Bunny Cake

I am very sorry it has been so long since my last blog!  It's been crazy with the kids off school and then I was in Delray Beach, FL for my nephew's Christening.  Took lots of pictures, ate lots of wonderful food and drank lots of good wine.  Planned on blogging all about it when I got back but then that funny thing called life got in the way.

Anyhow, since Easter is this weekend and I have mentioned this cake to a few people, I thought I would post this entry first. 

I am not going to get all preachy about making the cake and frosting from scratch.  For those of us cooking/baking this weekend, keep it as simple as possible.  If you want to use your own recipe, go for it - all the better.  If not, have Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines on standby. 

So - basically, mix up your cake mix and divide it into two greased 9 inch round cake pans.  (I cannot emphasize grease your pans enough.  As you will see from the following pictures, my cakes stuck.)  Bake according to your recipe and let cool completely.

Here comes the fun part.

Keep one round cake as is and in tact.  The second cake you will cut like so:

You want to cut two oval-ish ears and then the middle part is used as a bow tie.

Then, on a large platter, put your bunny together.  Like so:

Then, frost Mr. Bunny's head and ears white. You will need one can or the equivalent for the head and ears. 

The second can of frosting I divided and dyed 2/3 purple and 1/3 pink. 

The purple is for the bow tie and the pink is for his ears and to decorate his bow tie. Jelly beans were used for his eyes and nose and the whiskers are red licorice - Twizzlers pull and peel to be exact. (By the way, if you end up making this and are in my area, please call me.  I have an entire pack of licorice to spare.)  

Here is my finished product:

Ain't he cute?

Couple of side notes here:

First off - get creative!  If you don't have jelly beans, you can use icing or another type of candy for his eyes and nose.  Decorate his bow tie however you like.  If you don't want a bow tie on your bunny, leave it off and you'll have something to snack on while you decorate his head.  A really fun thing to do is after frosting, cover his head and ears with coconut.  Then, your bunny will look fluffy - it's very cool.

When you are coloring or dyeing the icing, I like to use the Wilton food coloring.  They come in small little jars and are great to work with.  They have the consistency of a thick gel and you only need a tiny bit to get the color you want.  This is what the jars look like:

The reason I like these, is because they add very little liquid and they do not thin out your frosting like some of the other liquid food colorings do.  Again - if you are in my area - give me a holla and I'd be glad to loan them out. I've got a rainbow of colors!

So, that's it!  The infamous bunny cake I grew up with!  Simple, festive and a fun tradition.  I know it wouldn't be Easter in my house without him.  Although - it will be this Easter since Mr. Bunny is already missing both of his ears.  What is it about those bunny ears that are so yummy?!

Have a wonderful holiday and I promise to write again soon!