It’s Easter time, are you in for a seasonal baking treat?
Here’s a great and fun alternative to hard boiled eggs…
Have you ever wondered what determines the color of a chicken egg shell? It’s all about the earlobes. Well, almost, it depends on whether or not the chicken is a purebred. If so, chicken with white lobes predominantly deliver white eggs, ones with red earlobes brown eggs. Araucana chicken are special: they produce green-bluish eggs. If the chicken is a crossbreed really anything is possible.
Poke a tiny whole in the bottom side of the egg by using a needle or an egg poker. Carefully enlarge the hole using a pointy knife, make sure to only break small pieces of the egg shell to better control the size of the hole, about 1cm (or .5″) would be perfect. Turn the eggs upside down and empty them in a small bowl, some of the egg white/yolk will be used later for the cake batter. If the yolk and egg white refuse to come out, take a wooden skewer and poke inside the egg.
Clean the shells in cold water and prepare a bowl with salt water (dissolve 100g of salt in about 1l of water), fully immerse the egg shell, make sure there’s no air trapped inside. Remove them after about half an hour, rinse them under cold water and let them dry on a paper towel, with the hole pointing down. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C (~355°F).
Baking prep:
Clean the shells in cold water and prepare a bowl with salt water (dissolve 100g of salt in about 1l of water), fully immerse the egg shell, make sure there’s no air trapped inside. Remove them after about half an hour, rinse them under cold water and let them dry on a paper towel, with the hole pointing down. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C (~355°F).
Baking prep:
A muffin tray works great, use little pieces of aluminum foil to form rings, which will help the eggs to stand upright during the filling and baking process.
In a large bowl beat the soft butter together with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then add three eggs. Beat well until the batter gets a creamy consistency, then add the flour together with the baking powder. Whisk until evenly combined.
Divide the batter into two separate bowls. Add the eggnog to one, the cacao powder together with the milk to the other bowl. If the batter seems too dense, you may want to add some more eggnog (for the yellowish batter) or a bit more milk (for the brown batter).
Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil in each egg and turn/flip it in your hand until the inside is completely covered. Get rid of any excessive oil. The hardest part is to fill the eggs, you can do it with a teaspoon and A LOT OF patience or you use a piping bag with a small nozzle. If you want bicolored cake eggs, start with one batter and finish with the second batter. Fill the eggs up to half and two thirds full, sort of trial and error – I seem to never hit the exact amount: Sometimes it is too few and the eggs will look incomplete or it is too much and the batter escapes through the holes, making a mess. You can easily remove the excessive parts after they’re cooled down, so better add a bit more.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. A wooden skewer should come out clean, if the cake eggs are done. Remove from the oven and let cool down completely before cracking them open and peeling off the shell. Surprise, surprise, here’s a cake egg!
Prep time: ~1 hour, baking: 25-30 min.
Ingredients (yields about 8 eggs):
In a large bowl beat the soft butter together with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then add three eggs. Beat well until the batter gets a creamy consistency, then add the flour together with the baking powder. Whisk until evenly combined.
Divide the batter into two separate bowls. Add the eggnog to one, the cacao powder together with the milk to the other bowl. If the batter seems too dense, you may want to add some more eggnog (for the yellowish batter) or a bit more milk (for the brown batter).
Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil in each egg and turn/flip it in your hand until the inside is completely covered. Get rid of any excessive oil. The hardest part is to fill the eggs, you can do it with a teaspoon and A LOT OF patience or you use a piping bag with a small nozzle. If you want bicolored cake eggs, start with one batter and finish with the second batter. Fill the eggs up to half and two thirds full, sort of trial and error – I seem to never hit the exact amount: Sometimes it is too few and the eggs will look incomplete or it is too much and the batter escapes through the holes, making a mess. You can easily remove the excessive parts after they’re cooled down, so better add a bit more.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. A wooden skewer should come out clean, if the cake eggs are done. Remove from the oven and let cool down completely before cracking them open and peeling off the shell. Surprise, surprise, here’s a cake egg!
Happy Easter to all of you!!!
Bicolored Easter eggs
own creation, inspired by chefkoch.de
Prep time: ~1 hour, baking: 25-30 min.
Ingredients (yields about 8 eggs):
- 100g butter, at room temperature
- 100g white sugar
- 8 eggs (medium or large, shells only), 3 for the batter
- 100g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ~2 tbsp eggnog
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- ~2 tbsp milk
- sunflower oil for greasing the eggs
- aluminium foil
