This Easter Robin’s Nest Bundt Cake recipe will be the talk of your holiday celebration! An easy milk chocolate bundt cake (quickly) transforms into a robin’s nest with a little frosting and candy eggs…the Easter bunny will definitely be stopping by to check it out!
I saw this cake from Tastefully Simple, and with my obsession with bundt cakes I knew I needed to give it a try. In her post, there is a recipe for an almond pound cake…but it was just a little complex for my taste! ;)
To be clear: I ONLY make desserts that are quick and easy (even if it is Easter!) so I decided to go with a milk chocolate bundt cake (that never, ever fails). Let’s talk a little more about the cake before we move on to the fun decoration.
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This EASY milk chocolate bundt cake recipe is a spin off of Nothing Bundt Cakes. My absolute favorite is the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake (you can find that recipe here). However, with the chocolate frosting that creates the nest, I didn’t want it to be toooo chocolatey (I don’t believe that’s a thing, but my husband does!).
So for this cake I decided to use the milk chocolate bundt cake recipe but you could also use the White Chocolate Vanilla Bundt Cake (or go ALL out with the triple chocolate one, in which case may I please come over for Easter dessert!?!?).
The reason I love these recipes is because they are SO EASY and NEVER FAIL. Each of these bundt cake recipes start with a boxed cake mix and then you add a pudding mix, sour cream, Hershey’s syrup, chocolate chips and the rest of the usual cake ingredients.
And if you REALLY want to impress your guests, serve it slightly warm. But no matter what temp you serve this Easter bundt cake, your guests will rave. It always turns out super moist and flavorful. In other words, this cake is worth the calories…every last one.
HOW TO MAKE THE MILK CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE:
Milk Chocolate Bundt Cake (super moist!)
INGREDIENTS:
1 – 15.25oz. Yellow Cake Mix
1 – 3.4oz. Box Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 c. Sour Cream
4 Eggs
1/2 c. Warm Water
1/3 c. Vegetable Oil
1/4 c. Chocolate Syrup (like Hershey’s Syrup for ice cream topping)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 container Chocolate Frosting of choice
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 325F.
Mix all ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, together in a stand mixer, or bowl with hand mixer or by hand until well mixed. Then add the chocolate chips and mix until combined.
Pour into well greased bundt cake pan.
Bake for 48-70 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out slightly coated but not wet.
Remove from oven and let stand in pan for 20 minutes (but not much longer, as the chocolate chips cool they’ll begin to stick to the pan making it harder to remove!)
Invert onto plate or cake stand. Let cool to touch before frosting (although it tastes best served slightly warm!!).
ICING THE EASTER BUNDT CAKE
Now the fun part, making your bundt cake look like a robin’s nest! Please note: it is nearly impossible to mess this part up, so don’t worry and have fun decorating this spring cake.
STEP 1: Apply a crumb coat of frosting
Put a thin layer of chocolate frosting over the entire cake. It doesn’t have to be smooth or pretty, it just creates a base layer for the next step.
STEP 2: Pipe the nest twigs
Ideally you would have a piping bag with a small, round metal tip. However, I did not have one so I used the trusty gallon bag method: I put the remaining frosting into a gallon Ziploc bag. I then cut off the tip of the bag (about 1/4″).
For this, you want to use a high quality plastic zipper bag. I’ve used cheap ones in the past and the sides split open!
Now, begin putting 2-3″ strips of frosting all over the cake. I had to make sure I was pressing down just slightly on the sides or the frosting wasn’t “sticking” to the cake. I also had to be careful how I ended each “twig” so that I didn’t get that swoop up at the end.
I also found it easier to do the sides by putting it on a cake stand. (Don’t look at the back of mine, it was harder doing the sides and I got tired towards the end ;) And, I was surprised that I was able to do the whole cake (crumb layer AND twigs) with one container of frosting!
But the nice part is that you basically have the whole first layer of twigs to practice and as you build up you’ll have your technique down. The only downside was that this took me about twenty minutes to do! So make sure you leave plenty of time before the Easter bunny comes!
STEP 3: Add the eggs!
I couldn’t find malted eggs at the store so I had to go with these Hershey’s eggs…I think they still work! I also didn’t want to fill the WHOLE center, so I wadded up some tinfoil and put it in the hole in the middle before adding the eggs…no one can tell!
(And it wasn’t a big deal when we cut into it!)
STEP 4: Show off your Easter Cake!
Seriously, this nest bundt cake will be the star of the Easter show! It really makes a statement as an Easter table centerpiece (and no one will need to know how EASY it was– we’ll keep that between you and me! ;)
We hope that you have an awesome Easter and that your milk chocolate bundt cake recipe turns out perfectly! (We know it will, it always does!)
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