Learn how to make a bunny cake using a simple pattern and two round cake pans.
Strangely enough, I almost feel like I had more family Easter traditions, than I did family Christmas traditions growing up.
We dyed hard-boiled Easter eggs, we wore Easter dresses to church, did an epic Easter basket scavenger hunt to find our family Easter basket, and made an Easter Bunny Cake!
Now with my own family, I love celebrating Easter with these same Easter traditions, and one of our favorites is making our yearly Easter Bunny Cake!
So while the very BEST part about Easter is recognizing Jesus’ atonement, death, and resurrection for each and every person, the traditions around it are fun and good too.
Easter Bunny Cake Tradition
Apparently some homemaking magazines printed this Easter Bunny cake idea as early as the 1970s.
I know my family did this during the 80’s and 90’s for sure.
It’s just a fun, easy, tasty Easter tradition for our family and many around the world!
Every year (but 2012) my husband and I have made an Easter bunny cake, starting in 2008 when we had only been dating for a few weeks.
It’s one of the few traditions I had for Easter growing up. We’ve since carried it into our relationship. 2013 was the first year our kids were really involved and they loved it.
I am not a “foodie” so I apologize for the less than amazing photos over the years.
But, if you want to know how to make an Easter bunny cake the simple, easy, average-person way (no fondant making here people!), then follow along.
How to Make an Easter Bunny Cake
Time needed: 45 minutes.
How to Make and Decorate a Bunny Cake
- Bake 2 Round Cakes
Bake a cake using two round cake pans. Use whatever flavor cake you want, homemade or from the box. (We use the box.)
- Let them cool, then cut out ears/bowties from one of the round cakes.
Do this by making two smallish half circles on either side of your round pan, leaving a center strip down the middle (kind of like a baseball) . You can also use a large bowl like on this post from The Coupon Challenge to make it easier.
- Assemble the bunny cake.
Assemble your bow-tie Easter Bunny cake on a large flat pan, with the two half rounds as the ears set above the whole round cake, and the bow tie underneath the whole round cake, opposite the ears.
- Frost the bunny cake.
Frost it with your choice of white frosting (or even brown frosting). You can also add food coloring for pink frosting, to use for such things as the inside of the ears or the nose.
- Decorate the bunny cake with candy.
Have fun and be creative! Use licorice, coconut shavings, jelly beans, whopper eggs, sprinkles, whatever you’d like!
How to Decorate a Homemade Bunny Cake:
- Jelly beans (We’ve even cut them in slices, and done mosaics with them).
- Licorice (perfect for whiskers/outlines). I like the Twizzlers Pull ‘n Peel one, but regular Licorice works too.
- Whopper’s Mini Robin’s Eggs
- M&Ms
- Shredded coconut (for a coconut Easter bunny cake that looks furry)
- Sprinkles
- Marshmallows (could be cute buck teeth!)
- Mini Peanut Butter Cup (perfect for a nose)
- Chocolate Chips (Polka dot bow tie?)
If you don’t care how your Easter cake turns out, you can put out the supplies and let your kids go to town decorating your Easter cake. I recommend it.
It’s about the Easter tradition and memory and not perfection, right? And who doesn’t love a TON of sprinkles? 😅
Here’s a cake my sister made with her daughter:
Enjoy these pictures of Easter bunny cakes we’ve made through the years!
2006 2009 2010 2011 2013 2015 2016 2017 2019
Alternative Bunny Cake Ideas
While this is how I’ve always made our bunny cakes, there are some alternative bunny cake options out there.
First up, is just buying this Wilton Easter Bunny Cake Pan. It’s very similar to the homemade version above, except no cutting, no cut edges, and no bowtie.
AllRecipes.com shares how they use a single round cake to make a bunny that stands up and has a cute little tail.
Taking it up a notch from that one, is this bunny cake from Delish.com that use two round cakes to make a 3-D bunny cake with legs and cake ears (as opposed to paper ones as featured previously). A little more work, but also more cake!
If you like the look of these 3-D bunny cakes, but don’t want to have to frost and coat in coconut, you might just love this Nordic Ware Baby Bunny Cake pan! You don’t need to frost these little bunnies much at all (some just coat in chocolate sauce or add touches of frosting!
If you’d rather go the subtle route, All That’s Jas has a hidden bunny inside a beautifully decorated cake!
Tell me, do you make an Easter bunny cake with a bow tie like we do in my family? How do you decorate it? Or what Easter traditions do you have?
Julie says
Cute cake!
Beth says
Such a cute cake, Katelyn! Thanks also for sharing about Favado. I’ve never heard of it but when I have more time, I’ll check it out! Thanks for linking up, my friend!
Katie Clark says
Those cakes are so cute — what a fun tradition for your family!
Kimber's Navy Family says
Super cute! 🙂