Who else feels like their annual speckled egg consumption contributes significantly to our country’s GDP?! I do. Mister Sweet should give me shares dammit. Apart from the fact that I can inhale a packet of those multi-coloured jelly chocolates in about 2 minutes flat, I can also eat my bodyweight in those addictive marshmallow eggs (which is saying a lot considering they’re made mostly of air!). Which actually leads me to a public service announcement, well two, really:

1. Do not attempt to buy the giant speckled eggs. You would think bigger is better. If your logic is like mine, I think ‘well instead of eating 10 little ones I’ll just eat one big one’. That logic is faultless but you will be misled by it! After much research (aka eating), my friend Lee and I determined that the ratio of chocolate is disproportionate to the amount of jelly and candy coating (she even drew a graph to prove it – we were very scientific about it all because this is a serious matter, people!). Lesson: Just stick to the little eggs! Related: Woolies listened to my gajillion emails and now make bulk packs. Yes! 2. Why do they inflict such torture on us by wrapping marshmallow Easter eggs individually?! Whyyyyyyy? For goodness sake can someone just sell them in bulk without wrappers on them?! *starts typing an email to Beacon* Rant over, let’s get to this drop dead delicious cake! Obviously, it’s an ode to both of my favourite Easter treats – chopped mallow eggs in the middle and speckled eggs on top – because I love you both equally and could never choose a favourite! Never. Who am I kidding, speckled eggs are life!

Speckled Vanilla Cake with Marshmallow Easter Egg Filling

Serves 8 EASY 30 minutes

Vanilla Cakes:

185g butter, softened

225g castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs, at room temperature

200g (1 1/2 cups)  self-raising flour

185ml milk

To Decorate:

4 egg whites

1 cup (250ml) caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Turquoise gel food colouring

10 marshmallow Easter eggs, chopped into chunks

1 tsp (5ml) The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder

Speckled eggs and a variety of Easter eggs, to decorate

To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (conventional oven, 160 degrees celcius for fan-forced). Grease and line 2 x 15cm cake tins.  Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy and light. Gradually add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Sift the flour over and beat well. Mix in the milk. Spoon into the lined tins and bake fir 25-30 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out and cooling completely. To make the frosting, place the egg whites and caster sugar into a metal or glass mixing bowl and set over a pot with gently simmering water. Stir the egg whites with a whisk gently (don’t whisk vigorously) until the egg mixture is very hot to the touch (about 40 degrees celcius). Remove from the heat and whip vigorously with a hand beater or in a stand mixer until light and fluffy and stiff peaks are reached. Continue beating until cool then add 1 tsp vanilla and tint it a pale sea-green colour. Assemble the cake by layering the cake with the frosting and scattering the chopped marshmallow eggs inbetween. Finish by frosting the entire cake in the green frosting. Mix the remaining vanilla with the cocoa powder and using a clean pastry brush, splatter speckles all over the cake. Decorate with Easter eggs.