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An easter bunny cake on a cake stand featuring hand painted bunnies
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Bunny Cake

This moist vanilla cake is filled with a zingy raspberry filling is covered in creamy Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with Buttercream Easter bunnies.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 50 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
chill time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 330kcal
Author John Kanell

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 200g
  • 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda 1g heaping
  • 1 tsp baking powder 4g heaping
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter 171g room temperature
  • 3 egg whites room temperature
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract 15mL
  • 1/2 tsp salt 3g
  • 1/2 cup sour cream 120mL room temperature
  • 1/2 cup whole milk 118mL room temperature

For the Interior Buttercream:

  • 1 lb confectioner's sugar 454g
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter 226g
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 118ml
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 5mL
  • Food coloring if desired
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest minced
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbso raspberry juice

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

  • 5 egg whites at room temperature
  • 2 cups unsalted butter 452g at room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar 300g
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Cake:

  • Butter and flour three 6-inch pans. I use damp cake strips on my pans for more even baking as well. Preheat oven to 340F.
  • Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together.
  • Add the wet to the dry and mix until combined. Divide the mixture evenly into the cake pans. I like to use a kitchen scale to measure for even layers.
  • Bake for 30 -35 minutes or until the centers are set and springy.
  • Let the layers cool in the pans for about 4 minutes, then dump each layer out onto a cooling rack.

For the Interior Buttercream:

  • Beat the room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, food coloring and heavy cream. Mix together until a desired consistency is reached. Divide into two batches. Mix lemon zest and and a few teaspoons of lemon juice (optional) into one. Mix raspberry juice into the other. Transfer to piping bags.
  • For the Assembly:
  • Pipe buttercream between the cake layer. Cover the cake with a thin layer of buttercream.
  • Use an offset spatula and a bench scraper to smooth the frosting.

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

  • Add egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl.
  • Give the mixture a brief whisk.
  • Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl.
  • Whisk the egg whites occasionally while it warms up. When the mixture has warmed, whisk it constantly. You will heat the mixture until it reaches an internal temperature of 160ºF or until it's not grainy between your fingers.
  • Transfer the bowl to a stand mixer, mix with a whisk attachment until you get room temperature glossy peaks.
  • Switch to a paddle attachment and while the mixture is running on low, add tablespoon sized dollops of room temperature butter making sure to let the butter incorporate before you add the next piece. Once all the butter is incorporated, go ahead and add the vanilla extract. You can transfer it to a piping bag or to a ziplock bag to store in the freezer.

For the Decoration

  • Crumb coat your cake and chill until the frosting is set. It's easier to work on a firm, stable surface. You can pop the cake to chill in the fridge at any point if things feel too soft. Divide your Swiss buttercream into several batches. Color one green and then create three shades of blue by using different amounts of the same food coloring. 
  • Add the green buttercream on bottom then the blue shades from light to most saturated. Smooth the buttercream and chill the cake. 
  • When painting with buttercream you generally go from back to front so it's best to work on the grass in the distance first. Use a light shade of green for this part. Apply with a small palette knife dragging the buttercream up to create the grass.
  • Now it's time for those bunnies first. Use a palette knife to make the ears and body, add buttercream and give it a rough smooth.Use light pink for the inside of the ears and if you have a floppy ear just apply some more of the brown buttercream on top. You can smooth the "fur" out with a filbert brush and some gentle strokes. Apply the eyes and other details for the face with small round brushes. Continue adding the parts of the bunnies that have some relief like the arms and legs.
  • A palette knife can also easily paint in some colored Easter eggs. Focus your attention to the top as the bottom will be obscured by grass. Use a more vivid green and deeper stroked from your knife to paint grass in the foreground.I popped in some yellow flowers with a flick of my knife. Pale in the background and more saturated in front. As you work toward the front a petal tip can be used to create some more three dimensional flowers. I used a warmer orange for the centers as well. Finish the foreground with another later of grass and a few more flowers in the very front. The cake can be chilled now or served.

Video

Notes

  • Be sure to chill the cake after the crumb coat, and the smooth coat are completed. You can pop the cake into the fridge at any point when you're working on it if thing get soft. It Makes decorating much easier! 
  • Gel food colorings will change color when you chill the cake and rework the surface. You will notice my bunnies started grey and became brown. 
  • If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
  • If you see little clumps of butter after you mix the wet ingredients don’t panic, it all works out by the time you mix in the dry ingredients. You can even use melted butter and warm the milk and sour cream up a bit if you like.
  • You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
  • To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set online or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
  • If you don't want to make Swiss buttercream you can use the American variety. I just prefer the smoothness and taste of the meringue-based frosting. I know it's a pain to make two different types of frosting though!
  • To pipe the two-tone frosting you fill one bag (1/2 way full) with yellow frosting, one bag with pink frosting and then put both bags in a third piping bag. No need for a tip, just snip about an inch off each bag.

Nutrition

Serving: 79g | Calories: 330kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 250mg | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 0.7mg