Bunny Butt Cake

This is an easy and adorable colorful Easter Bunny Butt Cake that makes a memorable Easter cake, a festive centerpiece, and a fun way to celebrate spring!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Decorating Time 2

Total Time 3

Servings cups

Calories 1561kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

1 7" hemisphere-shaped cake pan or a 2-quart ovenproof bowl of equivalent size
1 Cupcake Tin
6 cupcake liners

Ingredients

Easy Vanilla Cake

16 ounces all-purpose flour
16 ounces granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 Large eggs slightly warm
5 ounces vegetable oil
10 ounces buttermilk slightly warm
4 ounces unsalted butter melted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Easy Buttercream

6 ounces pasteurized egg whites from a box
24 ounces powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
24 ounces unsalted butter softened

Decorating

1 cup white fondant
1 teaspoon green food coloring
1 teaspoon pink food coloring
1 bag sweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup jelly beans

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Easy Vanilla Cake

Preheat the oven to 335ºF (168ºC) and prepare one 7-inch hemisphere-shaped cake pan or a 2-quart ovenproof bowl of equivalent size, with cake goop or another pan release.
Measure out all of the ingredients using a digital kitchen scale. Pro-tip: You can mix the wet and dry ingredients separately for a finer texture, or just measure and add directly into the bowl of your stand mixer for fewer dishes.
In a large bowl, combine and mix together the buttermilk, butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla. The wet ingredients should all be slightly warm.
Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed.
While the mixer is on low speed, pour the wet ingredients slowly into the dry ingredients.
Mix the batter on medium speed and mix for 1 minute until the batter is combined and looks like pancake batter. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are combined.
Pour cake batter into the dome cake pan and then fill 6 prepared muffin cups with the remaining batter.
Bake the cupcakes in the same oven as the cake, but set a time to remove them at 12-15 minutes.
Use an empty 6-inch cake pan as a stabilizer for your dome pan while it is baking. Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes and flip it out onto a wire rack. Pro-tip: If you plan to frost and decorate the cake on the same day, you can place the cakes into the freezer unwrapped for about an hour or until they are cold (but not frozen). If you plan to decorate your cake at a later date, then you will wrap the cakes in plastic wrap first before freezing them.

Easy Buttercream Frosting

Place the egg whites and the powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Use the whip attachment and combine the ingredients on low speed, and then whip them on high for 4-5 minutes (until shiny) to dissolve the powdered sugar.
Then, add the salt and the vanilla extract.
Add in the softened butter piece-by-piece, and whip it with the whisk attachment to combine. It will look curdled at first. This is normal. It will also look pretty yellow, keep whipping.
Whip it on high speed with the whisk attachment for 8-10 minutes until the buttercream is white, light, and shiny. If it tastes like sweet ice cream, then it's ready!
Finally, switch to a paddle attachment and mix the buttercream on low speed for up to 18-20 minutes to make the buttercream ultra smooth and remove any air bubbles.
Color about 2 cups of buttercream green for the grass and prepare a piping bag with a grass tip.
Color about 2 cups of buttercream pink for the body of the bunny, or leave it white if you prefer.

Preparing the fondant bunny feet and ears

Make the ears and feet a day ahead so that they have time to dry, or you can buy a cute little set already made.
Color about 2 ounces of white fondant with pink food coloring for the details in the ears and feet.
Roll the white and pink fondant very thin on a surface prepared with cornstarch to avoid sticking.
While the fondant surface dries slightly, trace ears and feet shapes on a piece of paper and cut them out. This is to make a guide for your blade while cutting out the shapes.
Cut all of the white and pink shapes out with a sharp blade.
Using a brush moistened with water, brush the pink bits and stick them to the white bunny's feet and ears.
Bend over one ear and lay all of the cutouts on a tray lined with parchment paper to dry. The ears need extra dry time to stand up.

Making the cake pop dough tail and feet

Crumble the cupcakes in a large bowl.
Add about ½ cup of buttercream to the crumbs and mix them together until it forms a dough. You can use another tablespoon of the buttercream if the dough is still crumbly.
Using your hands, create one big cake ball of dough for the tail and 2 smaller balls for the feet. I elongated the shape of the feet so they are a little more rabbit-like and so they match the fondant feet.
Roll the tail ball and feet in the shredded coconut.
Let the cake dough balls set up in the fridge for 10 minutes while you assemble the bunny.

Assembling the Bunny Butt Cake

Trim the bunny cake so that the dome can sit level and trim the cake board to fit evenly with the cake.
On a large round cake board or platter, place the baked domed cake flat side down in the center.
Spread a generous layer of easy buttercream evenly over the cake.
Press the shredded coconut onto the side of the cake until fully covered.
Add two wooden skewers to the top-back of the dome cake and add the tail.
Using a dollop of buttercream, stick the bunny feet in the desired locations.
Pipe the green grass buttercream around the bottom edge of the bunny's body and fill in the remaining space on the platter.
Use another dollop of buttercream on the foot pads and stick the bottoms of bunny feet with the toes facing down.
Next, add the fondant ears on the front of the bunny with a dollop of buttercream.
Sprinkle colorful jellybeans or chocolate eggs around in the "grass".

Notes

The best investment you can make when you’re getting started with baking is a digital kitchen scale! Weighing your ingredients will help you avoid cake failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
Practice Mise en Place (everything in its place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
Need more help with making your first cake? Check out my how to decorate your first cake blog post.
Make sure all of your cold ingredients (e.g. butter, eggs, milk) are at room temperature or a little warm. Why? Because we want to create an emulsion and allow the ingredients to fully mix together.
Make your own pan release (cake goop!) The best pan release ever!
I recommend you make the fondant bunny ears and feet first, then vanilla cake and cupcakes, then the frosting, the tail and feet, and finally assemble it all together.

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