Baby Bunny Coconut Cakes

Like most people, many things in my life are far from perfect. Spring though, is perfect. There are blue skies, flowers blooming in abundance, bunnies scampering around near my home, and Easter is a few days away. What better time to make a dessert to celebrate the new life and hope all around us? My daughter took out her sketch pad and designed the most adorable mini bunny cakes for me. She’s a very talented artist, with an eye for the cuteness factor. To make the bunny cakes look like her sketch, I figured I would need a hemisphere baking pan to give them their cute, rounded shape.

When I was shopping around for hemisphere pans, also know as ball pans, I considered metal pans and silicone pans. In general, I prefer metal pans for baking cakes, but I decided on silicone, hoping to get more use out them. I plan on using them for frozen and refrigerated desserts as well. You can find hemisphere pans at kitchen stores, craft stores, baking supply stores and online. To find the pan I chose, click here.

My next dilemma was whether or not to coat the pans before baking. From what I’ve read, many people seem to have trouble getting their baked goods out of silicone pans, even though the majority of these pans claim to be non-stick. I decided to experiment, trying three different ways. I coated some of the wells with grease and flour, some with only grease, and some were left uncoated. I found that when I inverted the pan, the cakes released effortlessly from the coated wells. The cakes in the uncoated wells took a slight amount of prodding and a bit of residue was left behind, but the cakes were in tact. All three ways seem to work fine, but I decided that, for my own peace of mind, I will grease all of the wells in the future.

Decorating these bunny cakes is fun and easy, so this would make a great project to get the little ones helping out in the kitchen. You can use the candies of your choice to make eyes and noses. I used white candy pearls for the noses and colored them pink with edible petal dust. I made sleepy eyes out of black fondant. Black fondant is difficult to make, so I always buy it. It’s available for purchase in small quantities. To find black fondant, click here. I used edible wafer paper to make the bunny ears, but fondant would also work. A little puff of cotton candy makes a sweet tail. So many possibilities! Whether you make Baby Bunny Coconut Cakes for Easter, a child’s birthday party, a baby shower or simply to celebrate Spring, I hope you enjoy them!