There’s something so magical about Easter egg hunts. I have such vivid memories of frantically searching my childhood garden for eggs my parents had concealed in plants and flower beds. This cake is an ode to those memories with its green “grass” and cookie “soil”, and the beauty of it is you can use any cake recipe you like, and decorate it however you like too. This recipe makes a kid friendly banana cake, but you could make something chocolatey to make it even more fitting for Easter!
Serves 12
x Jordan
For the cake
185g plain flour
60g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp fine salt
125g brown sugar
500g peeled very ripe bananas
130ml light olive oil
For the icing:
150g butter, at room temperature
220g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp matcha powder
For the decorations:
Mini Easter eggs
A handful of edible flowers and herbs
A couple of chocolate cookies, crumbled
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius on fan bake. Line 2 x 22cm tins with baking paper.
Combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment beat the brown sugar, bananas and oil together until very well combined and pale. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
Evenly divide the batter between the 2 tins. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool in their tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Meanwhile make the icing. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, icing sugar and vanillas until very pale, light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese little by little and continue beating until the icing is completely smooth. Take about ½ cup of the icing out and place in a separate bowl. Combine this small amount with the matcha powder.
When the cakes are fully cooled, spread some of the white icing onto one layer using an offset palette knife. Place the other cake layer on top and neatly ice with the rest of the white icing. Refrigerate the cake for about 30 minutes to let the icing set a bit.
Now spread over the matcha icing almost to the edges of the cake but leaving about 2cm of white icing showing, trying not to incorporate the green into the white.
Decorate as desired!
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.