it’s almost easter and i’m absolutely thrilled about it :)

don’t you love easter and pretty much any holiday where you get to celebrate it with food? **cough. cough. thanksgiving. clearing throat.**

so to celebrate in grand, make this cadbury salted caramel bundt cake i just made for your liberal consumption and indulgence.

this cake is inspired by cadbury caramel eggs, of course. i added salted caramel to stay with the theme and flavor and recreated little nests for easter. not to mention, the cake is fluffy and has a salted caramel swirl and a whole cadbury caramel egg inside. mmm!

this recipe starts by making the salted caramel.

whisk sugar, water and light corn syrup and cook until caramel turns an amber color.

add heavy cream, butter, vanilla, sea salt and lemon juice.

let caramel cool in a bowl.

now let’s make the cake ;)

sift flour with baking powder. add sea salt and mix well.

egg whites waiting to be added to the cake batter.

dice up butter before creaming.

add sugar, yolks, milk and vanilla.

alternate flour mixture with egg whites.

fill cake pan with batter.

pour caramel. mmm!

place cadbury caramel eggs in the pan and cover with the remainder of the cake batter.

to assemble, frost little circles throughout cake to recreate nests.

add toasted coconut or “branches” to each circle.

place mini cadbury caramel eggs.

oh yeah.

cadbury salted caramel bundt cake

ingredients

salted caramel:
1 cup sugar
2 tbsps light corn syrup
4 tbsps water
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
2 tbsps butter
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

yields 1 1/2 cups

directions:

1. in a medium saucepan add water, sugar and light corn syrup and whisk well over medium heat. let it cook for 4 minutes.
2. increase the heat to medium high and bring sugar mixture to a boil. don’t mix with any utensils, just move the pan back and forth to shake it a little so the caramel cooks evenly.
3. cook caramel until it turns an amber color. not too dark, not too light. don’t overcook since you don’t don’t want to burn the caramel. remove from the stove and let it rest for about one minute.
4. add heavy cream to caramel VERY carefully and wearing oven mittens if possible. the caramel is very hot and it will bubble and splatter. whisk well.
5. add butter, lemon juice, sea salt and vanilla to caramel. stir well with a whisk.
6. carefully, add salted caramel to a bowl and let it cool.

bundt cake:
6 large eggs, room temperature {sitting on the counter for 30-50 minutes approx.}
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature but still cold to the touch {sitting on the counter for 30-50 minutes approx.}
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature {sitting on the counter for 30-50 minutes approx.}
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
7 caramel cadbury eggs, regular size
1 to 1 1/2 cups salted caramel, divided
8 caramel cadbury eggs, small size {optional}
1 cup salted caramel buttercream frosting {optional}
2 tbsp shredded coconut, toasted {optional}

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350F.
2. butter bundt cake pan. set aside.
3. separate egg whites from yolks. beat egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer over high speed for 3 minutes or until soft peaks form. you can use a hand mixer as well {beat for about 10 minutes}.
4. in a large bowl, sift flour and baking powder. add sea salt and mix well.
5. add egg whites to a bowl and set aside.
6. in the same bowl of a standing mixer, cream butter over medium high speed for 1 minute. add sugar and mix until fluffy and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes over medium high speed.
7. reduce speed to medium and add egg yolks one at a time mixing well. follow with vanilla extract and milk.
8. clean the sides and bottom of the bowl by scraping with a rubber spatula to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. beat on medium high for 30 seconds.
9. set speed to the lowest setting and alternate egg whites with flour mixture. make sure to finish with egg whites.
10. add a little over 1/2 of the batter but less than 3/4 to cake pan. this is to avoid the eggs drown and touch the bottom of the pan.
11. make an indentation in the middle of the batter with a knife going all the way around so when you add the caramel it stays put. pour about 3/4 to 1 cup of the salted caramel to cake batter avoiding the outer edges of the pan. this will avoid burning the caramel when the cake is baking.
12.  place cadbury eggs, pointy side down, and with even spacing in between them throughout the cake.
13.  add the rest of the batter in big dollops and carefully smoothing batter with a rubber spatula by turning the pan. tap the pan a few times to level batter.
14.  bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
15.  let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes on a cooling rack.
16.  take cake out of the pan and let it cool completely top side up on the cooling rack. it can take up to one hour.

to assemble the cake:

1. once cake is baked and cooled, level the bottom if uneven. you can use a serrated knife or one of those special tools for layering cakes. i used a serrated knife because my cake was a bit uneven.
2.  pipe frosting in desired tip in 8 small circles distributed evenly to create the nests. i used tip 6B from wilton.
3.  carefully place toasted coconut in the frosting to recreate the branches of a nest.
4.  place small cadbury eggs in each nest making sure they are well put.
5.  drizzle cake with the remainder 1/2 cup salted caramel.
6.  store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

**note** i originally recommended to flour the bundt cake pan showing so in pictures on here. however, i discovered butter does the job when using a non-stick cake pan. i found that when using flour makes the outer layer too hard and crisp, which is not recommended for cakes. so if using a non-stick bundt cake pan, i highly recommend using only butter.