Easter is a time of rebirth and to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, our Savior. Easter also comes with other traditions like egg hunts, the Easter Bunny and candy. Some of these traditions are linked to Christian Easter celebrations, but many were created as part of secular celebrations. The History Channel has a short video about how Easter symbols developed over time.
As a child, rabbits and bunnies were always part of our Easter celebrations. My father raised rabbits and sold bunnies at local animal auctions at Easter time (bunnies are very popular gifts at this time of year). Because rabbits and bunnies played an important part in my family’s life my mom often made an Easter Bunny Cake for dessert on Easter. Remembering how much I enjoyed those cakes, I asked for my mom’s help in creating this Easter Bunny Cake. She shared with me my grandma’s Fluffy Frosting recipe that we used on the cake. Listed below are the steps you can take to create your own Easter Bunny Cake using my grandma’s frosting recipe. In addition to being delicious, this cake is also easy and fun to decorate . . . your kids will want to help you do so!
First, gather your supplies and ingredients.
- your favorite cake recipe & ingredients
- two 8″ round cake pans
- 1 large cookie sheet
- cutting board
- sharp knife
- toothpick
- prepared white icing or gather ingredients to make the recipe for Fluffy Frosting (below)
- coconut flakes
- jelly beans
- thin shoe string red licorice
- 3 chocolate candy wafer melts
- Printed copy of ears & bow tie stencil
Bake the batter of your favorite cake recipe in two 8″ round cake pans. Let the cakes cool before decorating.
While your cake is cooling, make the Fluffy Frosting recipe (below). If you are using store-bought icing, just skip this step.
After the cakes are cool, it is time to decorate!
I covered a 17-inch long cookie sheet with Reynolds Wrap to help the Bunny Cake stand out against the pan and to provide for easy clean up.
Invert one of the 8″ cake pans and remove the cake from the pan. Place this cake right-side-up, slightly off-center, on your cookie sheet (see below). You can adjust the position later to accommodate the ears and bow tie.
Remove the second cake from its pan. Place the cake right-side-up on a cutting board.
My mom has been making this Bunny Cake for so many years that she just uses the round cake pan and cuts the ears out freehand. I am not that talented, so I have made this bunny ears & bow tie template to help you cut out the ears and bow tie. Cut along the lines of the template so you have three patterns (two for the ears and one that will be the same as the resulting bow tie).
Place one of the bunny ear templates on top of the cake and use a toothpick to trace a line along the edge of the cake. Using a knife, cut the cake along the line you traced.
Use the other ear template to cut a second ear from the other side of the cake. In the pictures, above, my mom placed the first ear over where she was cutting the second ear by freehand to ensure that both ears were uniform in size. However, you can just use the template.
After both ears are cut out you should have a bow tie shape.
Place the ears on the cookie sheet aligned above the head and align the bow tie below the head (as pictured below).
Use a spatula or knife to put frosting on the entire cake.
Sprinkle the cake with coconut flakes. Some people do not like coconut, so I recommend leaving a portion of the cake coconut-free so that they can enjoy a piece too.
Cut the licorice into 8 pieces (that are each 2 inches in length) to use as the whiskers. Cut 1 piece of licorice into a 3 inch piece to use for the mouth.
Place the whiskers and mouth on the bunny face.
Add chocolate melting wafers for the eyes. If you don’t have chocolate melting wafers, use your imagination and find something you already have on hand or just use more jelly beans for the eyes.
Use jelly beans to decorate the bow tie and for the nose.
Have a fantastic holiday and enjoy a piece of cake!
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Put sugar, light corn syrup, egg whites, water, salt and cream of tartar into the top pan of a double boiler. If you don't own a double boiler use a stove top safe bowl inside a sauce pan instead. Bring water to a boil in the bottom of the top pan. Make sure water doesn't touch the bottom of the top pan.
- Beat ingredients with an electric mixer at medium-high speed over boiling water. Continue beating mixture for approximately 7 minutes until the frosting stands in peaks. Then remove the top pan from the heat.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Then use the electric mixer to beat in the vanilla extract until frosting is a spreadable consistency as pictured in the bowl, above.
As a kid we loved making cut out cakes.. Do you have others to share?
Dianna,
When I was a child my mom made a few other cakes for the holidays. I recall a Cross for Easter, a snowman at Christmas and a pumpkin at Halloween. I plan on having her show me how she did the others as well and featuring the “how to make” on the blog in the future. I hope you will come back to check them out.
Vickie