Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake

Whether you’re looking for a showstopper cake for the Easter holidays or simply a way to use up leftover Easter eggs and chocolates, this Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake with super simple vanilla sponge and whipped chocolate ganache is a sure-fire winner!

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Why make a cake with just one type of chocolate when you can make a cake and throw the entire seasonal aisle of the supermarket at it?

Lets face it, despite the nation’s best efforts, come the Tuesday after Easter, most of us are absolutely awash with Easter chocolates. Even if you’ve used chocolate eggs to top Cornflake Cakes and Lindt truffles on an Alternative Simnel Cake, you’ll likely have some more left.

This super simple but incredibly impressive traybake is a great way to make the most of them. A great cake is a great cake and great chocolate is great chocolate no matter what the date on the calendar.

I’ve kept the base of the cake a simple vanilla sponge. I decided that this was the best way to ensure that the cake doesn’t become overwhelmingly sweet or sickly. And as its a traybake style cake, there is no layering, no trying to defy gravity and overall; less frosting.

Talking of the frosting, I’ve chosen a whipped chocolate ganache over a fudge frosting or buttercream. This is another ploy to stop of the cake becoming too much.

The whipped ganache is actually quite light but adds the right amount of glue to keep all the chocolate toppings in place. And it tastes really good!

As for the chocolate toppings…..go nuts! You can use big eggs, little eggs, chicks, bunnies or anything else that takes your fancy.

How to Serve Easter Cake

This isn’t a cake that likes to be warmed through. So room temperature is the best option for serving. If you keep it in the fridge, the sponge will dry out and the chocolate will become so hard it will be difficult to eat.

In theory a rectangle cake is super easy to cut into 12 square pieces and serve. A whole array of random toppings in random places can make this is a little trickier.

I recommend a big sharp knife, brute force and an unwavering sense of determination. Or you can just knock any chocolates on the cut line out of the way a little. Whatever way suits your personality is just fine.

If you’re going to be serving the kind of people who are going to argue over who gets the slice with what toppings, it may be worth being a little less random with them and considering what goes where. Just to make things “fair”.

Make Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake into a Feast

I truly believe that you can make any dish into a proper feast! Whether thats a feast for one after work on a Tuesday, a casual feast for four on a Friday evening or a feast for 12 for a special occasion!

Many of us in the UK will have a nice big meal over the the Easter weekend. Most often this is a roast and very commonly lamb will be involved. But if you want to try something a little different than lamb, why not go for a Sirloin of Beef or even a Glazed Ham. Both make excellent centerpieces.

Easter is also a perfect time to cook the Turkey Crown that you stashed in the freezer when you picked up a reduced one after Christmas.

Don’t forget some classic sides like Roast Potatoes, perfect Roast Parsnips, something a little different – Vichy Carrots and of course, you mustn’t forget some Proper Yorkshire Puddings!

Don’t forget to head over to my Feast Collection pages to find all of my tips and tricks to help you host a fun and stress-free feast. Plus remember to check out my recipe index to create your own awesome Feast!

Ingredients for Leftover Chocolate Traybake

Sponge Cake

I have used a light margarine in the recipe as this makes a very light cake. You can use butter or another margarine if you prefer although do note that the cake might not be as light.

If you do not have self raising/self rising flour, you can make your own using this guide from Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen.

Please do try to find vanilla extract rather than vanilla essence. The flavour is far superior.

Be Flexible

In theory you can top any sheet cake or traybake cake with a ganache and/or Easter eggs. The base of my Black Forest Poke Cake would be amazing. Don’t skip the cherries and poking but replace the whipped cream topping with whipped ganache.

For a cupcake version, use the recipe from my Vanilla Butterfly Cakes but top them with whipped ganache instead of the buttercream. Seeing how many different eggs you can pile on top would be a fun (if not sugar laden) game with kids (or let’s face it – adults).

And for a loaf cake version, you could start with my Pound Loaf Cake recipe as the base and go from there.

You can also add more chocolate into the base cake with either chopped up eggs or chocolate chips or chunks.

Make it Vegetarian or Vegan

This Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake recipe is in theory suitable for vegetarians but you will need to make sure that all of your chocolate egg toppings are veggie suitable. Some eggs, especially the ones with hard shells use shellac which is an animal derived product.

To make a vegan Easter Egg Traybake Cake is a little harder. It would be simplest to start with a vegan sponge cake base. This vegan vanilla cake from Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen would be a great start.

To make the whipped chocolate ganache vegan, you can substitute the double/heavy cream for coconut cream. And you will need to use a vegan friendly chocolate. And then it’s simply a case of making sure that all the egg toppings are vegan friendly.

Make it Allergy Friendly

This Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake recipe is free from nuts but with all allergens, you must check the labels of the various items you’re planning on using on the cake.

Gluten Free: To make a gluten free version, you can sub the wheat flour for a good gluten free flour blend.

Dairy Free: There are various substitutions you will need to make here. Starting with the margarine – you can use dairy free variety. The milk can be replaced with a plant based milk or water.

The cream in the ganache can be replaced with coconut cream or a dairy free cream replacer. And then of course all the chocolate and eggs will need to be dairy free/vegan. This is much easier to find than it once was so shouldn’t be a big issue.

Egg Free: To replace the egg in the cake, you can use 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil in place of each egg. Or you can use a vegan liquid egg replacer. Luckily chocolate eggs tend to be egg free!

Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.

Equipment Notes for Easter Chocolate Sheet Cake

I make almost all my cakes using either my stand mixer or hand hand whisk. If you can’t afford the former then the latter is a really inexpensive option. Getting the sponge and ganache properly aerated by hand is nearly impossible.

You can however make the sponge with just elbow grease and then use the ganache unwhipped if you need to.

The recipe as written uses a 11″x8″ or 28cm x 20cm rectangle cake pan. You can use one a little larger or a little smaller although you will get a slightly thinner or thicker cake respectively. Much more than a little change and you will need to adjust the quantities of the ingredients.

I find having an offset spatula makes covering the cake a doddle. And as always using silicone spatulas will make sure that no food is wasted in mixing bowls. They allow food to be scraped out much more efficiently than wooden spoons or nylon spatulas. They’re all I use.

A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.

Get Ahead

The sponge cake base can be made months in advance, well wrapped in cling film and frozen. Once defrosted, the cake can be frosted and decorated as normal. Because this is a soft sponge cake, I wouldn’t otherwise be inclined to make it any more than a day in advance to ensure maximum softness when serving.

The chocolate ganache can be made anything up to a week in advance and stored in the fridge. I would whip it just before decorating. It will store whipped but as you will need to give it a re-whip before using, it makes more sense to me not to bother creating two lots of washing up!

I would not recommend decorating the cake any more in advance than the day on which it is being served. This is especially true if you are planning on splitting open creme or caramel eggs like I have.

Leftover Easter Chocolate Egg Cake

I don’t think I would recommend freezing the cake in its entirety. So just keep eating away! I’m sure a friendly neighbour or family member would be willing to help out!

If the cake itself starts feeling stale and you don’t want to continue eating it as a whole, you can consider removing the toppings and frosting to eat separately. The stale sponge base would be ideal to make Russian Slices.

Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake Tips

I’ve made this recipe as simple as possible by making the cake as an all-in-one sponge cake. If you would refer an even lighter sponge, you can use the creaming method as described in my Victoria Sandwich recipe. The ingredients are nearly identical.

The number of servings of the recipe can be increased or decreased. But you will need to be mindful of the size tin that you use and the cooking times.

If you are looking to serve a significant number of people, you should consider making multiple cakes rather than a massive one. You could put the together on a serving tray and frost over the whole thing to hide the edges if you wanted the illusion of a much larger cake.

Please don’t try to frost the cake before it is properly cooled or the ganache will melt.

Please also don’t try to whip the ganache before it is fully cool or it will not whip up properly.

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?

More Fun Recipes Perfect for Easter

Simple Easter Fairy Cakes Recipe

These Simple Easter Fairy Cakes are exactly that, simple and perfect for Easter. But you can switch out the mini eggs or leave them plain and boom you have simple sponge buns perfect for any occasion! This is an ideal recipe to make with kids, for bake sales, picnics, parties or just for a fun treat.

Crispy Chocolate Cornflake Cakes Recipe

Crispy Chocolate Cornflake Cakes are one of the simplest treats to put together. Turn them into Easter nests by adding mini chocolate eggs for a cute Easter treat or top with your favourite chocolates for a year-round treat. Ideal to make with kids but entirely appropriate for adults too!