Easter Bunny Cake

spacekitty's Note:

This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid but the instructions have long since been lost. I saw all kinds of "Bunny" cakes, but nothing even came close to this one... although I did manage to find a photo of it online. (It's hard to tell from the photo, but the feet are 2 layers high and the rest of the cake just one) So please excuse my crude drawings and directions, but you will have fun making it!! Great project to make with the kids, too, since you can get really creative with the decorations (other than just the ribbon bow) and can really dress it up. P.S. No law says it has to be a WHITE bunny, either... ;) ;)

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8-10

Yield: 1.0 Bunny C ...

• 1 (18 ounce) box white cake mix (white or yellow are best, or use your own imagination...)
• 3 eggs (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 1/3 cups water (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 (16 ounce) can white frosting (or use your favorite recipe, "ready to spread" will do but I'm not sure how much it will take)
• 1 (14 ounce) package coconut (either flaked or shredded will work)
• 1/2 yard ribbon (approx., for bow)
• food coloring
• jelly beans (for decorations, eyes, nose, etc.) or gumdrop (for decorations, eyes, nose, etc.)

Directions:

1. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box for 2 round 9" layers.
2. Tint 1/4 cup of the coconut pink (I'm guessing at the amount) for the center of ears and feet.
3. Tint 2 tablespoons of the frosting brown for decorating face and feet ( or you can buy one of those prepared decorating icing tubes).
4. When cake is cool, cut layers as shown in diagram (see other photo).
5. Take 4 of the 8 outer ring pieces and frost the tops. Place 1 of the remaining 4 on top of each and frost top and sides. These will make the feet of the bunny.
6. Place round-cut center piece next to the top edge of the square, keeping them both flat, to form body and head.
7. Assemble the 4 side pieces in twos, flat sides together (you can use a little frosting to hold them together) to form the ears and arrange at the top of the head.
8. Frost entire cake and attach the completed feet, 2 on each side of the body.
9. Sprinkle coconut over entire cake and decorate with jelly beans/gumdrops for eyes, nose, etc. as desired, using pink-tinted coconut for center of ears and feet.
10. Here's where you can really have fun and get creative! You can tie the ribbon in a bow and place on the cake as a bowtie, make buttons out of the candy, add a hat, etc.
11. ** Tip for using frosting to decorate without a pastry bag: Spoon the frosting into one corner of a small plastic sandwich baggie, twist tightly and snip off the tip of the corner. Voila!
12. Note: The finished cake is almost 2 feet long so be sure to have it on a large enough cookie sheet or platter!
13. Servings vary on how you decide to divide up the body (er, bunny) parts -- .

Reviews

[Tiggrr]

I believe I still have the Cut-up Cake book in my basement. My Mom made different ones out of the book for every holiday. I remember her making this one at Easter time. This recipe is more of a guide to how to cut up the cake and can be incorporated with any recipe. Thanks for posting. I just may have to go dig out that book.

[Empire920]

I've never tried anything like this before and was a little nervous but it turned out very easy! I am not a boxed cake fan so I used the cake and icing recipe from #294035 (did not use the filling). I had to make extra icing and maybe went a little heavy on the lemon. Still, the kids loved helping to decorate and when we arrived at our friend's home their kids were very excited about the bunny cake. This may be a new tradition at our house. Thanks!

[Nesrew]

I used this method to make tomorrow's easter dessert. I did not use cake mix, or canned frosting tho. I made red velvet cake, as hubby asked if we could have "bloody" cake when we cut it, eldest thought it was a great idea and who am I to argue? The diagram was so very helpful. Thanks so much for posting