I was browsing in one of my favorite ‘everything’ craft stores recently and stumbled upon the cutest Easter Bunny cake pan. It immediately brought back memories of Easter traditions such as egg decorating and coconut covered bunny cakes when my sons were young. Those are such sweet cherished parenting memories. I couldn’t restrain my self from purchasing the cake pan and recreating the decorated cake.
The final cake proved to be pretty easy to achieve the look I remembered from past Easters. I am going to share the steps with you today.
What You Need:
1 baked Easter Bunny cake white or yellow cake (single layer). When baking cake, be sure to fill pan only 2/3 full or cake batter will run over during baking.
1 batch fluffy white frosting of your choice. I used cream cheese frosting. Set 1/2 cup of frosting aside to color and use for ears, nose, and cheeks.
1 (7 ounce) package of sweetened flaked coconut
Decorations: licorice, jelly beans, red food color, pink decorating sugar
1 Fun and Fluffy Bunny Cake pan. I used a pan from Wilton (for which I receive no compensation). You can view it at this address. https://www.wilton.com/shop-cake-pans/. There are other cake pans on the market, but this is the one I chose to use.
1 photocopy of rabbit face insert from pan. Cut out nose shape and pink shape inside ears. This will be used as a template to lay down pink frosting and determine location of eyes during the decorating process.
Let’s Decorate It
Make sure cake is completely cooled and crumbs removed before beginning. Turn bottom of cake face up. The face image from the pan will be visible in the baked cake.
With an off-set spatula, spread the white frosting on top and sides of cake.
Place 2-3 tablespoons of reserved white frosting into a piping bag or zip lock sandwich bag and pipe two small oval shapes directly below nose location.
Mix remaining reserved frosting with 1 or 2 drops of red food coloring to make your desired shade of pink. Mix frosting and food color well and add additional coloring one drop at a time. Be sure you are mixing well each time.
Place cut out template gently on top of frosted cake. Place a toothpick thru the middle of each eye into the cake. (This will hold the template in place and mark eye location) Pipe pink frosting into cutout areas inside ears and nose. Gently lift paper template straight up and off of cake leaving toothpicks in place.
Alternate to using pink frosting: If you want to skip the pink frosting step you can use cutouts from fruit leather candy using the template for sizing.
Sprinkle top and sides of frosted cake with coconut and gently press it so that it adheres to frosting.
Garnish: Remove toothpicks and replace with 2 black jelly beans. Place a small amount of frosting on bottom of jelly beans to hold them in place and gently press in place.
Repeat jelly bean process using three pink jelly beans for each ear and one for mouth and nose.
Take one strip of licorice in your desired color. Measure and cut 1 1/2 inches from strip. Take cut strip and divide into half and then cut each half strip into three pieces. Dip the ends of each into the frosting and place three on each side of the jelly bean nose.
Optional: Highlight ears and nose with a tiny amount of pink decorating sugar just to give a little bling.
You can store this cake for two days in the fridge if well covered in plastic wrap. Chill finished cake uncovered for twenty minutes to let the icing harden, then cover carefully.
You can also freeze the cake for up to three months. Seal in foil and freezer-safe plastic wrap. let the iced cake freeze uncovered before covering. Thaw in the fridge the night before you plan to serve and enjoy.
Bring cake to room temperature before serving.
Here’s to creating cherished Easter memories with your loved ones and friends. Keep crafting and creating ’til next time.