Recipes: Chocolate Bird's Nest with Marble Eggs

• Prep Time:25 minutes
• Cook Time:30 minutes
• Serves:16

 

Tagged:
cake mix, chocolate, easter, holiday, spring bird nest,

This Spring bird's nest is made with help from a cake mix and your own unlimited creativity!

This recipe is part of our Whimsical Easter Gathering series. Find other great recipes for an Easter buffet at that link.

 

Foodie Byte

We used a Wilton 6-cavity silicone egg mold for the nest eggs.

Ingredients

For the nest:
1 to 2 12 oz. bags chow mein noodles
1 24 oz. chocolate baking bar
Parchment paper
Nonstick pan coating
For the nest eggs:
1 15.25 oz box Betty Crocker yellow cake mix.
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
Blue and green food coloring (optional)
For lemon buttercream frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons lemon extract
Blue and green food coloring (optional)

Preparation

To prepare the nest:
Determine the size and cut a piece of parchment paper to build it on, cut it and spray with nonstick pan coating. For smaller nests, use one bag of chow mein noodles, but for larger nests—the size of a dinner plate, use two.
Empty one bag chow mein noodles into a large heat resistant bowl and set aside with a spatula.
Rough chop 12 ounces of the baking bar and place in a microwave safe container.
Microwave 30 seconds, stir, microwave for 20 seconds. Stir and microwave again for 10 seconds. Continue in 10 second intervals until mixture is melted and smooth.
Once melted, pour over chow mein noodles and stir until well integrated.
Immediately begin transferring the noodles to parchment paper, initially building the bottom of the nest as a flat platform and then adding mounds to the side until the desired size. We used the first bag of noodles to build the base, approximately 12 inches across. The second bag built the side walls by spooning generous mounts and forming them.
Once completed, set aside to cool and harden.
To decorate the nest eggs:
Divide frosting into separate bowls putting three drops food coloring in each, and unevenly mixed it together. When the frosting is spread across the eggs, it gives it an uneven finish that varies in color and hue, resulting in a unique color process.
Apply frosting on each egg, making long sweeps up and down across the egg to give it a smooth but rustic finish.
Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow frosting to stiffen up, and then place eggs in the nest and around it.

source FoodChannel http://ift.tt/1RRSlM1