Easter treats

Easter is synonymous with eggs, and if you have children, (or even if you don't!) it's the chocolate ones that count. We always have lots of mini eggs in our house which are perfect for adding to cookies and for decorating cakes to make them festive. So while you wait for the Easter bunny to arrive (and before you hide all the eggs in the garden!), why not try out these two simple recipes.

Mini eggs are perfect for filling little chocolate Easter 'nests', and this recipe is perfect for keeping kids of all ages occupied in the kitchen for a few hours.

All you need is your favourite breakfast cereal (we used shredded wheat), some milk chocolate (or you could use half milk and half dark chocolate) and a knob of butter.

So that's -

100g of cereal, 250g chocolate, 25g of butter

- which makes 8 small nests.

Break the chocolate into a bowl, add the butter and melt over a saucepan of simmering water. While the chocolate is melting, crumble up the cereal into another bowl. Then simply mix the two together until the cereal is completely coated in chocolate. Spoon a couple of teaspoonfuls in some cupcake cases and make an indent in the middle. Once it's cooled and set, add your little chocolate eggs.

Mini eggs are also good for adding to cookies - I used my chocolate chip cookies recipe and substituted the chocolate chips and walnuts with mini eggs. It's probably a good idea to smash some of them up a bit but I left a few whole too.

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If you prefer something less chocolatey but just as festive, try my Easter fairy cakes

Chocolate Brownies

Everybody loves a chocolate brownie, but do you like them fudgy, gooey or cake-like? This is a tried and trusted recipe in our house, and one I was given some years ago. It uses real chocolate instead of cocoa powder which gives a moist, fudgy and chewy brownie. So this is my basic recipe which you can customise by adding nuts or dried fruits of your choice.

300g unsalted butter

300g dark chocolate

5 large eggs

450g granulated sugar

200g plain flour (sieved)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC

Line a baking tin (or a lasagne dish like I did) with greaseproof paper - the ideal size is about 34cm x 25cm.

Sieve the flour and salt together.

Break the chocolate into a large bowl and sit it over a saucepan of simmering water.

Add the butter and melt the two together, stirring occasionally. When it's completely melted, take it off the heat.

Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in another bowl until creamy. Then add it to the chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

Finally, beat in the sieved flour and pour the mixture into your lined tin. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top has a crust on it that has just started to crack.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about half an hour before slicing into squares.

You should get about 20 depending how large or small you like your brownies.

Perfect served with a morning coffee or for pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy ...

Vanilla buttermilk cake

This is a moist vanilla sponge cake which can be molded and iced to suit any occasion. It's a firm mix so perfect for using in a multi-layered cake, a patterned cake mold, or as I did here, in two sandwich tins. I've used a chocolate 'frosting' this time, but in the past have had great success with strawberry jam in the middle and a vanilla buttercream icing on top. See my grandmother's cream layer cake for quantities.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.

250g plain flour

125g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

3 large eggs

200ml buttermilk

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

1½ tsp vanilla extract

Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Measure out the buttermilk and stir in the vanilla extract.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, whisking carefully to make sure they are well combined. Now add the flour mixture bit by bit alternating with the buttermilk until you have a loose cake mix.

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.