- Split the frosting in half. Put one half in a separate bowl and keep the other half in the bowl of your mixer. Pour in the chocolate and the cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add some more milk if needed.1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Assembly
- Place one of the cakes onto a plate or cake stand. Spread with chocolate frosting. Repeat with the remaining cakes/chocolate frosting.
- Using a palette knife, spread the top and sides of the cake with the plain brown butter frosting.
- To make the chocolate curls for the nest, take a bar of dark chocolate and a sharp knife. Carefully pull the knife over the surface of the chocolate towards you to make curls. Carefully pick them up using the knife and place them around the outside of the cake to form the nest.dark chocolate bar
- Fill the inside of the nest with chocolate eggs of your choice. Dig in and enjoy!mini chocolate eggs, micro chocolate eggs, golden eggs
Tonk says
Fantastic cake. So delicious. I made this in three 9 inch pans and increased the ingredients by 1.5 x . The bake time was 30 min at 350 F for me. Perhaps because in 3 9 inch pans the layers were a bit deeper.
I also weighed instead of measured all my ingredients, which I think is critical for this recipe. Being exact with your ingredients is key for successful cakes.
Lia says
Hi, I was wondering if I could leave out the chocolate chips. Also, if I added fresh berries in between the layers, do you think the cake would hold? Thanks
Lia says
Do I need to add the chocolate chips? Also, if I wanted to add fresh berries in between the layers do you think that would work? Thanks!
Sasha Hooper says
Hi, you don't have to put the chocolate chips in this cake if you don't want them. Fresh berries would be a nice idea in between the layers, just be prepared that the cake may not last that long with fresh berries inside. Enjoy!
Lia says
Thankyou!
Carolyn Wagner says
I think this is an easy recipe if you follow the steps perfectly. It came out looking very moist and tender.
Sasha says
That's great to know, thank you!
Carolyn Wagner says
I made the cake for an upcoming family Thanksgiving event. I was able to use 4 8 x 8 square pans, and the layers are uniform and a nice layer height. I do this on the weekend before the event. After the layers are cool, I put them in a freezer bag into the freezer, until time to frost with this wonderful chocolate frosting. I did the browned butter the night before, and all worked out very well.
Sasha says
Thank you so much for letting me know how you got on with this recipe! I'm really glad to hear it turned out well and you found the instructions easy to follow. I hope you found it delicious too! 🙂
Carolyn Wagner says
I made the cake for an upcoming family Thanksgiving event. I was able to use 4 8 x 8 square pans, and the layers are uniform and a nice layer height. I do this on the weekend before the event. After the layers are cool, I put them in a freezer bag into the freezer, until time to frost with this wonderful chocolate frosting. I did the browned butter the night before, and all worked out very well.
Barry says
How do I adapt the measurements for a 8 inch cake?
Sasha says
Use two 8 inch cake tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
Barry says
And the ingredients... double everything?
Sasha says
Ingredients as written 🙂 sorry I wasn't clear enough!
Carolyn Wagner says
You were very clear on your description. I did not double the recipe, I used 4 8x8 square pans and just watched them very closely but baked these @ 300 degrees.
Barry says
Where can I purchase the pictured chocolate eggs?
Sasha says
I'm not sure where you are, but where I live, they're only available for purchase in the lead up to Easter. The gold ones are galaxy golden eggs, the larger coloured ones are cadbury's mini eggs and the tiny ones are micro eggs that I get from the supermarket. Hope that helps!
Lianne says
What size tin do you use?
Sasha says
I use 6 inch tins but you can use 8 inch tins if you like and just do 2 layers instead of 4 you'll just have to bake them a little longer 🙂
Marlee says
I love that you paired a nutty brown butter with chocolate chips! Super gorgeous cake, perfect for impressing people!
Sasha says
Thanks so much Marlee! Brown butter and chocolate chips are an epic combo, so delish!