Caramel Easter Nest Traybake

Caramel Easter Nest Traybake

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This caramel Easter nest traybake is salty, sweet and oh so decadent! A salted caramel and milk chocolate nest, topped with chopped mini eggs!

easter nest traybake

Easter nests, the classic Easter treat for children and adults alike and one of my favourite ‘bakes’. I say ‘bakes’, as this goes nowhere near the oven. But! It is a little more than just simple melted chocolate. I don’t like to go by halves round here after all 😉 It’s a delicious salted caramel chocolate concoction, smothered over shredded wheat strands and topped with chopped mini eggs.

For me, the perfect Easter nest has to be with shredded wheat. I know some people prefer cornflakes or rice krispies, but to me shredded wheat is the PERFECT choice. A, it actually looks like little twigs (perfect for nest building) and B! It gives the nests a chewiness and crunchiness that I just find divine.

Now obviously, these aren’t your traditional Easter nests. Instead these are traybake style. I wanted to make an Easter bake that didn’t require lots of little cupcake cases, and one that was lunchbox friendly! So lets get to it:

How to make an Easter Nest Traybake

So these Easter nests aren’t your usual. Most Easter nests are just melted chocolate, sometimes with a little butter. But for these, we’re going to start by making a dry caramel. This is what makes the traybake SO so delicious, and levels up the basic Easter nest.

easter nests

How to make a dry caramel

A dry caramel basically means without adding any water. The benefit of a dry caramel is that you can STIR. You don’t have to worry about swirling your pan, or washing sugar down from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush. Just get that sugar in, and stir frequently until its all melted.

Now you may be thinking, why don’t we always make a dry caramel then?! Welll…with the ease of being able to stir, comes the threat of burning! The sugar can catch much quicker with a dry caramel, and you could be left with a smoking dark mess. But if you keep the heat to medium high and keep watch the whole time, you won’t run into any trouble.

My biggest caramel tips

  • Mise En Place – The French term for ‘everything in its place’ is paramount to baking with caramel. Caramel isn’t going to wait for you to weigh out ingredients, so get everything ready before you turn on the heat.
  • Block out time – Don’t start making the caramel when you’re expecting the doorbell to go or you need a wee. Set aside 10 minutes of uninterrupted time and only start making then.
  • Use your best pan – Use a large heavy bottomed pan for caramel making, or just the best pan you have. This will help stop your sugar from burning.
caramel easter nests

Assembling the Easter nest traybake

Once your caramel is golden, add your butter, mixing continuously. The mixture will bubble up quite a lot at this point, so be careful but keep mixing! Make sure your butter is cubed, rather than in one whole block. This will help the butter to melt into the caramel quickly and evenly.

Next, turn the heat down to low and pour in the condensed milk, again mixing continuously as you do. This will bubble again, before calming down and becoming a pourable consistency. Finally, you need to mix in the melted chocolate and salt.

At this point, you need to take the pan off the heat and mix in the broken up shredded wheat. You’ll want to have the shredded wheat already broken up, so you’re ready to pour it in once the chocolate caramel mixture is ready. Like I said above in the caramel tips, having everything ready and weighed out is paramount and makes your life soo much easier!

Make sure to mix the shredded wheat into the chocolate caramel mixture really well. You want every strand to be covered. Then you can pour it into a prepared baking tin and smooth out so until flat.

easter nest traybake

Final steps

The final step is to scatter your chopped mini eggs on top! I like to press these down slightly – being careful as the nest mixture will still be very hot – just to make sure they stick to the nest once set. Mini eggs are my absolute favourite Easter chocolate, but you could use whatever you prefer. Mini creme eggs, Smarties eggs, Milkybar eggs…really whatever you like!

But please please please don’t cut into the traybake until its completely set. You’ll be left with a sticky mess otherwise and it won’t be pretty! Once the nest mixture has cooled to room temperature, place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and then you can slice into 16 pieces. Personally, I think they taste best from the fridge anyway as they’re really quite rich.

Honestly though. The combination of sweet caramel with rich milk chocolate and the tang of salt is SUCH a good and moreish combination. I know I won’t be making ‘normal’ Easter nests again!

caramel nest traybake

On with the recipe!

caramel easter nest traybake

Caramel Easter Nest Traybake

Aimee Field
This caramel Easter nest traybake is salty, sweet and oh so decadent! A salted caramel and milk chocolate nest, topped with chopped mini eggs!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Setting Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine British
Servings 16 Slices

Ingredients
  

  • 8 shredded wheat biscuits
  • 225 g caster sugar
  • 75 g unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
  • 397 g condensed milk one full can
  • 1 tsp table salt
  • 100 g milk chocolate
  • 75 g mini eggs

Instructions
 

  • Firstly, break up the shredded wheat biscuits and set aside. Then weigh the butter and set aside. Melt the milk chocolate either in the microwave or over a bain-marie, and set aside. Then chop the mini eggs and set aside. Finally, grease and line an 8x10in tin and set aside.
  • Place the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium high heat. Cook, stirring with a silicone spatula, until the sugar has melted and turned a golden colour. Then add the butter whilst stirring continuously. The mixture will bubble up a lot at this point.
  • Turn the heat down to low, and pour in the condensed milk. Again stirring continuously. Finally, stir in the salt and melted chocolate. Then take off the heat, and thoroughly stir in the shredded wheat until completely coated.
  • Pour into the prepared tin, and using your spatula spread out until even. Then scatter with the chopped mini eggs, pressing them into the mixture slightly and leave to cool to room temperature. Then place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set. Then slice into 16 pieces.

Notes

Best served straight from the fridge. 
Will keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1 week. 
Keyword chocolate nest, easter, mini eggs, salted caramel

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