Easter Bunny Cake

I love Easter and the baking possibilities. As you will have seen, when it comes to seasonal baking I rarely have any sophistication, instead going for the cute and fun. This cake is no exception. I got the idea from the Stork website and have added my own twist with the surprise inside.

The first time I made this recipe, I then split the mixture into 4 tins and they came out very thin. I decided to use them to make the mini bunnies - I got two!

I then made the cakes again, this time doubling the recipe to get 4 decent sized layers as you can see above and below.

To add even more interest I also coloured each layer a slightly different shade of pink to create the ombre effect. 

With a cute marshmallow tail and nose, fondant eyes and chocolate ears and mouth, here you have a gorgeous Easter Bunny cake!

All of this was made for my son and his friends for their Easter craft session this morning.

If you would like a video and original recipe, click here to go to the Stork site. For the sake of having the cake recipe easily accessible, I will post it here as well. For all the extra details, it's worth heading to their site.

Easter Bunny Cake

 (Note: I doubled this recipe to get these 4 thick layers)

CAKE:

• 225 g butter, softened
• 185g caster sugar
• 4 eggs, large
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g self raising flour ( or 220g plain flour and 1tsp baking powder)

VANILLA FROSTING:

• 175 butter, softened
• 500g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cooled boiled water

* you may need more than this if filling all the layers as well.

TO DECORATE:

• 100g white chocolate
• pink sprinkles (or I used a few drops of pink colouring in a bag with some sugar and massaged the colour in and used that)
• white ready to roll icing
• pink and white marshmallows
• 10g dark chocolate, melted - for the eyes, mouth and nose
• 80g dark chocolate, melted - for the ears.

METHOD:

1. Grease and line 4 x 20cm (8 inch) sandwich tins with baking paper on the base.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 c/160 c fan/Gas mark 4.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing fully after each one. Add vanilla.
5. Fold in the flour.
6. Divide the mixture into 4 equal amounts - I use a large ice cream scoop to ensure even quantities.
7. Add a small amount of colour to each bowl, increasing the amount of colour each time until you achieve the desired colour.
8. Bake two cakes at a time, for 25 mins. test and leave for a couple more mins if needed. 
9. Remove from oven and turn out on to a cooling rack until cool.

For the rest of the decorating, follow the instructions (& the ear template is also available) on the Stork site.

Don't forget the tail!

Happy Easter everyone!