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Get ready to wow your family and friends with an adorable springtime bunny rabbit cake. This cake is made easy with a box of store bought gluten free cake mix and store bought frosting! Perfect for celebrating Easter, spring, and even children’s birthday parties. Delicious and fun for both kids and adults.
There is something therapeutic about baking and decorating a cake. It is great to tune out the world and exercise your creative side. The best part about this cake is that all mistakes can be covered with frosting. Don’t fret, just have fun!
I want to note that I do not own this recipe. This Easter Bunny Cake has been used in my family for decades, however you can find several renditions online. This is simply my interpretation of the cake which I think you will love, but I hope you put your own spin on it as well!
THE CAKE
Use 1 box of store bought cake mix. I used King Arthur Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix. You can use any cake mix brand or flavor that you would like as we are going to cover the entire cake with frosting. Simply follow the instructions for baking on the box, then this next step is EXTREMELY important:
Bake the cakes in 2 round layer cake pans (8-9 inches round). The box of cake mix will likely give options for other cake pans (Bundt, 13×9, square), however using 2 round cake pans is fundamental to this recipe as we use the 2 round pans to get the bunny rabbit shape.
SHAPING THE BUNNY
Once the cakes have cooled (around 20-30 minutes), remove them from their tins. Place one cake in the middle of a baking sheet or large serving platter and the other cake on a dinner plate. The cake on the sheet/platter will be the bunny’s head. Now lets make the ears & body:
Using a knife, begin tracing the ears from the cake which you set aside on a dinner plate. Once you have cut one ear, you can use it as a stencil to make the final cut on the second ear. Don’t overthink it – you can always carve off more cake if the ears are uneven. TIP: When tracing, you can mark up your cake as much as needed because we will cover the entire cake in frosting therefore no imperfections will be seen. You can also flip the cake over so the rough side is on the bottom and smooth edge faces up if you would like.
Next, assemble your cake to match the photo above. If you run out of room on your pan you can always cut and inch or so off the bottom of the ears to make room. I had plenty of room on my serving platter but I made the cuts in the above picture to show you where to cut. You can also trim the body/bowtie section of the cake to make more room.
DECORATING THE CAKE
The first step in decorating is to cover the entire cake in vanilla frosting. I used Miss Jones Baking Co “Confetti Pop” frosting which comes with a separate packet of confetti colored sprinkles. I set aside the sprinkles to use for the body/bowtie later. Although this cake contains an entire stick of butter, I opted for a frosting made from coconut oil as I try to sub for dairy free items whenever possible. The recipe requires about 1.5 tubs of frosting. You can use any frosting that you like as long as it is white. I guess you can try to make a brown bunny using chocolate frosting, but it would probably be difficult to make the sprinkle facial features pop against a brown background.
Once the entire cake is frosted, sprinkle confetti sprinkles on the tie/body. You can use confetti sprinkles or any colored sprinkles that you would like. You can even add another color to the center to make a faux-bow tie look. The creativity is endless! Have fun! Next, add pink sprinkles to the center of the ear. You can use your knife to trace the area you would like to add sprinkles, but it does not have to be perfect. It will look cute no matter what, and you can cover any imperfections with the extra half tub of un-used frosting.
The final step is the most painstaking part of the process: decorating the face.
- It is helpful to divide the face into 4 equal quadrants using a knife. Mark a circle at the center of the 4 quadrants as the nose goes directly in the middle of the face. Fill the circle with a combination of pink & red sprinkles for the bunny nose. You can also use a pink or red jelly bean for the nose.
- Next, trace a mouth and whiskers around the nose. Cover the traced area with chocolate sprinkles. The chocolate sprinkles I used were long and thin so I placed them one-by-one. Remember, every mistake can be fixed with a knife and some frosting! You can also use pull-apart rope candy for the mouth/whiskers, however Twizzlers are not gluten free.
- Lastly, trace two more circles for the eyes. Fill the eyes with chocolate sprinkles. You can also use black jelly beans if you have those on hand.
- Smooth out any traces or imperfections using your knife.
Congratulations! You just made an adorable bunny cake! Enjoy this cake as a dessert on Easter or any springtime occasion!
Gluten Free Bunny Cake
Equipment
- 2 round cake pans (8-9 inch)
Ingredients
The Cake
- 1 box store bought gluten free yellow cake mix
- remaining ingredients listed on the box of cake mix (likely oil, egg, butter etc.)
Decorations
- 2 tubs of white/vanilla frosting (12-ounce tubs)
- chocolate sprinkles
- confetti sprinkles
- pink sprinkles
- red sprinkles
Instructions
- Make cake according to directions on box. Be sure to use 2 round cake pans (8-9 in.) to bake the cakes.
- Once cooled (20-30 minutes), place one round cake on a cookie sheet or large serving platter to assemble. This cake will be the head. Place the other cake on a dinner plate. This cake will be the ears & bow tie.
- Using a knife, trace the ears on the 2nd cake on dinner plate. Once shaped, cut one ear. You can use this ear as a stencil to cut the other ear.Place ears above the cake which is the head.Place remaining bowtie shaped cake below the head.
- Cover entire cake in frosting. You will use around 1.5 tubs.
Decorate
- Sprinkle confetti sprinkles liberally on the bowtie until covered.
- Using a knife, outline where to add pink sprinkles inside the ear. Next, fill line with sprinkles.
- Using a knife, trace 4 quadrants on the bunny head. Mark a circle at the center of the 4 quadrants where the nose will be. Fill the circle with a combination of red & pink sprinkles.
- Trace a mouth and whiskers using your knife. Cover the trace with a single line of chocolate sprinkles.
- Draw two more circles for the eyes. Fill with chocolate sprinkles *see notes
- Smooth any imperfections with your knife.
- Enjoy!
Notes
This cake is a delicious dessert for Easter or any springtime gathering, or just for fun! Enjoy for up to 4 days.
