Mini Eggs. Those little chocolate treats of pure Easter/Spring deliciousness. That crunchy pastel-colored shell hiding the oh so gloriously smooth sweet chocolate inside. Heaven. Pure heaven. Pure Mini Egg heaven. And I’ve created a heavenly Mini Egg Cake that trumps even a handful, nay…a bag full (cuz I know you are eating those suckers by the bag), of the well-known and loved Mini Eggs.
Note: This post contains affiliate links to which I earn a small commission, but don’t worry there’s no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting CAKED by Katie.
Vanilla or chocolate? The age-old question of which side of the cake fence do you sit. You no longer need to pick a side, I baked up these soft fluffy vanilla cake layers with a chocolate twist. Chocolate milk!
First, using my go-to Vanilla Cake recipe, I swapped out the regular milk and added in chocolate milk instead. The results were amazing. A soft and fluffy crumb with a light milk chocolate taste. Chef’s kiss!
What Exactly is Chocolate Ganache?
The short answer: chocolate heaven. A longer and slightly more detailed answer is that a chocolate ganache is glaze, icing, sauce, or filling made from chocolate and cream. In this Mini Egg cake, I created the ganache using Mini Eggs and milk. And trust me when I say that it was quite possibly the best baking decision ever! Rich Mini Egg flavor with little specks of that crunchy Mini Egg shell.
Is Ganache Hard or Soft?
It’s both. At first, this Mini Egg ganache will be soft and pourable. But as it cools and sets, the consistency will thicken to a scoopable semi-solid state. Think of room temperature peanut butter. That’s what you are going for with this Mini Egg chocolate ganache filling.
How Long Does the Ganache Need to Set?
Without a doubt, the best thing about a Mini Egg chocolate ganache, or any ganache for that matter, is that it can be made a day or two before you need it to fill a cake. Prepare the ganache according to the recipe, pour it into a shallow air-tight container, and store it in the fridge. When you are ready to fill the cake, simply take out the ganache and give it a stir.
If it’s a scoop-able consistency, go ahead and fill that Mini Egg cake up. If you find the consistency a tad bit hard (probably due to a colder fridge temperature) give it a quick 10-second burst in the microwave to soften it up. Stir and repeat, if needed, until it reaches that solid but scoop-able consistency.
How Do I Make a Mini Egg Buttercream?
The last step of this Mini Egg cake cacophony is the buttercream frosting. Again, using my go-to Vanilla Buttercream recipe as the base, I added in half a cup of chopped Mini Eggs and a healthy splash of brightly colored confetti sprinkles. This frosting was everything fun! Chunks of Mini Egg yum, pops of spring pastels, and that dreamy smooth vanilla buttercream to round out the flavor profile.
How Do I Smooth A Cake?
This cake, seeing as how the Mini Egg buttercream isn’t smooth in and of itself, say like frosting on this Lemon Raspberry cake, will not be completely smooth. The chopped bits of Mini Eggs and pastel confetti sprinkles are going to create a bit of texture. And that’s okay. Don’t fight it trying to get a perfectly smooth cake. It’s not going to happen this time. Roll with it and leave the buttercream a bit rough. Let’s call it Mini Egg personality.
The Best Mini Egg Cake Recipe Awaits
I think you’re ready now. A Mini Egg cake masterpiece awaits you! So grab a bag of those yummy little chocolate Easter treats…okay, maybe two bags. One for baking. One for snacking. And get ready to have your Mini Egg Cake bunny boots blown away!
If you are looking for another fun Easter or Spring inspired cake, I highly suggest giving my Strawberry Almond cake a go!
Mini Egg Cake
- Total Time: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
- Yield: 10 Slices 1x
- Diet: Low Lactose
Description
Fluffy layers of milk chocolate cake filled with the most amazing mini egg ganache and covered in a whipped mini egg buttercream frosting. This cake is mini egg perfection!
Ingredients
Mini Egg Ganache Filling
- ¾ cup mini eggs
- 3 tablespoons dairy-free milk
Milk Chocolate Cake
- ¾ cup dairy-free chocolate milk, room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup cake flour, sifted *can substitute with gluten-free 1:1 baking blend
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅔ cup dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
Mini Egg Buttercream
- 2 cups dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
- 6 cups icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup chopped mini eggs
- ½ cup sprinkles *can substitute with gluten-free sprinkles
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- ⅓ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
- 1 ½ tablespoons dairy-free milk
Cake Decor
- Mini Eggs
- Sprinkles
- Pink Food Color
Instructions
Mini Egg Ganache Filling
-
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the mini eggs and milk in 30-second intervals until fully melted and smooth. Stir between each interval.
-
Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature before filling the cake. *
Milk Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF degrees and prepare four 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray and parchment paper.
- In a small mixing bowl gently whisk together the chocolate milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer and with the flat beater attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and give it a quick mix together for approximately 1 minute.
- Add in the butter, in small pieces, to the dry ingredients and mix on low until it looks like coarse sand.
- Slowly pour in approximately half the liquid mixture from step 2 and mix on medium for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the remaining liquid mixture and mix on medium for another 2 minutes. Scrap the sides of the bowl after the first 30 seconds of mixing and again when done.
- Divide the cake batter into the four prepared cake pans and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the cake layers to cool for 10 minutes and then invert them on a cooling rack to fully cool.
Mini Egg Buttercream
-
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter on high speed until light and fluffy. Approximately 10 minutes.
-
Add the icing sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and mix on low until combined.
-
Turn the mixer up to high and let mix for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl when necessary.
- Remove approximately half of the prepared vanilla buttercream from the mixing bowl and set aside. This will be used for the inside of the cake and pink swirls on top of the cake.
- To the remaining buttercream add the chopped mini eggs and sprinkles and mix on low until combined. This will be used for the final coat on the cake.
Chocolate Ganache Drip
-
In a microwave-safe bowl heat the chocolate chips and milk in 30-second intervals until fully melted and smooth. Stir between each interval.
-
Depending on the kind of milk, the drip may require a touch more milk to thin or a bit more chocolate chips to thicken. **
Cake Assembly
-
Place one leveled layer of milk chocolate cake on a cake board or plate. Top with approximately 1 cup of plain vanilla buttercream.
-
Pipe a vanilla buttercream border around the edge and fill with approximately ¼ cup of the Mini Egg chocolate ganache filling.
-
Repeat with the remaining layers and apply a thin coat of vanilla buttercream all over the cake. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
-
Cover the cake with a layer of mini egg buttercream and very roughly smooth sides using the Wilton Cake Smoother. Note that due to the mini eggs and sprinkles the final layer of buttercream will not be totally smooth. Refrigerate the cake while the chocolate ganache drip is prepared.
-
On a well-chilled cake, with a spoon or a piping bag, drip the warm chocolate ganache over the edges of the cake and put it back in the refrigerator to chill.
-
Decorate as you please. I colored the leftover vanilla buttercream pink and piped some simple swirls with a Wilton 1M tip around the top border and decorated them with leftover Mini Eggs and sprinkles. Enjoy!
- Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
*The ganache filling can be made a day or two in advance. Simply store it in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to be used.
**I always test my ganache drips over the edge of the kitchen sink before applying to a cake to check the consistency.
- Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1184
- Sugar: 124 Grams
- Sodium: 763 Miligrams
- Fat: 70 Grams
- Saturated Fat: 35 Grams
- Unsaturated Fat: 27 Grams
- Trans Fat: 3 Grams
- Carbohydrates: 149 Grams
- Fiber: 2 Grams
- Protein: 6 Grams
- Cholesterol: 118 Miligrams
Keywords: mini egg cake, easter mini egg cake, mini egg cake recipe, easter mini egg cake recipe, best mini egg cake
Why use dairy-free ingredients for this mini egg cake? Mini eggs have dairy so the cake cannot be dairy free no matter what.
Such a good question Cindy. I used dairy-free ingredients to reduce the amount of dairy in the cake for my family. You can most certainly use dairy ingredients in place though!
Hi Katie,
I’m just wondering if I double the recipe what size cake pan should I use? I can’t wait to make this, it looks amazing!!!
★★★★★
Hi Jaime, I would use either four 8 or 9-inch round pans.
Thanks so much Katie! I’m making it this coming weekend. So excited!
★★★★★
This cake is a gift! I am a huge mini egg fan so when I saw this cake I knew I had to make it. The cake layers are so fluffy and paired with the mini egg buttercream and mini egg ganache it’s an absolute dream! My whole family loved this cake. Will be making this again for birthdays in April 😍
★★★★★
Why are Mini Eggs so darn yummy?! 😉 I really appreciate you baking this cake and letting me know.
This cake was surprisingly easy to put together and tastes AMAZING. The cake layers are so moist I was eating all the scraps from when I was making all the layers level. Just going to start hoarding mini eggs so I can make this year round.
★★★★★
Haha oh my gosh yes! I fully support that decision Marissa!
What a delicious recipe Katie! I swapped all the non-dairy ingredients with dairy and it still turned out so soft, moist and delicious. The crunchy pieces of mini-eggs in the buttercream added such a fun aspect to the cake and the mini-egg ganache was to die for! So happy I made this <3
★★★★★
Yay! That literally made my day to read. Thank you so much for taking the time to make this cake Ashleigh! I could eat this mini egg buttercream every single day of the week.
I am absolutely going to make this for Easter this year! Cant wait to try out the chocolate milk! Thank you Katie!
★★★★★
I cannot wait to hear what you think of it Jalena!
Absolutely loved it! I just have to perfect my technique with the cake batter since it did not lift that much. But the flavor of the cake with de minieggs ganache and the buttercream is A-MAZING
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake flavor! Using room temperature ingredients and fresh baking powder/soda really help with the lift.
So happy I stumbled across this recipe! I did use dairy but everything turned out so well. The highlight was the sponge. They baked completely evenly so I didn’t have to level them off. So incredibly soft and light, yet doesn’t fall apart when layering. It also stayed like this even after a day or so. Also, mini egg buttercream?! What’s not to love! Highly recommend even if it’s not Easter!
★★★★
I am thrilled to hear you had such success with this recipe. The base sponge is my go-to cake recipe! Thank you so much for sharing Alicia.
When I saw this recipe, I knew so had to try it for our family Easter cake. It turned out AMAZING! Next time I make it, I will make 1/3rd more mini egg ganache, but everything worked perfectly and produced a cake so delicious my son said it was better than every other cake he’s ever had. The chocolate milk gives it just the right flavor base. It is quite a sugar bomb (as expected), so we’re ending up with at least 15 “servings.”
★★★★★
Aw, bless his little heart, that is the absolute cutest! And sugar bomb seems totally appropriate! 😆
Katie has done it again!! This recipe includes everything that you need in a cake, plus, it’s freaking adorable!
★★★★★
You are the absolute sweetest Ashley! Thank you!
Absolutely delish! One of the best cakes I’ve ever had and perfect for Easter! I made the 6 inch version and it was the perfect size. I had to bake the cakes about 5 mins longer than the recipe suggested but they turned out perfect. I also made the ganache ahead of time which made cake assembly so much easier!
★★★★★
Thanks for baking this cake recipe up Lexine! I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed it.
I’ve used this ganache recipe several times now for cake and cupcake filling. My customers love it.
★★★★★
That’s so cool to hear. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve actually been waiting to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday in May. I saved a bag of mini eggs from Easter just for this occasion. She actually cried when I surprised her with it. Thank you for such a special birthday cake for my daughter.
★★★★★
Oh gosh Mary Beth, that makes my heart smile to hear. Please tell her I say happy birthday.
I made this back for Easter and my family thoroughly enjoyed it.
★★★★★
Thanks for baking this one up Jane! I sure wish we could get Mini Eggs year round!
I am planning to make this cake for Easter this year and would appreciate advice on alterations to this recipe for using two 8” pans instead of four 6” pans please.
Hello, this recipe works fabulously as is for two 8 inch round cake pans. Bake time will increase. Can’t wait to hear how it goes for you.
This is the most show stopping Easter cake! Not to mention how delicious it is! I saved this image as my screen saver because it is just a gorgeous cake. Thanks for the inspiration, Katie!
★★★★★
I am absolutely thrilled you baked this one up and enjoyed it. It’s such a joyful easter cake!
I’m knew you the baking scene. Does this recipe make 1 or 3 layers? This sounds amazing!!
Hi Brooke, it will make 4 layers.
This cake is phenomenal!! The cake recipe itself is wonderful, the colour and texture are so beautiful and I’ve never had a cake bake so evenly before! I replaced the non dairy items with dairy and it worked perfectly. The mini egg ganache is a showstopper and I love the pop of colour in the mini egg buttercream. I am offering this to my customers for Easter and I have no doubt everyone will love it. This recipe is a dream come true! Thanks Katie for another great recipe!
★★★★★
Yay yay yay! Words right to my heart Krissy. Thank you for sharing.
What is the meaning of ” mini eggs” ? I am from Venezuela
They are a chocolate candy treat shaped like little eggs and are typically enjoyed around Easter. The cake is decorated with them on top if you want to see what they look like.