The foolproof recipe for Easter monkey to make at home

BarcelonaThe pastry chef Èric Ortuño, trained in the best schools and pastry shops in France, and current pastry chef at L'Atelier Barcelona, suggests preparing a simple sponge cake, which is completed with a chocolate figure, which Ortuño calls a nest, and which is one of the great discoveries to make at home during any time of the year.

It is a simple recipe, which we encourage you to prepare all together at home. Pay attention to the chocolate nest trick, because you will be able to apply it to other sweet preparations.

Serves 6 people

• Ingredients for the cake115 g of butter
• 70 g of 70% cocoa chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 60 g of flour
• 100 g of sugar

PreparationBeat the eggs with the sugar. Add the chocolate with the melted butter. Mix in the flour. Fill an 18 cm mold with the resulting batter. Bake in the oven at 180º for 8 minutes. Then, let it cool at room temperature.For the chocolate mousse

• 2 egg yolks
• 80 g of liquid cream
• 125 g of 70% cocoa chocolate
• 250 g of whipped cream

PreparationBoil the liquid cream. Pour the chocolate over it. Add the egg yolks and the whipped cream.Place the mousse on top of the sponge cake, making sure it is well flattened, and then let it cool in the refrigerator for an hour.For the chocolate threads to turn them into the chocolate nest

• 125 g of melted dark chocolate

Utensils: baking sheet

PreparationFreeze a metal baking sheet. Leave it for a while, until you check that it is completely frozen.With a piping bag (or a plastic bag) put the melted dark chocolate on it.Little by little, make some elongated threads of chocolate on top of the frozen metal baking sheet. The more elongated, the better.You will see that the liquid threads freeze. Take a pastry spatula or a wooden spatula to collect the threads.Place the threads around the cake, until they reach the top, as if it were a nest.You can finish decorating the cake with chocolate eggs, which you can buy ready-made.Optional (for final decoration)

• Chocolate eggs with a gold coating (you can substitute them with other chocolate eggs, if you wish).

Enjoy your meal!