How to Make a Bunny Cake

My favorite part about Easter growing up was when my Mom made the Bunny Cake. This cake is in the shape of a bunny head with a bow tie. That's right. Cake in the shape of a bunny head. it's impossible to not get excited when seeing this cake. Usually a white or carrot cake is slathered in white or cream cheese frosting then a coconut fur covers part or all of the cake. Mom usually used red licorice for whiskers and jelly beans to outline the bow tie. She also colored the inside of the ears with shredded coconut that was dyed pink which gave the bunny an extra cute persona. She didn't bake very often back then so the Bunny Cake was a very special occasion for me and the rest of the family; more important than Easter itself to me on a subconscious level. She would bring out the colorful cartoonish cake that would lay on a bed of coconut which would conceal the crusty old non-stick cookie sheet underneath perfectly. I would always have the ear first in order to get the maximum amount of frosting before the rest of the family.

Years later I moved out and the Bunny Cake became a distant memory. Then, all of a sudden I noticed something was missing around Easter. The Bunny Cake! I want to share this wonderful cake with you all so you can start your own Easter Bunny Cake tradition, if you haven't already. It's now re-secured its place in my Easter festivities permanently after several years of absence.

If you were a bunny cake what would you want to be made out of? I think the answer is pretty obvious. This particular bunny cake uses carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I decided to keep the decorations on the minimally processed side.

Find Easter recipes on Veganbaking.net

1) Bake your cakes

Make 2, 8 inch Bunny Approved Carrot Cakes.

When the cakes have cooled don't forget to cut their tops off to make them flat if necessary.

2) Prepare your frosting

Make 3 batches of Easy Cream Cheese Frosting

3) Mark the center of one of your cakes

One of our carrot cakes is going to be the round part of the head. The other cake is going to be cut to create the bow and ears. To do this we need to take some measurements so we can make precise cuts. Since the cake is 8 inches in diameter this means that 4 inches marks the center of the cake. Make a mark at this measurement twice at 90 degree intervals (3 o'clock and 6 o'clock) with a paring knife. Note that the cake is crumb coated in the picture but this is unnecessary until later.

4) Use cake pans to create your bunny ear outlines

Place both cake pans over the cake evenly spaced away from the center marking. You should aim to make each cake pan about ¾ inch (19mm) away from the center marking. This will ensure the bow tie and the ears are the appropriate size. I use removable cake pan bottoms in the below picture but regular cake pans will work fine. you may need someone to help you hold the cake pans in place.

5) Cut your bunny years out of the cake

Cut along the cake pans then separate the ears on the ends from the bow tie in the center.

6) Assemble the cake into a bunny head shape

Prepare a clean cookie sheet that is at least 12 x 15 inches. Cut about 1 inch (25mm) from one end of each ear. Place this end of each ear against the uncut 8 inch cake to make bunny ears. Place the bow slice of cake on the opposite side of the uncut 8 inch cake round. Position everything to your preferred bunny head proportions.

7) Apply a crumb coat of frosting

To make frosting easier I recommend applying a crumb coat. This is a thin initial coat of frosting that absorbs the crumbs so the second coat goes on effortlessly and crumbless. After applying a thin, even coat of frosting to the cake place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. After you remove the cake from the freezer apply the frosting as you normally would.

8) Decorate your Bunny Cake to make it come alive

Decorate the cake and feel free to get creative! This particular cake used part of the frosting that was dyed with raspberry juice, carrot slices for whiskers and raisins for eyes and a nose because that's what I happened to have on hand. The sky is the limit to what you can do with this cake. Feel free to pipe frostings, sprinkles, add chocolate chips and garnish with candies among other things.

What have you used to decorate your Bunny Cake? Let us know in the comments section below.