Easter Egg Cakes.

Avoid having to make a dessert choice between Easter Eggs and Easter Cake – have Easter Egg Cake!

I give you a selection of ideas from Australian newspapers of the 1920’s to 1940’s:-

Easter Egg Cake.

Cream together 2oz. of butter and.3oz. of castor sugar; add egg and beat well. Stir in 3oz. of ground rice; add 1 more egg and 2oz. of flour; lastly add 1½ teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Beat well for 6 minutes. Bake in ten little tins (greased); before cakes are quite cold make a hole in the top of each,and insert small chocoate Easter eggs.

— Mrs. M. J. Clarke, 176 Palmerston street, Perth.

Mirror (Perth, West Australia) 2 April 1927.

Easter Egg Cake.

Beat 6 oz. butter to a smooth cream with 6oz. of sugar, and flavour with the grated rind of a lemon. Stir in three well-whisked eggs, and then gently, but thoroughly, fold in 10oz. of

sieved and warmed self-raising flour mixed with half a teaspoonful of spice. If too stiff mix in a little milk, and lastly stir in 4oz. of sultanas, 2oz. of chopped candied cherries, 2oz. of chopped nuts, and 2oz. of shredded candied peel. Beat a spoonful of hot water through the mixture just be

fore turning it into a tin lined with a well greased paper. Bake for about two and a half hours; when cold ice with cinnamon icing, and decorate with tiny sugar eggs and one or two yellow chicks. For the icing mix sufficient powdered cinnamon into the icing sugar to darken it slightly and to give it a pronounced cinnamon taste. Add in few drops of boiling water and beat until smooth. Another way is to use a plain white icing flavoured with almond essence, and to decorate with tiny chocolate eggs. Delicious little eggs can be made at home from almond paste, or they can be bought at any sweet shop.

The Australasian (Melbourne, Victoria) 7 April 1928.

Easter Egg Cake.

Three-quarter pound butter, ¾lb. sugar, 6 eggs, 9 tablespoons milk, 1¼lb.self-raising flour, ½ teaspoon vanilla essence, 2 cups chopped crystallised fruits (cherries, pineapple, apricots, ginger), ½ cup chopped nuts, white Vienna icing, ½ cup whipped cream. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, then milk and vanilla; lastly well-sifted flour. Pour into two basin-shaped moulds and bake in a steady oven for half an hour. Turn onto cake-cooler. When cold, level flat part of each cake and scoop out a little of the centre. Mix fruit and nuts with cream and pile it into the cavities. Join the two cakes together, making an egg shape, then completely cover with white Vienna icing. When icing is set, tie a ribbon of red cellophane round the centre of egg with a big bow on top.

The Australian Women's Weekly, 16 April 1938

Easter Egg Cake.

CAKE: Three ounces margarine or butter, 3oz. sugar, vanilla, 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons milk, 6oz. flour. 1 ½ teaspoons baking-powder, pinch salt, 1 tablespoon apricot jam, browned coconut or crushed cornflakes.

EASTER EGGS: One pound icing sugar. 3oz. fine white breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon orange juice, 1 dessertspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon almond essence, red, yellow, and green coloring.

Cake: Cream margarine or butter with sugar and vanilla. Add beaten eggs a little at a time. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt, add alternately with the milk. Turn into greased 8in. recess tin, bake 30 to 40 minutes in moderate oven (375 deg. F.). When cool brush top and sides with heated apricot jam and coat with browned coconut or crushed cornflakes.

Easter Eggs: Sift icing sugar and mix with breadcrumbs and lemon rind. Beat egg-yolk with orange and lemon juice and almond essence. Add to dry ingredients, mixing to a workable paste with the hands. Shape into eggs with the fingers, place on waxed paper. When dry brush with coloring. Arrange in recess on top of cake and decorate with fluffy chickens or chickens cut

from yellow cardboard.

The Australian Women's Weekly, 5 April 1947