Easter loaf cake recipe

A vanilla sponge Easter loaf cake with chocolate sponge bunnies hiding all the way through the middle.

This amazing cake is a beautiful surprise to serve up at teatime over Easter. It's so impressive, but easier than you'd think to put together. Just watch our short how-to video if you don't believe us. The trick is to make the chocolate sponge first and cut it into rabbit shaped sections before you start. Line these up in a loaf tin and pour the vanilla sponge batter over the top, and hey presto - there's an Easter bunny inside. Making two cakes does take a little longer than your average loaf cake, but it's worth it for the effect. You can speed things up by buying a chocolate sponge to use and only making the vanilla batter.

Ingredients

For the chocolate loaf:

• 125g butter, softened
• 125g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extrac
• 100g self-raising flour
• 40g cocoa
• 1-2 tbsp milk

For the vanilla loaf:

• 175g butter, softened
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1-2 tbsp milk

For the decoration:

• 3 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs and vanilla, then fold through the flour and cocoa. Loosen with milk if needed.
3. Spoon into the tin and bake for 45-50 mins until the sponge is springy to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, slice the cake into 6 and stamp out a rabbit shape from each.
4. Grease and line the tin and make the batter for the vanilla loaf in the same way.
5. Spread a third of the batter onto the base and sides of the cake tin. Line the chocolate rabbits along the base of the tin and spread over the vanilla mixture, making sure to get it all around the rabbits.
6. Bake for a further 45-50 mins, until a skewer comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and leave the cake to cool completely. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.

Top tip for making this Easter loaf cake

You'll be left with lots of chocolate cake off-cuts, which are the perfect excuse to make cake pops. If you don't want to make them straight away, collect up all the off-cuts into a freezer bag, seal and freeze until you're ready.

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