Cheats - Frosted, Individual Vanilla Easter Cakes

Don't get me wrong, I love to create dishes from scratch, however when your having an ultra busy week and still want to create a little Easter love, I don't see any harm in cheating a little.

I wanted to bake some Easter cakes but had little time to seek out a recipe and all the ingredients, so Betty Crocker came to the rescue! I purchased a Betty Crocker, super moist vanilla cake mix... (No I am not sponsored by Betty), you could use any supermarket cake mix. I then discovered a can of Betty's Creamy deluxe frosting.... (appropriately placed next to the cake mixes). There is rarely enough frosting with these ready mix cakes. Even though this box said, "now with more frosting", I dread to think how little coverage it might have had before they upgraded it....sorry Betty but I have to be honest, it would have 'only just' covered the top of a 20cm cake. I used mini cake tins to create these little gems, once they were cooked and cooled down, they only took a few minutes to decorate.

Cheats - Frosted Individual Vanilla Easter Cakes

Ingredients:

1 packet of pink meringue nests (ready made from the supermarket)

1 packet of Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix (any cake mix could be used)

3 large eggs (as per cake mix instructions)

3 quarters of a cup of milk (180ml) (as per cake mix instructions)

80grams (2.82 ounces) of melted butter (as per cake mix instructions)

1 tub of Betty Crocker, pre mixed, Creamy Deluxe Frosting (white)

3 drops of pink food colouring

1 packet of Walkers milk chocolate miniature eggs

Small spring form cake tins (10cm/4" in diameter) - The mixture makes three cakes of this size or one large 20cm cake.

Method:

Bake the cakes according to the packet instructions. Instead of using the recommended 20cm cake tin, I used mini, individual, spring form tins (the ones with the clips), of 10cm (4") in diameter

I baked my cakes for approximately 30 mins then tested with a skewer. The box said 55-60 but obviously I was using a smaller cake tin so they took less time to cook. In my oven at 160 degrees Celsius they took exactly 35 mins but check your cake with a cake skewer, at 30 mins.

When the cakes are cooked, remove them and allow to cool completely before removing from their tins.

I then mixed the packet of icing that came inside the cake packet with the other tub of icing. I added 3 drops of pink food colouring to the icing mixture and stirred like crazy. I wanted a soft, pastel pink not a bright cerise so didn't over do the colouring. If you want to create a stiffer mixture, you can add more icing sugar, a little at a time, stirring well.

Cut off the top of your cakes to create a flat surface. Using a small knife, I iced them in an 'organic, rustic way'....if there is such a thing. I placed a meringue nest on top, pressing down lightly, then placed a little icing inside the nest and filled it with some chocolate mini eggs (I used Walkers), the same eggs I used for my individual Easter meringue nests I posted a few weeks ago.

I am told by my tester they were delicious (I am gluten free so couldn't indulge this time). They look really pretty and take very little time to create.