Quick & easy Easter recipe: Choc tray bake

Low- protein chocolate tray bake

Easter is another one of those holidays (if you celebrate it) that can be challenging, in particular, for young children with PKU and parents of those children. Although this holiday isn't just about receiving chocolate eggs and other sweet treats, no doubt this is what many young children look forward to most at this time of year (I know I did).

It can sometimes be difficult to find alternative low-protein chocolate that your child will enjoy, but there's nothing to stop you creating your own chocolate treats! If you look back at my Easter post from last year (here: https://thepkulife.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-enjoy-easter-on-pku-diet.html), I talk more in depth about what Easter was like for me as a young child with PKU and how my Stepdad created low- protein Easter eggs for me.

This year's Easter post is though is focusing on a recipe - how to make a chocolate tray bake using Fate's chocolate cake mix. I also decorated mine in an appropriate Easter theme (pictured above). I made my tray bake yesterday and posted a few videos on my Instagram page: the_pku_life if you would like to check it out! This is an extremely quick and easy recipe to follow with delicious results, very similar to the chocolate and banana loaf I made a few weeks back (recipe for that is here: https://thepkulife.blogspot.com/2020/03/recipe-fate-chocolate-banana-loaf.html).

Here's how to make a low- protein chocolate tray bake!

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of Fate's chocolate flavour cake mix (250 grams)
• Soft margarine (65 grams)
• Water (125 mls)
• 1 exchange of suitable chocolate spread to decorate (I made buttercream, which includes a small splash of milk but you can choose to decorate however you like)

Method:

• Firstly, preheat your oven to Gas 5/ 190℃/ 375℉
• Start by placing the Fate chocolate cake mix into a bowl
• Once you have weighed the margarine and measured out the water, add these into the bowl
• Mix all the ingredients quickly with a wire whisk for 1 minute, until it is blended well
• Grease a tin (ideally measuring 26cms x 17cms x 3cms deep) and pour in the mixture, using a spoon to spread it evenly
• Bake in the oven for 30- 35 minutes, until risen and firm (don't forget to check it's cooked all the way through by pushing a skewer/ knife in the middle - it should come out clean)
• Turn the cake onto a wire rack to cool
• Optional: cut the top of the cake with an electric knife to give it a professional finish (I skipped this step)

Now for the decorations!

This part of the recipe will differ depending on how you decide to decorate your tray bake, whether it's with chocolate spread, buttercream or something completely different! Whatever you choose, it is important to ensure your cake has cooled down before adding anything to it. I'll now go through how I made the buttercream.

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter (100 grams)
• Icing sugar (200 grams)
• 1 tbsp of milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract or appropriate food colouring (I chose orange and green) 

Method:

• Once you have weighed the butter and icing sugar, place these in a bowl and beat together until smooth (this will take some perseverance!)
• When you have a smooth mixture, add the milk and vanilla extract/ colouring (at this point, I simply halved the mixture so that I could create the two separate colours of buttercream
• Spread a layer of orange buttercream over the top of the cake with a knife
• Using a piping bag and the green buttercream, create the final decorations (I had some buttercream leftover so I decided to decorate a few biscuits too)

Your Easter chocolate tray bake should now be complete! I think this is a great recipe to not only enjoy at Easter time, but at any time of the year and for any occasion.

Once again, I would like to add that this recipe is Eileen Green's not my own - I'm just passing on some of her great ideas. You can find more of Eileen's recipes at: http://fatespecialfoods.com/recipes/4545882003.

Have a wonderful Easter!