The 9 Best Easter Cake Ideas & Recipes
Easter cake - two words guaranteed to make you smile. Whether you’re going for a traditional simnel cake, a bunny-themed carrot cake or something else entirely, read on for our guide that’s packed with Easter cake recipes and Easter cake ideas for your family celebrations. For those who don’t fancy donning an apron, there’s our range of gorgeous personalised and perfectly baked cakes to pick from, too!
1. Sunday cake
Did you give up chocolate for Lent? If you did, then by the time Easter weekend comes you will be deserving of a huge, chocolatey treat - and if you didn’t do Lent, just treat yourself anyway! Cake doesn’t get more decadent than this Easter cake recipe. Tanya Burr shared this family recipe with Party Pieces – it’s a cake her mother would make every Sunday, hence the name, and it requires ingredients including cocoa powder, eggs, caster sugar, self-raising flour and baking powder, and takes just 20 minutes to bake. Smothered in chocolate butter icing and milk chocolate, this is a glorious cake to dive into.
TOP TIP: For a striking Easter table display, pair this cake with one of our Easter trees.
2. Simnel cake
This list is full to the brim with exciting Easter cake ideas, but for some keeping it simple and traditional will be their preferred option. Simnel cake is the one. It’s a light fruit cake packed with spices and dried fruit which is usually brought out on Easter Sunday, although it was originally linked to Mother’s Day. In reference to Easter’s Christian roots, the cake is often topped with 12 marzipan balls which represent Jesus’s apostles. Fancy giving this one a go? Here's Mary Berry's recipe to follow.
TOP TIP: For best results, bring your ingredients up to room temperature before you start baking. Milk, butter and eggs will blend better when they’re not fridge-cold, making the process easier - and the results more delicious.
3. Carrot cake
One that the Easter bunny would surely approve of! This classic bake is a solid choice for an Easter cake – a family favourite that isn’t too tricky for novice bakers. Emphasise the bunny theme by topping the cake with little rabbit biscuits and carrot shapes made from icing. Try this ‘carrot patch’ version from BBC Good Food.
TOP TIP: For added cute factor, decorate with these bunny cake toppers!
4. ‘No bake’ chocolate cheesecake
Baking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some of us prefer the hard work to be done for us so we can enjoy an actual cup of tea and a slice of cake without the hassle of washing up! If you’re looking for a happy medium, then go for this chocolate cheesecake – a recipe shared with us by former Masterchef semi-finalist Theo Michaels. It’s an easy Easter cake recipe made from a biscuit base topped with a delicious cream cheese and Nutella mix. It’s an easy-to-master recipe because it requires no baking at all, just time in the fridge at different stages of the prep.
TOP TIP: If your recipe requires something sticky and delicious such as honey or golden syrup, you can make for smooth spooning-out by brushing your tea or table spoon with vegetable or olive oil beforehand. This makes for less wastage and less sticky mess as you measure it out.
5. Personalised Cake
If even a fridge cake like Theo’s is too much to contemplate this Easter and you’d prefer to buy a cake, then we think adding a personal touch is a lovely way to make your Easter weekend celebrations special. Party Pieces has a brilliant range of personalised cakes to which you can add family photos and an uplifiting message. All of our cakes are baked at Fiona Cairns' award-winning bakery and come in two scrummy flavours, chocolate or vanilla. We regularly receive amazing reviews on how delicious they are from very happy customers, and there are more than 100 different designs and two sizes to pick from.
TOP TIP: Order before 2pm for Next Day and Express delivery (UK mainland only).
6. Easter Decorations
What is an Easter cake without a load of decorations? You could bake some Easter chick biscuits or do an arts and crafts session for the kids to create their very own Easter cake toppers (ask your kids to draw and colour in some Easter bunnies, cut them out and attach to cocktail sticks). We also have a wonderful range of cake decorations, including Easter Bunny Tails.
TOP TIP: Ramp up the sweetness levels even further by decorating your cake with whatever chocolate eggs and sweets you fancy.
7. Hot Cross Buns
Not a cake, but these sweet, spicy buns packed with currants or raisins are an Easter essential. Like simnel cakes, elements of the bun, most notably the cross decoration, refer to Easter’s Christian roots. Hot cross buns are popular in countries across the world, but it is thought that the first version was created by a 14th century English monk in St Albans. There are superstitions connected to the bun recorded in English folklore, such as the suggestion that buns made on Good Friday will not go mouldy in the following year (although we don’t recommend you risk it!) Most of us will buy our hot cross buns. Homemade is always the most delicious, though, so if you fancy giving it a go, turn to Mary Berry for her trusty recipe.
TOP TIP: A common baking mistake is to substitute unsalted butter for the salted variety. You might think this won’t make a difference or that it would give your cakes a delicious salted flavour, but it can affect the chemistry of your recipe, leading to unpredictable results.
8. Peter Rabbit Cup Cakes
Doing baking with your kids is a lovely family activity for Easter and whipping up a batch of cupcakes is always a guaranteed winner. They’ll love to help you mix the ingredients together, spooning out the mixture and licking the spoon! Choose whichever basic cupcake recipe you are comfortable with, but give your cakes an Easter theme with our Peter Rabbit and Friends cupcake kit, which comes with 24 toppers and cupcake cases. If you want to make Peter Rabbit the theme for your entire Easter tea party, then also browse our Peter Rabbit tableware. Finish the look with one of our spectacular cake stands to present them on.
TOP TIP: Use an ice cream scoop to ladle cake mixture out into your cases. It can be neater than using two spoons, and makes it easier to measure equal amounts of batter to make sure the cakes end up the same size.
9. Crème Egg Brownie Cake
We started this list with a chocolate cake and, just because we can, we’re going to end with one. How can you make a chocolate brownie even more yummy? According to Olive magazine, by sticking a load of Cadbury’s Crème Eggs on top. We’d love to stay and tell you more, but we’re off to make it!
TOP TIP: No matter what precautions you take, flour and icing sugar will end up dusted everywhere, like a charming/annoying snowstorm. Clear it off your work surfaces with a ruler or shower squeegee, then wipe clean with a damp cloth. For stubborn dough stains, soak a cloth with warm water, lie it over the area, and wait for the dough to soften again before scraping it off.
Hopefully there is plenty on this list to inspire you to get baking with your family this Easter. Share pictures of your cakes with us on Instagram – you can find us @PartyPieces.