Confetti Coconut Classic Bunny Cake with M&M’s.
I know guys. I know.
Is the whole bunny cake thing terrifying? Or adorable? The question will always be out there, but since mine has sparkle sprinkle eyelashes? I’m going with adorable. (p.s. where can I get myself sparkle sprinkle eyelashes… ?)
There have been some terrifying ones in my day, I’ll tell you that.
This is one old school cake! Please tell me you’ve seen, tried, eaten or have at least walked by the bunny cake at one of your Easter brunches, lunches or dinners over the years. It’s a classic staple around here and almost embarrassingly easy. And fun!
Since Max was born, I feel like I’ve talked tirelessly about wanting to create traditions for him and for us as a little family. It’s no secret that I am ridiculously nostalgic and my family had so many traditions, some purposeful and others accidental, that they truly shaped my (wonderful) childhood. Those traditions ranged from big things, like being lucky enough to go on vacation every summer to more minor things, like eating the same dinner on Thursday nights.
For Easter, we always spent a large chunk of time dyeing eggs and on Easter morning before church, would find the eggs and our baskets that the Easter Bunny hid. My mom will still hide the eggs (okay, actually I think last year one of my brothers hid the eggs… ) and we still spend a few hours dyeing them, it’s just more of a grown up party now. See also: wine.
So this is one new tradition I want to make each year: decorating a bunny cake! Kind of like a gingerbread house for… Easter. You know.
Obviously Max is just a bit too young to really get the whole decorating thing. Later this week, I plan on making another cake here for our brunch and might let him have at it. A part of me wants to serve a cake that he “decorates” himself – a “Max masterpiece” as we call his art here.
I’ve partnered with M&M’S to decorate my bunny cake today because we just love the little pastel morsels so much. Seasonal M&M’s were always a tradition in our house too – my mom always had little bowls filled with them that everyone would go crazy over. I’ve carried on that tradition and love how it adds a bit of decor to our kitchen.
Let’s talk cake!
The base of the cake is a coconut confetti cake – coming from the recipe out of my cookbook, seriously delish. I used the confetti cake and mixed in some good old angelflake coconut, my grandma’s favorite. The frosting is a coconut cream cheese frosting and the entire thing is downright DELICIOUS.
It’s also super easy. All you need to do is bake two round cakes, and I’m not going to tell you that you can’t use boxed mix. If it’s easiest, do it. Mix it up, bake and let cool. The trickiest part comes next.
Once you bake the rounds and they are cool, you’ll slice one of them to create the ears and bowtie. This is the hardest part so if you think it’s simple, you’re on your way. And don’t worry about it being even – mine’s a little uneven and let’s just say that it gives the bunny… character.
I was on the fence about the bowtie, honestly. This is a super old-school cake, I don’t even know WHEN it originated. The 70s? The 80s? Tell me! It originated with the bowtie though.
Anyhoo, I wanted to make the bunny without the bowtie but if I did that, hello – what would I do with the extra cake?
Besides devour it, of course.
Myself.
WAH.
Maybe make cake balls? I couldn’t be bothered.
After baking, cover it in your frosting. Then cover it in coconut, at least the face and ears, because bunnies have fur. The coconut tastes better, I swear. After that, get to decorating! The only décor I used was a bag of M&M’S and some sprinkles. I’ve made many a bunny cake where you need specific candy to make the face. And while it’s super cute, you can still make a face with just one type of candy! Easy peasy.
And of course, the next part is the easiest. EAT up.
(Or the hardest, depending on how you feel about cutting bunny cake slices. Whomp whomp.)
Confetti Coconut Classic Bunny Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 2 egg whites
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 bag Easter pastel M&M’S
- ½ cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles, plus some extra for decorating
coconut cream cheese frosting
- 2 (8-ounce) blocks of cold cream cheese
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set it aside.
- Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it until creamy. Add the sugar and beat with the butter on high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the egg and egg white, mixing well on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add in the oil and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed for another minute. With the mixer on low speed, add in half of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk. Add in the other half of the dry ingredients and mix them on medium speed until the batter is combined. Stir in 1 cup of coconut. Use a large spatula to gently stir in the sprinkles.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake until the tops are set, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely, then gently turn the cakes out on a piece of parchment paper, using a knife to release the edges if needed. Let cool completely before frosting.
- Take one of the cake rounds and cut out the bow tie and the ears. To do this, simply cut two curves on the outside of the cake round to make the ears. This gives you the bow tie for the center too!
- To decorate, frost the cake and then immedaitely cover the face and eats with the remaining coconut. Use the M&M’S to decorate the bow tie, make eyes, a mouth, a nose – whatever! I liked to add in little sprinkles for “eyelashes” and pink cheeks.
coconut cream cheese frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add in powdered sugar with the mixer on low speed, increasing the speed once all of the sugar is added. Add in vanilla and coconut extracts, then beat on medium to
- medium-high speed for a good 2-3 minutes until creamy, scraping down the sides if needed. If you find the frosting it a bit too thick, add in some milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. If it is too thin, add additional powdered sugar gradually.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
The best part is how this cake makes you feel like a KID. Super happy.
[this post is brought to you by M&M’S®! i’ve partnered with them to create a few recipes for their pinterest page, which i’ll share with you over the next few months! thank you so much for supporting the site.]
38 Comments on “Confetti Coconut Classic Bunny Cake with M&M’s.”
While I don’t celebrate Easter, I have always loved m&m’s and especially the pastel pretty colored ones this time of year! Yum
This is soooo cool! What a pretty cake!
Congratulations on the collaboration with M&Ms, the colours are perfect for this easter cake.
My Mom made me a classic bunny cake for an embarrassing amount of birthdays…like 12;). Still swoon at the nostalgia.
And there’s NOTHING better than letting your kid go crazy decorating a cake! My 4- year old just served up a glitter bomb know as an Elsa dress cake for her bday;)
Wow, I started tearing up reading this bc it brought back such vivid memories of making bunny cakes with my grandmother! She let us decorate it and some years the results were downright terrifying. So much fun though.
Also I think you should call the little man’s artwork “Maxterpieces” :)
I was thinking the same thing!!! #Maxterpieces for the win!
Omg! My mom and I used to make this cake every Easter! I totally forgot about it until now! My 8 year old self thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I can’t even with how cute this is!!! And the fact that it’s confetti on the inside makes it even better. Sprinkles for life!
So freaking adorable!! I tried making a bunny cake a few years ago…lets just say he had A LOT of character haha. So cute :)
Oh my gosh the memories – my aunt made this cake many times in the 70’s for Easter & I was always sad because I despise coconut!
What a cute cake!!
I’ve actually never made a bunny cake before! Super adorable but also just a little bit terrifying ;) … I made some mini vanilla pound cake Easter bunny cakes this weekend that I’m hoping will fall on the adorable side of the scale! https://www.instagram.com/p/BDJj7OsyAuw/?taken-by=imhungrybynature
Back in the 80s my mom made cakes like this! Love it!
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I can use my leftover Christmas M&M’s for the bunny’s eyes because we all know the Easter bunny is the devil dressed up in fur.
I don’t celebrate Easter, but omg. This is so adorable!! Congratulations on working with with M&Ms!
This cake is adorable! Such a fun idea to do with the kiddos!
OMG!!! Freaking cute!!!!! Love!!! Love!!! Love!!! Coconut + M&M’s? Yes please! Great job Jess!!!
How can a cake covered in M&M’s be anything but adorable…so cute.
I was watching The Kitchen on the Food Network Saturday morning and they did a segemnt on differet ways to dye eggs…really fun and interesting. One host made eggs that ended up looking like speckled Robin’s eggs…so pretty and easy. Also, I saw a chart from McCormack Foods , posted on Pinterest, that gave directions for great, vibrant egg colors. The McCormack site has the chart and lots of egg dyeing ideas as well.
I used to love making the bunny cake for Easter with my sisters! This brings back so many wonderful memories – thanks, Jess!
My grandma and I made these my whole life and I’ve often wondered if it’s just a Pittsburgh thing!! I love it with the pastel M&M’s.. we almost always used jelly beans!! I LOVED your easter egg dying snapchats!!!… ours never turn out so vibrant!!!!!!
hey girl this is so cool! I remember these cakes years ago! I think my Mom would buy them!
As to when these cut out cakes originated? 1957. I have the cut out recipe my mom had that used the same bunny cut out cake for my birthday when I was 5. I have done a hot air balloon, dog, and bunny. The recipe that I have also has a little boy, little girl, snowman, turkey and Christmas tree. The recipe includes a 7 minute frosting
…and yes, ma’am it is old school. :oD Happy Monday, everyone!
Love me some bunny cake! My mom has been making bunny cake for Easter since I can remember. We use chocolate chips and jelly beans to decorate. Choosing the colors in the frosting was by far my favorite part of decorating!
Wow, this certainly brings back some memories. Thanks for sharing! I’m going to go devour my second bag of Strawberry Shortcake M&Ms now. AHHH! Heaven.
Yes to everything about this cake! It’s adorable. I love coloring eggs too. And, oh, you totally can have sparkle eyelashes. Maybe not quite as cute as the bunny’s but, pretty awesome. I love this Lancome one – it’s so sparkly! http://www.lancome-usa.com/Hypn%C3%B4se-Chromatics/2000453,default,pd.html?dwvar_2000453_color=02%20Amethyste&cgid=makeup-mascara
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My mom and daughter made this cake for Easter. It was so cute and delicious!!! Oh my goodness, so good. This will definitely be an annual tradition.
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How cute it is looking 😍😍😍
Wanna eat it at any cost
http://trickyfact.com/maxican-brown-sugar-mayonnaise-egg-cake-recipe/
Ohh how cute it is 😍😍😍
Wanna eat it at any cost
http://trickyfact.com/maxican-brown-sugar-mayonnaise-egg-cake-recipe/
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I made this cake for Easter in the early 70s, although I didn’t use as much candy as shown here. It was a big hit with the kids. After numerous moves over the years the recipe and instructions were lost. I’d given up any hope of ever making the cake again, until today! Thank you for sharing this. Other recipes didn’t have the same cut out instructions.
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