Lizzie Acker’s Gluten-Free Easter Bundty Cake Recipe **

We love Easter!

It is in fact the second biggest celebration at our house after Christmas. We have boxes of Easter themed decorations which we have collected over the years as my children love decorating our house.  We often join loads of Easter egg hunts in the lead up to Easter and have a big Easter lunch with family and friends after attending mass.

I love baking and often encourage my children to make Easter themed cakes and bakes such as Rice Krispies Easter Nests or Bunny Shaped Buns.  This year I will be sharing with you an eye-catching and delicious Easter Bundty Cake that’s been specially created by celebrity chef and Great British Bake Off (GBBO) star Lizzie Acker, featuring the Easter Bunny jumping into a rabbit hole.  I bet this would be the perfect Easter themed recipe to make with your children and impress your guests.

If you remember we featured two Healthy and Delicious Vanilla-Based Cookie Recipes a few month’s ago and have teamed up with Nielsen-Massey®again to showcase their stunning Gourmet Vanilla Extract in our post today which is of course the secret ingredient to give the cake a lovely flavour.  So here’s the recipe and hope you enjoy baking this wonderful and delicious cake this Easter.

Cooking Time 2hr 30mins

Cake Ingredients (Serves 16)

225g unsalted butter
350g caster sugar
9g Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract
2 unwaxed lemons
5 medium eggs
210g almond milk
300g buckwheat flour (or substitute flour of choice)
100g ground almonds
10g baking powder

Glaze Ingredients
Green food dye
Juice of 1 lemon
4g Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract
200g icing sugar
Pinch of salt

Meringue Ingredients
150g egg white
230g caster sugar
2g Cream of Tartar
Pink food dye

Equipment 
28cm Bundt tin 
2 x bowls 
1 heatproof bowl
Pan
2 piping bags
Palette knife (or butter knife)
Mixing spoon
Thermometer
Fork 

Cake Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°c (350°F)
2. Butter and flour dust the Bundt tin  
3. In a bowl, add the butter, caster sugar, vanilla extract, and the rind of two lemons. Mix until light in colour and soft in texture
4. In a separate bowl, mix the  almond milk and 5 eggs together
5. Slowly add the milk and egg mixture to the butter mixture, mixing as you add
6. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl
7. Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture in three parts until flour pockets are no longer visible
8. Transfer to the baking tin and bake for 45 minutes
9. After removing from oven, allow to cool for 1 hour before removing from tin and decorating
10. To remove from the cake from the tin, cover the bottom with a plate and flip upside down

Glaze Method

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until there are no lumps

Meringue Method

1. Heat half a pan of water until simmering
2. Place the egg whites in a heatproof bowl on top of the simmering water
3. Heat the egg whites until the temperature reaches 60°c (140°F)
4. Take off the heat and start mixing. When frothy, add Cream of Tartar
5. Every 30 seconds, add the sugar in tablespoons until it is all used

Assembly

1. Once the cake has cooled, smooth on the glaze.
   At this point, it should look like a rabbit hole.
   Now you are going to make your rabbit. If you’re worried that the Bundt hole is too big, you can use a ramekin so the meringue doesn’t disappear.
2. Heap half of the meringue into the centre to create the bunny’s body. Smooth it out with your palette knife/butterknife. 
3. Now add a big ball for the tail. Using a fork, dip it in the tail and pull it out to create spikes to make the tail look fluffy
4. Pipe on two long feet
5. Then colour the last of your meringue with the pink food dye
6. Add three toes to the feet

Nielsen-Massey Gourmet Vanilla Extract

Nielsen-Massey’s Gourmet Vanilla Extract comes in distinctive 60ml and 118 ml brown bottles, available from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose or Lakeland.

The company also produces vanilla pastes and powders, whole vanilla pods and a range of other flavourings, including orange blossom water and rose water.  Visit Nielsen-Massey‘s website for more recipe inspiration. 

About Nielsen-Massey
Nielsen-Massey was founded in 1907 in Illinois, in the USA, specialising in the production of vanillas.  The company’s relationships with its growers go back generations to create the best vanilla in the world. The company’s expert makers take the time to hand-inspect its vanilla beans for maturity and quality, then treat them with extra care to best preserve their natural flavour. 

Today the company produces a range of pure extracts, including orange blossom, peppermint, rose water, coffee, almond and lemon, all made with the same strict quality standards as the vanilla.   All consumer products are allergen-free, certified Kosher and Gluten-Free.  Nielsen-Massey is a family business committed to sustaining plants, people and the communities that supply its ingredients. 

About Lizzie Acker:

Lizzie is an amateur baker from Liverpool with a huge personality, who proved her talent by reaching the quarter-finals of the Great British Bake Off in 2021. She has continued her baking journey and she is currently in discussions regarding a number of potential projects for 2022, including a book, TV appearances, a Podcast, Food Festivals and social media collaborations.

Having just bought her first house, Lizzie will be busy designing and renovating it to create her palace. Her main passion is baking, so she will be busy in her new kitchen coming up with lots of tasty recipes. Lizzie also promotes neurodiversity as she has ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. 

**This is a collaborative post. The images were also sent to us