Easter loaf cake recipe

CLICK TO RATE
(213 ratings)

This hidden Easter bunny loaf is such a lovely treat at Easter time - kids and grown-ups will be really surprised by the chocolate bunny hiding inside

Hidden Easter bunny loaf
(Image credit: Charlie Richards Photography Lim)
Serves10
SkillEasy
Preparation Time30 mins
Cooking Time2 hours
Cost RangeCheap
Nutrition Per PortionRDA
Calories506 Kcal25%
Fat29 g41%
Saturated Fat17 g85%

A vanilla sponge Easter loaf cake with chocolate sponge bunnies hiding all the way through the middle.

This amazing cake is a beautiful surprise to serve up at teatime over Easter. It's so impressive, but easier than you'd think to put together. Just watch our short how-to video if you don't believe us. The trick is to make the chocolate sponge first and cut it into rabbit shaped sections before you start. Line these up in a loaf tin and pour the vanilla sponge batter over the top, and hey presto - there's an Easter bunny inside. Making two cakes does take a little longer than your average loaf cake, but it's worth it for the effect. You can speed things up by buying a chocolate sponge to use and only making the vanilla batter.

Ingredients

For the chocolate loaf:

  • 125g butter, softened
  • 125g golden caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1tsp vanilla extrac
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 40g cocoa
  • 1-2 tbsp milk

For the vanilla loaf:

  • 175g butter, softened
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 125g self-raising flour
  • 1-2 tbsp milk

For the decoration:

  • 3 tbsp icing sugar

WEIGHT CONVERTER

to

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs and vanilla, then fold through the flour and cocoa. Loosen with milk if needed.
  3. Spoon into the tin and bake for 45-50 mins until the sponge is springy to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, slice the cake into 6 and stamp out a rabbit shape from each.
  4. Grease and line the tin and make the batter for the vanilla loaf in the same way.
  5. Spread a third of the batter onto the base and sides of the cake tin. Line the chocolate rabbits along the base of the tin and spread over the vanilla mixture, making sure to get it all around the rabbits.
  6. Bake for a further 45-50 mins, until a skewer comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and leave the cake to cool completely. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.

Top tip for making this Easter loaf cake

You'll be left with lots of chocolate cake off-cuts, which are the perfect excuse to make cake pops. If you don't want to make them straight away, collect up all the off-cuts into a freezer bag, seal and freeze until you're ready.

You might also like...

Easter cake ideas

Simnel cake

Hot cross buns

Jessica Dady
Food Editor

Jessica Dady is Food Editor at GoodtoKnow and has over 11 years of experience as a digital editor, specialising in all things food, recipes, and SEO. From the must-buy seasonal food hampers and advent calendars for Christmas to the family-friendly air fryers that’ll make dinner time a breeze, Jessica loves trying and testing various food products to find the best of the best for the busy parents among us. Over the years of working with GoodtoKnow, Jessica has had the privilege of working alongside Future’s Test Kitchen to create exclusive videos - as well as writing, testing, and shooting her own recipes. When she’s not embracing the great outdoors with her family at the weekends, Jessica enjoys baking up a storm in the kitchen with her favourite bakes being chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and a tray of gooey chocolate brownies