White Chocolate Easter Cake – Easy Easter Nest Cake

This delicious white chocolate Easter cake is so easy to make and looks spectacular on the Easter table. By creating a chocolate nest as the decoration you can fill it with your favourite chocolate easter eggs or even fill it with Easter decorations. The cake is a simple lemon drizzle Easter cake with white chocolate buttercream.

I love making Easter cakes. This white chocolate Easter cake is made from a lovely vanilla sponge with lemon drizzle, sandwiched together with white chocolate buttercream. Then the crowning glory of the cake is a giant chocolate easter nest filled with beautiful speckled chocolate quail eggs.

This is not the simplest recipe as it has a few parts that need to be made, however, it might be my most beautiful. The components are the lemon drizzle cake, white chocolate buttercream and of course the giant Easter nest.

The giant chocolate nest filled with chocolate quail eggs really makes it a show-stopper. It’s stunning, delicious and so much fun to make!

White Chocolate Easter Cake Top Questions

What cakes do you eat at Easter?
Can you add white chocolate to a cake?
What is Easter cake made of?
What is traditional British Easter food?

Why you’ll love this White Chocolate Easter Cake recipe

The Lemon drizzle Easter cake is so fresh and light, it’s a perfect Easter dessert. The decorations really take it to another level, it’s an elegant white chocolate Easter cake with tiny chocolate quail eggs.

You can really take some time to prepare and decorate the Easter nest cake, as I said it’s not the simplest of recipes but it’s not too complicated either, just has lots of assembly steps. I love being in the kitchen with some music on and baking and this white chocolate cake recipe is the perfect excuse to do that!

It tastes incredible. I have never tried a white chocolate cake recipe that tastes so good! It’s luxurious without being too dense and the sharp lemon drizzle pairs perfectly with the creamy white chocolate. You’ll be making the lemon drizzle Easter cake every year.

White Chocolate Easter Cake Ingredients

For the full recipe and instructions scroll to the bottom of the page for the recipe card.

WHITE CHOCOLATE

It wouldn’t be a white chocolate Easter cake without white chocolate. You can use any white chocolate to make the white chocolate buttercream. It’s so sweet and creamy I almost want to eat straight from the bowl!

I used the supermarket own brand of white chocolate for this recipe as it’s the most cost-effective but it’s really up to you.

LEMON

Using fresh lemon in this cake makes it sing with flavour. It also works so incredibly well with white chocolate.

For this recipe I used the zest and juice of a lemon and it worked so well.

SHREDDED WHEAT

Available in most supermarkets, shredded wheat is pillow-shaped cereal. You can buy them in a range of sizes but I used about 6 large shredded wheat to make the egg on this 20cm cake.

You’ll need to break them up to make the chocolate nest but this is really easy, they’re hollow in the middle so can be broken apart easily and work perfectly when mixed into the melted chocolate mixture.

How to make White Chocolate Easter Cake – step by step

For the full recipe and instructions scroll to the bottom of the page for the recipe card.

This recipe can be easily split in 4 parts, making the sponge cake, making the lemon drizzle and buttercream, making the Easter nests and then assembling it all together.

Making the Easter sponge cake.

This is a simple sponge recipe and so it is relatively simple. You’ll need to start by combining your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add your eggs one at a time, mixing in between.

Sieve in your dry ingredients and combine until the cake mixture comes together.

Bake your sponge cake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake to fully cool while you make the lemon drizzle and butter cream.

Lemon Drizzle

To make the lemon drizzle you’ll need to combine lemon juice, sugar and water and bring it to a simmer. You’ll need to keep stirring until it becomes gloopy and a bit thick.

You’ll then want to spread the lemon drizzle on your two sponge layers, this is what makes it a lemon drizzle Easter cake and I think it adds such a wonderful flavour to the final Easter cake.

White Chocolate Buttercream

White Chocolate buttercream is made the same way as normal buttercream but with the addition of melted white chocolate. You add the white chocolate when the buttercream is almost ready. This gives the best results for this recipe.

Cream together your butter and melted (but slightly cooled) white chocolate, adding the milk to keep it from getting too sticky. Then add your icing sugar and keep mixing until it reaches the desired texture.

Shredded Wheat Easter Nest

Start by melting your milk chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a pan all together until fully combined.

Take your mix off the heat once it’s fully melted and add in your broken-up shredded wheat. Stirring until all the shredded wheat is covered in chocolate.

On a piece of greaseproof paper draw around the cake tin base so you know how large you can go with the nest. I made mine a few centimetres smaller so it would fit.

Once you’ve mixed the chocolate and shredded wheat, pour it onto the greaseproof paper and mould the shredded wheat mixture into a nest shape and leave it to set.

Finally, assembly.

Start with your sponge cake, both layers should be covered in lemon drizzle and fully cooled.

Place your bottom layer on a cake board and add a generous helping of buttercream. Sandwich your second layer on top and add more buttercream to the top and sides to create a smooth base for your decorations.

Gently remove your nest from the greaseproof paper and lay it on top of your white chocolate easter cake. Then you can decorate with mini eggs, creme eggs or the gorgeous chocolate quail eggs I used.

White Chocolate Easter Cake Top Tips

Measure the size of your easter cake before making your chocolate nest. I did this by drawing around the base of my cake tin. That way my nest would be bigger than the top of my white chocolate easter cake.

Make this cake to use up your leftover Easter chocolate. You can decorate the nest with any egg-shaped chocolates so mix and match all your favourites. Just no fighting over who gets what slice!

To make baking the Easter cake a bit quicker. You can build the Easter nest and make the lemon drizzle whilst your cake is baking in the oven. Then make your buttercream as it cools. This saves you from having to wait around whilst the sponge cake cools.

White Chocolate Easter Cake Serving Suggestions

This Easter cake makes the perfect Easter dessert. It looked gorgeous on the table and everyone was asking for seconds!

You could even make mini Easter cupcakes for an Easter party but pouring your cake mix into a cupcake tin and making mini chocolate nests instead of one large one.

Equipment

This list contains affiliate links

• 2x 8 inch Cake Tins (20cm cake tin)
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen Scales
• Electric whisk
• Stand Mixer (optional but worth it)
• Piping bag

White Chocolate Easter Cake Substitutions and variations

Chocolate Corn flake Easter cakes

No shredded wheat? No problem, follow the recipe as normal but swap the shredded wheat for cornflakes. They mix into the melted chocolate really well and still set hard enough to hold the easter egg chocolates in place.

Chocolate Rice Krispie Easter nests

Another option is to use rice Krispies to make your Easter nets. I’m sure we all remember making rice Krispie Treats when we were younger and this is no different.

You can mix the rice Krispies with marshmallows in a saucepan over low heat for a lighter Easter nest, or if you prefer you can add them to this recipe in place of the shredded wheat.

Orange Drizzle Cake

There are a few flavours that go together as well as chocolate and orange. I tried making this drizzle cake with oranges once when I ran out of lemons and it was incredible.

The rich citrus flavour mixed with the sweet white chocolate buttercream was so luxurious.

Storing White Chocolate Easter Cake / Making ahead of time options

You can make the sponge cake well ahead of time by baking the cake layers and then wrapping them in clingfilm and popping them in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Then when you’re ready to serve you can defrost the sponge whilst you make and assemble the decorative elements to your white chocolate Easter cake.

Once baked and enjoyed, if you happen to have leftovers you can store them in an airtight container for a few days but after about 4/5 days the sponge will go a bit dry so I recommend eating it before this.

FAQS

What cakes do you eat at Easter?

You can eat all types of cake at Easter. I love baking cakes that use up my favourite Easter chocolate as decoration, cupcakes with mini eggs or a lemon drizzle cake with chocolate quail eggs.

Can you add white chocolate to a cake?

Yes! I love making white chocolate buttercream as a way to add white chocolate to cake. White chocolate cakes are delicious and creamy and perfect for Easter or springtime.

What is Easter cake made of?

Easter cake is traditionally made with dried fruits and candied peels in a rich sponge – it’s full of spices and is perfect for after your lamb roast dinner on Easter Sunday.

What is traditional British Easter food?

Traditionally, in Britain, we eat fish on Easter Friday followed by a lamb roast dinner on Easter Sunday. I always like to follow my roast with a big Easter cake, decorated with all my favourite Easter chocolate.

Other Easter Recipes you might like

Pin this Easter cake recipe to enjoy later

Pin me for later or follow me @sewwhiteblog on Pinterest for my latest recipes and to discover my others.

Recipe

White Chocolate Easter Cake – Easy Easter Nest Cake

Sisley White

This delicious white chocolate Easter cake is so easy to make and looks spectacular on the Easter table. By creating a chocolate nest as the decoration you can fill it with your favourite chocolate easter eggs or even fill it with Easter decorations. The cake is a simple lemon drizzle Easter cake with white chocolate buttercream.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Decorating Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Course Bakes, Cakes, Dessert, Pudding, Sweet Treats

Cuisine American, British, International

Servings 12 slices

Calories 1109 kcal

Equipment

• 2 8 inch Cake Tin (20cm cake tin)
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen Scales
• Electric whisk
• Stand Mixer (optional but worth it)
• Piping bag

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

For the cake

• 500 g unsalted butter (or baking block like Stork)
• 450 g golden caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs
• 500 g Self-raising flour
• 200 ml semi-skimmed milk

Easter Nest

• 150 g milk chocolate
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons golden syrup
• 6 large shredded wheat

Lemon Drizzle

• 6 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 lemon (juice)

Buttercream

• 250 g unsalted butter
• 250 g icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 200 g white chocolate

Instructions

 

The Cake

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) and grease and line 2x 8inch cake tins.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  
• Add the vanilla extract along with the eggs. Mix until combined.
  
• Sieve in the flour and stir in.
  
• Gently add the milk and stir until a soft cake mixture.
• Divide between the cake tins and bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown and spongey to touch. You can also test it’s cooked by using a cake tester and it’s done if it comes out clean.
  
• Leave to cool.
• Level off the cakes and prepare the rest of the recipe. (Eat the pieces you’ve cut off with a cup of tea while you work on the rest of the cake.)

Easter nest

• On a piece of greaseproof paper draw around the cake tin you used for the cake. This helps you make the nest the correct size for the cake.
• In a saucepan, on a low/medium heat, melt together the milk chocolate, butter and golden syrup. Remove from the heat when it’s melted.
• Break up the shredded wheat and stir it to the melted chocolate mix. Give it a good stir to make sure it’s all combined.
• Gently spoon out the chocolate shredded wheat mix into a nest shape on the greaseproof paper. Making the finished nest slightly smaller than the cake tin size.
  
• Put the chocolate nest into the fridge or somewhere cool to set and harden.

Lemon drizzle

• In a small saucepan add the water, lemon juice and sugar.
  
• On a medium low heat bring the mixture to a simmer.
• Keep stirring until the mixture has thickened and is more gloopy.
• Gently drizzle the lemon mixture between the two halves of the cake on the cut open sides of the cake.
  
• Leave it to soak in while you make the nest.
  

Buttercream

• Break the white chocolate and add it to a microwave safe bowl.
  
• In short 20 second bursts melt the white chocolate in microwave. Once melted leave to cool.
• In a mixer or by hand, beat together the unsalted butter with 1 teaspoon of milk.
  
• Gently add in a few tablespoons of icing sugar at a time.
  
• When the white chocolate is cool but still molten, mix it into the buttercream on a low speed.
  
• You are now ready to assemble the cake.
  

Assembling the cake

• Place the first tier of the cake onto your plate.
• Divide the buttercream into two and use the first half to sandwich the two tiers of cake together.
• Use the remaining buttercream on the top of the cake.
• Add the nest to the top of the cake.
  
• Decorate with the Rococo chocolate quail eggs or your favourite Easter eggs.
  
• It’s now ready to serve.
  

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 1109kcalCarbohydrates: 122gProtein: 10gFat: 67gSaturated Fat: 41gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 230mgSodium: 66mgPotassium: 203mgFiber: 2gSugar: 90gVitamin A: 1812IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 95mgIron: 1mg

Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Keyword cake, chocolate easter nest, easter cake, easter nest cake, lemon drizzle cake, lemon easter cake, white chocolate

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!