Spring is in the air~ and I LOVE it!! We’ve had such a pretty week this week–warm weather & lots of sunshine, and it has put me in the mood for some spring themed sweets!!! BUNNY is our special of the day ;0)
I have made many Easter and spring themed cakes with bunny toppers & decorations…but I haven’t made a 3-D bunny cake in about 20 years! Now that is just plain crazy. You’ll have to stop by my “backstory” blog sometime to see a picture of that first try. As scary as that picture of my first bunny is, don’t fear the bunny—I want you to know that cute bunnies are within your reach! Really, I’m talking to cakers of all skill levels now–this is completely doable! Let’s get started~
I’m starting off with the bunny ears because if you want stand-up bunny ears, you’ll need to dry them in advance. This is white gum paste (although fondant with tylose kneaded in would work fine too.). Just roll your gum paste to approx 1/4-1/8″ thickness, cut out your shapes, and let them dry for a couple of days. (Mine were actually ready after one night but it’s best to play it safe.). You could also cheat and use white card stock anchored in back with lollipop sticks :0)
See how I made one ear flop forward? Another idea is to just work with fondant and let the bunny have completely floppy ears! No need to dry in advance if you go this route. We’ll get to the pink in the center of the ears a little later on –
I’m starting with a 6″ round cake layer & a cake made from Wilton’s half ball pan. You can improvise by carving a couple of 6″ stacked layers into a dome if you do not have a ball pan–or you could bake in an oven-safe bowl.
Next, I filled and stacked my two layers (with buttercream in the center). I tapered the cake slightly at the bottom so that the cake would have a more rounded appearance. Carving/tapering is an optional step and wouldn’t work well with cakes that are super soft. As you can see, I took off just a small amount.
Next, as you’ve seen me do many times, I frosted my cake with a crusting buttercream. I allowed to crust (this happens after about 5 minutes), and then smoothed over everything with a Viva brand paper towel (no impressions or quilting on Viva).
Now that our body is nice and smooth, let’s start thinking about the head. Instead of carving a cake head, I thought it would be easier to go the good old rice cereal treat route. Here, I mashed 4 rice cereal treats tightly into a dome shape–perfect for bunny’s head.
Here, I rubbed my rice cereal treat with a light coat of shortening and then layered a piece of fondant over it. Actually, I used two layers of fondant–one still showed a few lumps and bumps. Then, I just cut off the excess fondant and was left with a perfectly smooth bunny head. An alternative would be to frost right over the head with buttercream !
Next, I added two little black fondant eyes, a pink fondant nose, and some rosy cheeks. The rosy cheeks are pink petal dust which I applied with a dry brush. I used the same on the ears.
Next, I used a skewer to push two holes into the top of the bunny head. This is where the ears will go!
Next, I took my dried gum paste ears and flipped them over. Then I attached lollipop sticks to the backs with dampened pieces of fondant. They were set within 30 minutes. Your sticks don’t need to be this long. I trimmed mine a bit before actually inserting them into the head.
After putting in my ears, the bunny head was ready! I attached it to the body with a bit of buttercream.
Have you ever seen edible bunny grass? Mom found this in a local grocery store :0) –If you don’t have this, you can simply pipe buttercream grass, or you could even surround your bunny with jelly beans!
I added a bunny tail using a Wilton piping tip 12–but use whatever you have on hand, or just do a swirl of buttercream!
I drew on a little bunny mouth with an Americolor coloring pen. That’s an optional step, but I thought it made her a little more cheerful! Oh, and our bunny needed a bow too! Little white dots in the black eyes bring our bunny to life. Here she is!!
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Isn’t she sweet? Now some of you may be wondering what our bunny would look like with more textured, swirled fur. I wondered this too–so I tried it! — Bunny is going to the salon for a new ‘doo…
I piped on some extra buttercream and did a little swirling with my spatula.
And we’re done!! Which bunny do you like better? Smooth or swirly? Swirly is perfect for any icing, but especially with non-crusting frostings. I think that either way, you really can’t go wrong. I hope that you’ll give this bunny a try sometime soon! If you do, I would love to see it!
Have a great weekend!
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I love the way the smooth bunny cake looks…. Thank you so much for showing how to make it… I will be making 3 for diffrent people in my family for their Easter Sunday….
Soooo cute! I might just give this a try
Absolutely adorable! My cake always tears when I frost it, was told to make a creamier buttercream. Can I have your buttercream recipe?
Adorable..
Ok. Deeeeeeeeeeep breath Trisha. This is like an infusion of cuteness overload! And to think I didn’t have anything to do today!! NOT anymore!! Yipeee, guess who is making a cute bunny cake with her daughter and daughter’s friend for a playdate activity today? Oh ya, me. And guess who will be a “cool mom” for letting them eat the frosting while the help me? Oh ya…….
Love the cute little bunny! Even my 3 year old thought it looks adorable!
super cute & looks pretty easy!
So cute!! Thanks for sharing!
Love the smooth bunny
i make bunny cakes also.but i use coconut on mine and they are so cute.i really like your bunny.i might make it for my grandkids this easter but i am going to put coconut on mine for the fur.
Great job!! This is so cute!!
I would make the smooth….just so darn cute.
I like the smooth one! Great cake. Easy to make yet adorable.
This is awesome Melissa! Cannot wait to try it! thanks
This is adorable!!! I’m going to try this for my grandbaby girl. Thanks for sharing!!
it looks awesome either way. cant wait to try it!
Can you tell me at what store your Mom found the edible grass? This cake is darling!
Adorable!! Thank you for sharing your talent!!
Both texture equally cute!!! Thank you….you are so awesome!
Target sells the edible grass… Hope that helps!! Great idea by the way!!
Thank you for posting, Miss Fancy Pants, I found ours at a regional grocery store chain, The Fresh Market. Target is available to more people, I’m happy to here it is there.
Could this cake be made on a larger scale using oven proof bowl and enlarging the rice krispies amount to corespond with the body? I too like the idea of using coconut. Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Anita, yes you could and that will be very cute.
I love the bunny fuzzy or smooth but leaning towards the smooth. I too have used coconut for fur or even the grass.
The edible grass was at WalMart last year.
Thank-you for sharing!
I love this and I am going to make it. It is adorable. Thanks for the edible grass tip. Target here I come!
beautiful thanks i will tray to make it
It’s adorable love them both. Thanks for the tutorial, greatly appreciated
That is the cutest bunny cake I’ve ever seen! I do like the options that you gave.
Love it… thanks for the idea…you guys have a great site!
Melissa, I’m wondering what the point of using Fondant is? Why not just use all buttercream, since the finishing buttercream, you can’t really see the fondant underneath anyways. I really want to make this for an Easter BBQ I’m going too!
Thanks everybody! I’m so happy that so many of you are going to try it! ;0) — I agree with those of you who mentioned coconut as an option–that would be adorable too! –
@bridgettegabrielle– You do not have to use fondant. In this tutorial, I only used fondant for the face-not on the body. For me, it was just easy since I have it on hand anyway. In one of the final shots it looks like I am swirling buttercream over fondant–but actually, I’m just spreading it over a layer of buttercream that I smoothed. (I was showing that you could give your bunny bunny smooth buttercream “fur” or swirled. Maybe that’s where the confusion came in.
Anyway, buttercream all over would be great too!
Glad that you are going to make the cake! ;0)
love loved it!! made it for my sons kidergarten easter party today! where can i post the picture? i believed i tagged mycakeschool on facebook… hope to hear from you and let me know what you think!
i love going to school! heheh
So so so sooooooooo cute! Can’t wait to make him for Sunday! Happy Easter everyone!
Me encanta
Hi everyone!! New to this blog, but I love cake decorating. I glad I came across this one! I like either the smooth or furry bunny, but I was going to suggest for edible grass (in case you can’t find that certain type above), you could use coconut colored green with food coloring. I’m pretty sure I have seen that somewhere, though have never tried it. I will make this bunny cake for my church’s Easter party for the kids and I will try the green coconut.
Your bunny cakes are spectacular! Fuzzy or smooth? Each are charming in it’s own way! I have searched several hours tonight for a site that will tutor me through the entire process of creating beautiful desserts! Thank you so much for sharing your talent!
cOULD YOU PELASE GIVE ME THE RECIPE FOR CRUSTING BUTTERCREAM, iM A NAN WHO DOES HER GRANDKIDS CAKES AND CANT FIND A GOOD BUTTERCREAM
Hi Melissa! Love this cake ! My God Daughter loves bunnies and I am making this for her 2nd birthday along with some cute coordinating cupcakes! One question, how did you do the bunny’s feet? Thanks!
Hi SugarBelles, Melissa formed ovals of fondant then used the end of a paint brush handle or a toothpick and made impressions for toes, then pressed them against the sides of the cake.
Love your site looking forward to future post.
Hi!!!!! I love it!!!!! Thanks for sharing your creations!!!! xoxox
how many servings would you consider this?
Hi kuppkake, this is basically a 2 layer 6 inch cake and it should serve 12 according to the Wilton Party Serving Chart.
Just made this!!!! Love, love, love it!!! Made it for me! Thanks for the tutorial!
Hi Linda-So glad to hear it!