Jan Norris: Food and Florida

Easter Bunny Cake /photo courtesy Andreasrecipes.com

I can’t remember when these cakes became wildly popular – the ’40s and ’50s most likely, but Baker’s Coconut – once upon a time the only brand of shredded coconut available to home cooks, produced these cake patterns for Easter.

Adorable, simple – made from two 9-inch cake rounds strategically cut and decorated - they always make kids smile. You can make them any flavor you like – a deep chocolate makes them taste like a Mounds candy bar, kinda; German chocolate, lemon or good old yellow cakes work, of course.

This is a great kids’ cooking project – they are terrific at decorating – even littlest ones can sprinkle on coconut and place the mouth and jellybeans.

Tips for bunny cake making

The cake is cut from two 9-inch layers. (See patterns right, and below.) I think it looks best if the cake is made 2-layers deep, so you’ll need to bake four 9-inch layers (two boxes if you’re making from boxed mix) and double the frosting below.

• If you’re making a chocolate cake, remember to brush off the crumbs then brush on a sugar-syrup before icing (thin out a little corn syrup with water to the consistency of thin pancake syrup and paint on with a small paintbrush), so the black crumbs don’t migrate to the pristine white frosting.
• Good luck finding licorice whips for whiskers, but you can snip your own from Twizzlers sticks, or pipe some black or other colored icing on the cake instead.
• Chicklet gum pieces make great rabbit teeth.
• Color the coconut by putting the coconut in a bowl; use a few drops of paste or powder food coloring and toss well with two forks to get the desired shade. Divide coconut into small bowls for coloring small amounts and take it easy on food coloring.
• Give the bunny “cheeks,” as the baby bunny cake at right, with a round circle of pink coconut.
  

  Created by Melissa at Sillybeeschickadees blog

• Part of the fun is all the jellybeans – so make lots of “grass” with the green-tinted coconut so you can “hide” the beans or little foil-wrapped chocolate eggs along the edge under the cake. The kids love it.

Sticky frosting to make the coconut stay

Check below for the 7-minute frosting recipe you’ll need – and a warning: It’s very sticky stuff. This is one frosting where you do NOT lift the beaters to spin off the excess, unless you just want to hose down your kitchen with hot water. Don’t use buttercream – please! I’ll let you cheat and use a box mix, but Seven-minute (also called White Mountain) frosting is just The Right Thing to Do!

7-Minute Frosting

• 1 -1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 extra-large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 -1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Put sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place top pan over boiling water, being sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy).

Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer, making sure to beat to the bottom of pan, for 7 minutes, or until peaks are glossy and hold stiff peaks. Remove from heat.  Beat in vanilla.

Spread on cakes. (Pat or sprinkle the coconut on using fingertips full of coconut while icing is still sticky.) Cover icing with a damp paper towel if leaving it stand for a while or it will begin to set up.

Makes enough for two 9-inch cake layers or about 18 cupcakes. If you double the icing, make sure you use a large mixing bowl to hold the volume of icing that results; otherwise, make it in two separate batches.

Tips: To spread on a cake, first crumb the cake well. Use a basting brush to coat the cake layers with a little corn syrup thinned with water to the consistency of thin syrup; this sets the crumbs. Use a spoon to dollop mounds of icing around the cake and spread using smooth strokes without lifting spatula. Dip the spatula in hot water to smooth the icing and prevent sticking. The iced cakes freeze well.