Speckled Egg Easter Cake

How's this for an alternative Easter Cake. No fondant was used during the making of this cake! Have a break from the traditional Simnel cake and chocolate nests and try a "Speckled Egg Cake". It's just a simple 4-layer Victoria sponge cake with vanilla buttercream & apricot jam in between the layers. You can just use your favourite sponge cake recipe, I like to use Mary Berry's.

To a get a smooth finish on the buttercream, you'll want to make it quite thick in consistency but still spreadable. After spreading it evenly over the cake, use a hot palette knife (dipped in hot water then cleaned on a dry cloth) to smooth over the cake as best you can, scraping the excess icing off the palette knife as you go. Using a turntable really helps. Then after leaving the icing to form a crust for 30mins, gently smooth out any imperfections using a piece of parchment paper and your fingertips, or a fondant smoothing tool. To get the speckled effect, mix cocoa powder with a little hot water, then flick it at the cake with a pastry brush. Finally, decorate with mini eggs (or mini-mini eggs for an extra cute finish!).