Easter Bunny Cake Tutorial (Vegan/Allergy Friendly)
I have a really awesome Easter Bunny Cake tutorial for y'all today! I made it yesterday as a test-run for Easter and I just love how it turned out! It's not the most professional looking cake I've ever seen but I'm having the best time in my new foray into baking. I love learning to be creative in the kitchen. I just don't know what I've been waiting for!
I used a yummy vegan chocolate cake recipe that I swear you will love even if you don't have food restrictions! And since there is no egg you can lick the bowl as much as you want totally guilt-free!
But seriously, how cute is this sweet little bunny cake? It's not perfect but I can tell you there were four kids in my kitchen yesterday afternoon super excited and ready to take a bite! I wanted to practice before making this to bring to my parent's house on Easter Sunday.
The food allergies I have to work around have really caused me to change the entire way I look at food. Obsessively reading food labels will change your life. I would never have considered making anything from scratch, even box mix felt a bit intimidating. But knowing and understanding everything that you're putting into your body is such an incredible gift. And with a few stock items I swear it takes maybe five more minutes than the box stuff.
Okay, so off my soapbox and on to full disclosure. I used a tub of pre-made vanilla flavored icing with this cake. It's full of chemical names I can neither understand nor pronounce. But it's free of egg and dairy and peanut so on the cake it went. I want to spend some time trying out various homemade recipes for this type of cake icing soon to replace this component as well. I'll keep you posted on my progress! But until then, use that cake mix and tub of icing if that's your thing. No judgement here!
Chocolate Bunny Cake (Vegan, Egg-free, dairy-free, peanut-free)
1 1/4 cup of flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup of warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled vinegar (white or apple cider)
Mix all of the dry ingredients (using a sift) directly into a round 8x8 baking dish and then mix in the wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
Bake at 350' for about 30 minutes.
Place on a cooling rack and allow to fully cool. Cut the cake in half and squirt some icing onto the top of one side. I used the same icing in a bag technique that I mentioned in my sugar cookies recipe only with a much larger tip. Place the other side on top and allow to sit as long as you have patience to stand. I did ten minutes but it could have used more. The icing will act as glue to help hold it together. I think placing it in the refrigerator at this step could also help to firm things up a bit.
Next, get out your cake stand and squirt another thick line down the center and place the sandwiched cake halves on their side right on top of that line. I then went back and piped another thick line of icing right down the back of the bunny to help keep the two halves together. Then I ran a line down the perimeter of everything creating a big giant white icing outline. Let this sit for another few minutes. I then cut out a little section of the top to create a neck of sorts for the bunny. I used the technique demonstrated by Jenny of Everyday Occasions. Then just start icing the rest of the cake like your normally do. I didn't worry too much about being too smooth since a few swirls look like fur!
For the ears, I just out the shape from some computer paper and used the kids watercolors to pain on the middle pink. I mixed a bit of red food coloring and water and dipped a little marshmallow in that to get a pink nose.
I think it's just adorable. Once I find a good yellow or white vegan cake recipe I'll probably switch to that. Maybe I'll get spirited and find one by next week. I had to use a tooth pick to get out sections of dark brown cake that mixed in with the icing because they were popping up when I applied the icing and that annoyed me. You can still see through the icing to some darker spots but that doesn't bother me. Either way, I can't wait to make this again for Easter Sunday! I know all the littles in my family will just love it!
I used a yummy vegan chocolate cake recipe that I swear you will love even if you don't have food restrictions! And since there is no egg you can lick the bowl as much as you want totally guilt-free!
But seriously, how cute is this sweet little bunny cake? It's not perfect but I can tell you there were four kids in my kitchen yesterday afternoon super excited and ready to take a bite! I wanted to practice before making this to bring to my parent's house on Easter Sunday.
The food allergies I have to work around have really caused me to change the entire way I look at food. Obsessively reading food labels will change your life. I would never have considered making anything from scratch, even box mix felt a bit intimidating. But knowing and understanding everything that you're putting into your body is such an incredible gift. And with a few stock items I swear it takes maybe five more minutes than the box stuff.
Okay, so off my soapbox and on to full disclosure. I used a tub of pre-made vanilla flavored icing with this cake. It's full of chemical names I can neither understand nor pronounce. But it's free of egg and dairy and peanut so on the cake it went. I want to spend some time trying out various homemade recipes for this type of cake icing soon to replace this component as well. I'll keep you posted on my progress! But until then, use that cake mix and tub of icing if that's your thing. No judgement here!
Chocolate Bunny Cake (Vegan, Egg-free, dairy-free, peanut-free)
1 1/4 cup of flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup of warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled vinegar (white or apple cider)
Mix all of the dry ingredients (using a sift) directly into a round 8x8 baking dish and then mix in the wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
Bake at 350' for about 30 minutes.
Place on a cooling rack and allow to fully cool. Cut the cake in half and squirt some icing onto the top of one side. I used the same icing in a bag technique that I mentioned in my sugar cookies recipe only with a much larger tip. Place the other side on top and allow to sit as long as you have patience to stand. I did ten minutes but it could have used more. The icing will act as glue to help hold it together. I think placing it in the refrigerator at this step could also help to firm things up a bit.
Next, get out your cake stand and squirt another thick line down the center and place the sandwiched cake halves on their side right on top of that line. I then went back and piped another thick line of icing right down the back of the bunny to help keep the two halves together. Then I ran a line down the perimeter of everything creating a big giant white icing outline. Let this sit for another few minutes. I then cut out a little section of the top to create a neck of sorts for the bunny. I used the technique demonstrated by Jenny of Everyday Occasions. Then just start icing the rest of the cake like your normally do. I didn't worry too much about being too smooth since a few swirls look like fur!
For the ears, I just out the shape from some computer paper and used the kids watercolors to pain on the middle pink. I mixed a bit of red food coloring and water and dipped a little marshmallow in that to get a pink nose.
I think it's just adorable. Once I find a good yellow or white vegan cake recipe I'll probably switch to that. Maybe I'll get spirited and find one by next week. I had to use a tooth pick to get out sections of dark brown cake that mixed in with the icing because they were popping up when I applied the icing and that annoyed me. You can still see through the icing to some darker spots but that doesn't bother me. Either way, I can't wait to make this again for Easter Sunday! I know all the littles in my family will just love it!