BAKING WITH A TODDLER – EASTER CORNFLAKE NEST CAKES

This was not the Easter weekend that we expected but I’m trying to keep in positive spirits and will be tucking into all of the chocolate with Evangeline for the next four days! I’ve seen so many friends turning to baking as a lockdown hobby and although I’m no Mary Berry, I wanted to attempt an activity to keep Eve occupied for at least 5 minutes. You can’t go wrong with cornflake cakes so we made our own!

Every year we have the annual Easter egg hunt at my Mums house. This year would have been lovely as Evangeline is properly on her feet and she’s also obsessed with chocolate. Mum always buys things to prepare in advance so she sent me over some cake cases, mini eggs and even the Cornflakes as I didn’t actually have them in. As for the chocolate, my Dad turned up at my front door with a gift bag full of treats last week, inside was a huge bar of Dairy Milk which definitely came in handy! So a massive thank you to both of my parents who provided everything you see featured in the post. If you’re both reading this I can’t wait to give you a big hug!

Ingredients you will need:
Cake cases
Cornflakes
Mini Eggs
A big bar of chocolate (choose your favourite!)

Additional ingredients:
Decorations for the top
Toddler saliva

Let’s start with the cornflakes – as I wanted mine extra full I measured out them dry in the cake cases and then put them all into the bowl.

To melt your chocolate you will need a pan of water, pop it on a high heat on the stove so it starts to boil. Break the chocolate up into pieces and place into a bowl. I chose a large flat bowl to try and have all of the chocolate melt as evenly as possible. Place the bowl over the pan, the boiling water will heat the bowl so be careful and make sure to wear over gloves. I would recommend doing this part without a child present, just to be safe! As the chocolate starts to melt, use a wooden spoon to stir and in a couple of minutes all of your chocolate should be melted. It’s important to work with the chocolate quite quickly as it will start to go hard if you leave it too long.

The next step is mixing – this is where your assistant comes in! As the bowl with the chocolate in was hot, I transferred the chocolate myself and then gave Evangeline the bowl to mix. She did a lot more eating than mixing but we got there in the end. This was definitely the fun part and she thought the crunching sound was hilarious, she did not like when I took the bowl away though and there were many tears shed!

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Now it’s time to build your nests. Set up your cake cases and use a spoon to add the mixture into them. When your big bowl is empty it is extremely important to try and eat any of the excess chocolate before cleaning, it is Easter after all! Add your mini eggs to your nests and carefully transfer your cakes to the fridge to cool and set. After a couple of hours they should be ready to enjoy!

The best place to enjoy these little beauties is in the garden, make sure you’re getting some fresh air in the safety of your home! I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these very strange times. Have the best easter weekend possible with whoever you share your home with and take care of yourselves. Chocolate always helps. Lots of love!