Chocolate Easter Egg Nests

Updated April 22, 2025

Chocolate Easter Egg Nests
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.
Total Time
20 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(221)
Comments
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Loved by adults and children alike, Easter nest “cakes” are the perfect no-fuss baking activity for the whole family. These couldn’t be simpler: Just stir, portion, chill and fill with as many candy eggs as you can. If you can find golden syrup (a wondrous sweetener from Britain and a product you’ll never regret having in your pantry), you’ll get a more complex sweetness and chew, though corn syrup will work, too.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 chocolate nests
  • 5tablespoons/70 grams unsalted butter
  • ¼cup/55 grams golden syrup, such as Lyle’s, or light corn syrup
  • 7¾ ounces/220 grams milk chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips (about 1¼ cups)
  • ¼to ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4cups/130 grams cornflakes
  • Candy-coated mini chocolate eggs, for decorating (see Tip)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

  2. Step 2

    Melt butter and syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, swirling the pan to help the mixture melt evenly, 2 to 2½ minutes. It should be slightly bubbling. Remove from the heat, then add the chocolate and salt. Stir until fully melted.

  3. Step 3

    Pour the cornflakes into the melted chocolate and stir until completely and evenly coated. Some of the cornflakes will break down; this is good and will help the texture of the final nests. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, divide the mixture evenly among the lined muffin cups, pressing down the center of each. Go over each nest again, making a slight indent in the middle.

  4. Step 4

    Fill each nest with chocolate eggs. If your eggs are foil-covered, add them later so they don’t stick. Refrigerate to chill completely until each nest can be lifted out in one piece, about 1 hour. Don’t leave them in too long or they’ll set too hard.

  5. Step 5

    Serve in their paper liners, or remove the liners and put the nests directly on a plate. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Tip
  • Candy eggs, sometimes labeled robin’s eggs, are available during the Easter season at supermarkets and pharmacies. Cadbury, Whoppers and M&M’s are colorful options.

Ratings

4 out of 5
221 user ratings
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Comments

Leftover chocolate??? What's that?

I bet rice krispies would work.

@Emily these are already gluten free!

Cooked this 3 times and it failed each time. First time I used cadburys dairy milk chocolate and it seized as soon as the chocolate hit the pan. Second time I used melts and it seized again. Third time I used melts and a double boiler, removed the butter mix and let it cool briefly. Seized again. Not sure if it’s me or the recipe but I can’t get it to work.

Incredibly easy and cute!

We put strawberries in the center and homemade whipped cream on top (slightly sweetened with some strawberry juice and sugar - not nearly as sweet as the chocolate), and used semisweet chocolate. It was delicious

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