Oh Easter, how I love you so! I am well and truly in the festive spirit and wanted to bake a magical holiday-themed cake to celebrate. I’ve been wanting to create a Pocky cake ever since I saw it on Sprinkle Bakes years ago.
I thought if I lined the outside of the cake with chocolate Pocky, it could resemble the shape of an Easter basket or nest. I added on some coconut flakes and speckled eggs and voila!
For those who don’t know what Pocky are, they are a Japanese snack food of long thin pretzels dipped in a variety of toppings such as chocolate, strawberry and green tea. They are available from most Asian grocery stores.
I ummed and aahed over what flavour to make this cake. Chocolate is usually my go-to option, but I thought combined with the icing, Pocky and chocolate eggs it might end up being too sickly sweet and rich. Since the eggs were pastel I wanted to echo this theme and settled on a strawberry-flavoured cake.
Most strawberry cake recipes I saw involved either commercial cake mix or strawberry jelly powder. Gross! I used pureed strawberries in both the cake and icing. Not only does it give the cake a gorgeous pink colour, the taste of real strawberries is second to none. And don’t worry if strawberries aren’t in season where you live, this cake works perfectly with frozen berries.
Ingredients
Fresh Strawberry Cake
- 115 g/1 stick butter
- 300 g/1 1/3 cups caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 285 g/2 1/4 cups cake flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup pureed strawberries fresh or frozen
Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
- 600 g/4-5 cups sifted icing sugar
- 60 g/1/4 cup butter at room temperature
- 250 g/8oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 cup pureed strawberries fresh or frozen
To Decorate
- 5-6 packets of chocolate Pocky
- Coconut flakes
- 1 packet mini speckled Easter Eggs
Instructions
Fresh Strawberry Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bases of 2 x 20 cm cake tins with bake paper and grease the sides with butter.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder.
- Add the flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with the pureed strawberries.
- Divide the batter between the 2 cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool slightly in their tins before turning out onto a tray to cool completely.
Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
- Cream the butter and icing sugar together until well mixed.
- Add the cream cheese in cubes slowly until incorporated.
- Add in the pureed strawberries and continue mixing for 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy.
- Using an offset spatula, spread ⅓ of the icing on top of the first cake layer.
- Place the second cake on top (upside down) and dollop the remaining ⅔ of the icing on top of the cake. Using the offset spatula, begin to smooth the icing out across the top and over the sides of the cake.
To Decorate
- Once the cake has been filled and iced around the top and sides, gently press the Pocky chocolate-side down onto the sides of the cake until completely covered.
- Scatter a generous handful of coconut flakes onto the top of the cake, allowing a shallow dip in the middle to let the eggs sit.
- Place speckled Easter eggs in the middle of the coconut nest on top of the cake.
I added a few drops of pink food dye to the cake batter to emphasise the colour, but that is entirely up to you.
To serve, make sure you place your serrated knife between the Pocky pieces and gently saw back and forth to cut pieces. Yes, some coconut and Easter eggs will fall, but just pop them on the top of the pieces you serve.
Pretty as a picture!
What are you baking for Easter?
13 Comments
What a truly beautiful cake! I’ve never had pocky before but this is such a cool idea. Looks gorgeous!
Thanks so much Jess! I highly suggest you track down some Pocky and try it :)
Wow! It looks stunning! Such a gorgeous pink definitely going to have to attempt it! x
What a gorgeous cake, I love the pink centre too. I haven’t heard of Pocky before either, must hunt it down.
Pocky is dangerously addictive, I have warned you! ;) xx
I have never ever tried strawberry cake. All the decoration is just gorgeous but I am completely blown away by that cake!
Strawberry cake is my new favourite thing! The fresh strawberries give it a nice fresh taste.
Beautiful cake. What an Easter treat. I love the pink colour
Thanks Tania!
You had me at “Pocky”, but the rest of the cake looks amazing too!
Thanks Paul! You can’t say no to a Pocky! ;)
[…] tasty to add coconut flakes around the edge of the cream to add to the nest effect like I did in my Pocky Easter Nest Cake, but these are pretty perfect on their own […]
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