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April 1, 2012 By Kaitlin 22 Comments

Bunny Cake

Every Easter, we have this adorable little bunny cake that shows up for dessert. I honestly don’t know what bakery we get it from, but it always makes me smile. So I thought I’d try to recreate it. Obviously, a bunny would be filled with carrots, so I decided to make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, covered in coconut. I used a recipe from David Lebovitz for the cake and frosting, and used Betty Crocker‘s instructions on how to make it into a bunny.
Bunny Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
for the carrot cake:
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups loosely packed grated carrots (about 5 carrots)
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
for the frosting:
  • 2 8oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 bag of coconut flakes
  • green food dye
  • jelly beans

Begin by grating your carrots.
You can also buy pre-grated carrots, but it’s not too difficult to do. I weighed my carrots, but it took about 4-5 carrots to reach 4 cups (13 ounces).
This recipe calls for brown butter. If you want, you can just use melted butter without browning it, but brown butter adds an extra boost of flavor.  To brown butter, heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter cut into tablespoon sized pieces.
Allow to melt, whisking. It will start bubbling.
When you begin to see some browning, remove it from heat. Set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10 inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. (If you have a stand mixer, you can add all the ingredients to the bowl and use the hook attachment to break up all chunks, it works the same as sifting.) Set the mixture aside.
Beat the eggs until frothy. Add the oil, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Add the dry mixture little by little until combined.
Add the carrots and raisins.
Fill the 10 inch pan half way full.
I also filled a 5 inch pan with the remaining mixture, but you don’t have to do this part if you don’t want (I made the bunny legs with it).
Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Bake the 5 inch pan for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow both cakes to cool completely.
While the cakes are baking, take a handful of the coconut flakes and add to a ziplock bag. Add the green food dye and shake. Add dye until desired color is reached.
While waiting for the cakes to cool, make the icing. Add the cream cheese and butter to a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar little by little until combined and then add the vanilla; mix to combine.
Add some of the frosting to a cake round, or to the plate that you will put the cake on.
Sprinkle with the green coconut flakes.
To form the cake into a bunny, first cut the large cake in half. Use some of the icing to adhere the two halves together.
Cut out a wedge of the cake about one third of the way into the round side. This will form a head and body. Reserve the cutout piece to make the tail.
Frost the cake. Repeat with the smaller cake if using. (Cut the smaller cake in half and then add the icing). Also frost the cutout piece.
Add the smaller cake halves to each side of the upright cake. Add the tail to the end of the cake. Sprinkle the cake with coconut flakes.
To make the ears, cut them from pink construction paper. Wrap the ends with plastic food wrap so that you can insert them into the cake. Use jelly beans for eyes and nose.
How cute is he?
I’ve named him Coconut Tail. hehe.
 
The carrot cake itself was so moist and delicious. I think if I made this again I’d actually sub in some kind of nut for the golden raisins because I really wanted some sort of crunch in the cake. Past that super delicious. And adorable.  🙂

Filed Under: Dessert Tagged With: Baking, Brown Butter, Bunny, Butter, Cake, Carrot Cake, Carrots, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coconut, Cream Cheese, Dessert, Easter, Eggs, Frosting, Golden Raisins, I Can Cook That, Jelly Beans, Nutmeg, Recipe

Comments

  1. Danielle says

    April 1, 2012 at 7:13 pm

    Absolutely adorable! I haven’t decided what my ‘wow’ dessert will be yet..I better hop to it..get it…GET IT! haha

    Reply
  2. raquel@eRecipe.com says

    April 1, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    Great idea for the Easter. Very cute and delicious bunny waiting to be eaten. =)

    Reply
  3. Emily says

    April 1, 2012 at 11:04 pm

    This is adorable. I love it and I love that it is made of carrot cake and topped with coconut. Yum!

    Reply
  4. Eileen says

    April 2, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    That is too cute to eat. The cake does look super moist – YUM!

    Reply
  5. Navaneetham Krishnan says

    April 2, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    I am loving the beautifully decorated bunny cake and thats so creative. Can’t take my eyes off the pics you have attached.

    Reply
  6. Jennie @themessybakerblog says

    April 2, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    This cake is adorable. You did such a lovely job. I love that you used coconut for the bunny’s fur.

    Reply
  7. Kit @ i-lostinausten says

    April 2, 2012 at 4:29 pm

    Oh my! These cake is so ADORABLE! You’ve done a great job ! Love it! 🙂

    Reply
  8. fromcupcakestocaviar@gmail.com says

    April 2, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    Heh! This is adorable. Cute wittle bunny wabbit… come here, wittle bunny. Erhmmm, sorry, I’ll stop now.

    Reply
  9. Kiri W. says

    April 3, 2012 at 12:27 am

    That looks incredibly delicious 🙂 I am such a coconut fan, so the cute bonus is a double bonus of coconuttiness! Well played 😉

    Reply
  10. Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love. says

    April 3, 2012 at 2:03 am

    Love your bunny cake! So cute!

    Reply
  11. Annie Oakley's Kitchen says

    April 3, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    That is so darn adorable!

    Reply
  12. Abby says

    April 3, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    Such a cute cake!

    Reply
  13. Anonymous says

    April 3, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    i just make 2 layers; leave one whole for the face of the bunny, the other one I cut 2 ears out of the side, and then the middle becomes the bow tie. frost and cover with coconut; use red licorice for whiskers; jelly beans for eyes and nose; and sprinkle pink sugar for the inside of the ears.

    Reply
  14. Food Jaunts says

    April 4, 2012 at 12:25 am

    Aw so cute! And so creative 🙂 Wanna make me one and send it over for Easter, I suck at shaping baked goods lol. But seriously – I love the whole idea. Great post!

    Reply
    • Kait Lun says

      April 4, 2012 at 12:30 am

      🙂 that’s the beauty of this cake! There really isn’t much shaping at all!

      Reply
  15. Baker Street says

    April 5, 2012 at 2:16 am

    WOW! I love cute traditions like these! You did a fabulous job. 🙂

    Reply
  16. Grubarazzi says

    April 5, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Oh hiii. I’m the cutest little edible easter bunny ever!

    Reply
  17. Katie @ OhShineOn says

    April 7, 2012 at 2:03 am

    This is super cute. You are really talented!

    Reply
  18. Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says

    April 8, 2012 at 3:19 am

    This is absolutely precious. I’ve always wondered how this is made, and now I can finally give it a try! Thanks for the awesome tutorial 🙂

    Reply
  19. beti says

    April 9, 2012 at 4:34 am

    aww it is adorable! and very creative

    Reply
  20. Tabby says

    April 24, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    The bunny looks really adorable! Can’t wait to give my designer skills a try on this wonderful recipe!Hope I’ll not mess it up!

    Reply

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