12 Best Easter bakes
Easter’s traditionally a time to bake fragrant hot cross buns, egg-filled chocolate nest cakes and marzipan-topped simnel cakes. Here are our favourite classic recipes, plus some fun new ideas from Waitrose Weekend columnist Martha Collison
Martha’s carrot patch traybake
This recipe is a really fun way to jazz up a carrot traybake – try making your own vegetables from fondant if you’re feeling creative.
Martha’s Easter tiffin
Simple no-bake tiffins are brilliant for making with children. They can sprinkle this one with all their favourite Easter treats: mini eggs, creme eggs, anything goes!
Martha’s Easter tiffin
Simple no-bake tiffins are brilliant for making with children. They can sprinkle this one with all their favourite Easter treats: mini eggs, creme eggs, anything goes!
MARTHA’S MINI EGG CAKE
Sandwiched with creamy white chocolate buttercream and decorated with pastel swathes of mini eggs, Martha's recipe is a true showstopper.
Martha’s Easter bunny biscuits
Double chocolate biscuits with fluffy coconut marshmallow bunny tails: they’re just as delicious as they are cute.
Martha’s Easter bunny biscuits
Double chocolate biscuits with fluffy coconut marshmallow bunny tails: they’re just as delicious as they are cute.
EASTER CHOCOLATE FUDGE TRAYBAKE
An easy whisk-it-up batter and a no-nonsense buttercream topping. For extra fun, instead of chopping the mini eggs, put them in a freezer bag and let the kids bash them with a rolling pin.
MARTHA’S CHOCOLATE NEST BUNDT CAKE
Pretzels give an authentic twig-like look to Martha’s twist on a nest cake. She’s filled hers with mini eggs, but you can choose whatever little Easter treats you like.
MARTHA’S CHOCOLATE NEST BUNDT CAKE
Pretzels give an authentic twig-like look to Martha’s twist on a nest cake. She’s filled hers with mini eggs, but you can choose whatever little Easter treats you like.
SIMNEL CAKE
The simnel cake has been around for centuries in various forms – but by the 17th century, fancy simnel cakes had come to be associated with springtime. Today, the simnel cake eaten at Easter is a rich fruit cake, with a layer of marzipan through the middle and one on top, and is decorated with 11 marzipan balls – said to represent the 11 faithful disciples of Jesus. Martha Collison’s recipe is full of sultanas, dates and mixed peel, with an indulgent chocolatey twist.
Easter bunny-bottom cupcakes
Can you spot the bunnies’ little marshmallow tails as they head into their burrows? We predict they won’t be around for long…
Mango and coconut chick biscuits
Yellow-coloured coconut makes for fluffy chicks, while dried mango pieces are perfect for their little wings and beaks..
iced Chick biscuits
Bound to be a hit with little ones, these crisp ginger biscuits with their chirpy chick faces are easy to make and even easier to eat.
Rice pop cake lambs
Rice krispie cakes are a baking-with-kids classic – add grapes, dried blueberries and eyes, and they’re transformed into spring lambs.
Chocolate and strawberry carrot patch pots
The ‘carrots’ in these little mousse pots are genius: they’re strawberries dipped in orange-coloured chocolate.
Lemon simnel cupcakes
These fruity, zesty little cakes are topped with a layer of marzipan and finished with a traditional marzipan ball.
HOT CROSS BUNS THREE WAYS
1. THE classic ONES
The traditional combination of mixed spice and raisins in these classic buns is difficult to beat – especially when you break them open and spread with lots of salty butter while they’re still warm.
2. THE cinnamon ONES
Imagine flaky, sticky cinnamon rolls with the warm fragrant spice of a hot cross bun… well, imagine no more, and have a go at baking Martha’s genius recipe.
3. THE chocolate ONES
The hot cross bun for the chocolate lover. Martha combines cocoa-rich dough with dark chocolate and white chocolate chips in this twist on the classic.
NO TIME TO BAKE? TRY THESE…
Triple Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
The chocoholic’s hot cross bun: fruit free, with rich chocolate dough and chunks of dark and milk Belgian chocolate.
The sweet, indulgent flavours of a sticky toffee pudding in a hot cross bun, with dates, chunks of caramel toffee and raisins.
White Chocolate & Lemon Hot Cross Buns
A twist on the classic, with chunks of Belgian white chocolate and lemon zest.
Soft and buttery, our fruit free crossed rolls are perfect for brunch, picnics and barbecues.