Like every year, I have a lot of leftover Easter chocolate.

My super generous in-laws have always showered us with bunnies and eggs, and this has increased tenfold owing to the fact that our household now contains an adorable toddler.

After I actually managed to wrestle the Schoggihase out of her surprisingly strong fingers, I made this super simple, delicious chocolate almond cake.

The Swiss eat a LOT of chocolate bunnies. This SRF article from 2015 put the number at around 16 million, about two bunnies per person (though the size of the bunny is unclear). Frey alone (Migros’ chocolate arm) turned 2,200 tonnes of chocolate into bunnies that year.

But what happens to the bunnies when Easter is over?

Apparently, many people believe that the bunnies and eggs are repurposed—melted down and turned into other chocolate treats.

But according to SRF and Blick, that isn’t the case. As soon as the holiday is over, the bunnies are heavily discounted in most supermarkets, and the ones that aren’t bought by customers or employees are then given to charitable organizations like Tischlein Deck Dich.

This article from 2015 puts any leftover chocolate in the garbage, though more recent reporting has the supermarket reps promising that there’s hardly anything left to be thrown away, due to their excellent planning skills.

Regardless, you can do the bunnies a favour and re-use any leftover chocolate when making this cake.

(And what about those live bunnies in Loeb’s department store window in Bern? Well, they fare best of all and head back to their breeder’s house after Easter Monday.)

For more on Swiss chocolate consumption, by canton, I direct you to these infographics.

This recipe is taken from Tip Topf (Schokolade-cake, pg 262, 5. Ausgabe 1990), and adjusted to incorporate sweeter Easter chocolate, instead of the called-for dark chocolate. I have used various chocolates to make this cake, including all manner of bunnies and filled Migros eggs (I can never remember which wrappers are which flavours, so I made a guide, see below).

125 g butter, room temperature

120 g sugar

1 tsp salt

6 eggs, room temperature

125 g chocolate, chopped

250 g ground almonds

50 g flour

1 tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4.

Line the bottom of a 24 cm (9 inch) springform pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the sides.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Beat in the yolks one by one.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate. Put a large pot of water on high heat and set a large bowl on top of it (stainless steel works best). Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, then add the chocolate to the bowl on top. This should melt with the residual heat (be patient), but if it is taking too long, briefly turn the heat back on.

Beat the chocolate into the butter mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almonds, flour, and baking powder. Fold into the butter mixture.

Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff and glossy. Fold them into the batter.

Fill the prepared springform pan with batter.

Bake for about 50 minutes or until the cake springs back when you press it with your finger.