Nest cake with chocolate couscous
A symbol of Easter tradition, alongside the dove and the egg, is also the nest-shaped cake with chocolate and colorful candies. Here is our version with couscous. The recipe is by our Anna Attanasio, food blogger at Giallo Zafferano.
Ingredients:
50 g of medium couscous
100 g of hot milk
3 medium eggs
130 g of granulated sugar
A pinch of fine salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or the seeds of half a vanilla pod or vanillin)
100 g of butter (or 80 g of seed oil)
150 g of all-purpose flour
30 g of unsweetened cocoa powder
70 g of milk
1/2 packet of baking powder (about 8 g)
1 vial of rum flavoring (optional)
For the nest:
80 g of medium couscous
80 g of hot milk
150 g of milk or dark chocolate
10 chocolate candy eggs
Preparation:
Pour the couscous into a bowl, add the hot milk, stir, cover, and let it rehydrate for 10 minutes. After the resting time, fluff it with a fork.
Break the eggs into a bowl, add the vanilla, sugar, and a pinch of salt, and start whisking. When the eggs become light, fluffy, and frothy, add the melted butter or oil and continue mixing.
Add the sifted flour together with the cocoa and baking powder, and the milk, mix until you get a smooth and homogeneous batter.
Also add the fluffed couscous and mix until incorporated into the batter.
Butter and flour a 22-24 cm diameter mold and transfer the batter into it, level the surface with a spatula.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 30-35 minutes. Let it cool in the mold then remove it.
Nest:
Pour the couscous into a bowl, add the hot milk, stir, cover, and let it rehydrate for 10 minutes. After the resting time, fluff it with a fork.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave, add it to the fluffed couscous and mix until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Transfer the chocolate couscous mixture onto a sheet of parchment paper and, using a spoon, form a mound with a hollow in the center, recreating a nest.
Place the obtained nest in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to solidify.
When the chocolate has solidified and the cake has cooled, detach the nest from the parchment paper and place it on the cake, attach it with a teaspoon of melted chocolate in the center of the cake. Fill the nest with the chocolate candy eggs.
