How To Make A *Bunny Cake*

Easter is almost here! What’s more appropriate than a bunny cake? I am sure you have heard of the famous Betty Crocker bunny cake. I hadn’t… till recently. And when I saw it, I knew it would be a good project for Boy and me. Here is how I made our own version of the  ‘Bunny Cake’.

You will need:

For the cake:

• Moist yellow cake mix – 1 box
• Eggs and oil as per cake box instructions

For the buttercream frosting:

• Butter – 1 cup, softened at room temperature
• Confectioner’s (powdered) sugar – 3 cups
• Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
• Milk – 2-3 tbsp or as required

For decoration:

• Sweetened coconut flakes – 3-4 cups, more if you use a really big cake plate
• Green food color – a few drops (I used gel food color)
• Mini Easter egg candy – a handful
• M&M or other round candy for eyes and nose
• Spaghetti pieces for whiskers
• Pink or white craft paper for bunny ears

How to:

• Make the cake as per instructions. You will need a round 8-in or 9-in cake. I made a sheet cake and cut out a 9-in circle from it.
• Cool the cake completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until firm. This makes it easier to frost.
• Meanwhile make the frosting. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time, till it reaches a spreadable consistency.
• Take out the refrigerated cake. Cut the circle in half.
• Add a dab of frosting in the center of the cake plate.
• Spread frosting between the layers and stand them up as shown.
• Cut a V-shaped groove at about a third of the cake length for the head. Cut a small notch down on the head side for the mouth. Try to smooth the shape as much as possible. Reserve all cake bits.

(You would have noticed that my cake is no longer a yellow cake. I accidentally added a little more water to the cake mix and had to rescue it with a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder. I ended up with a chocolate cake! Oh, well!!)

• Add a crumb coat of frosting now. Thinly frost the cake and refrigerate again. This helps the cake from crumbling much when doing the final frosting.

• Once the crumb coat is firm, proceed,with the rest of the assembly.
• Place the cut groove halves on either side as the bunny haunches. Fix them to the cake’s sides with a little frosting.
• Make a ball out of  the remaining cake bits with a little bit of frosting and make the bunny tail. Fix it with a little frosting.
• Frost the cake liberally. Take care to smooth the edges to resemble a bunny. Don’t fret if it is not perfect. The coconut fur will hide any frosting imperfections.

• Liberally pat down the coconut flakes all over the cake. Add more coconut at the haunches, tail and head to resemble a furry bunny!
• Take some coconut in a bowl and add a few drops of green food color. Mix well. Place it all around the bunny to resemble grass. The amount of coconut needed depends on how big your cake plate is.
• Place the eyes, nose and whiskers. My little Boy was more than happy to help here!
• Add Easter egg candy on the grass. A few of these disappeared immediately!
• Cut out two bunny ear shapes from craft paper and fix them in the V-shaped groove. You can just press them down or use toothpicks.

• You can add other decorations like fondant carrots, flowers or butterflies. Really, the sky is the limit.
• Admire the cute little fellow!

Here he is with my little bunny! Ain’t he cute?!!

He looks good from behind too!

This cake is really easy to decorate and is very forgiving. You can easily cover any mistakes with the coconut flakes.

The coconut “fur” can be tinted any color to make a birthday cake or even a baby shower cake.

The only sad part is deciding which part to cut into first!

Here’s wishing you all a blessed Easter!

I am linking this up to parties at these awesome blogs.

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