TWO TIERED EASTER BUNNY CAKE — Creative Lifestyle

Working with fondant can be time consuming but yet so fun! Take your time; have fun with it and use your imagination and creativity to create our own unique beautiful works of art. Scroll right down to the bottom to see a plated slice.

What you’ll need to get started

2 6-inch sponge cakes
2 8-inch sponge cakes
1 10-inch cake board
Butter Cream Frosting
Rolled Fondant
Simple Syrup

Decorations
½ bag of shredded coconut
A couple of drops of green food colouring
Zip Lock Bag
Pastel Coloured Jelly Beans
Marshmellow Bunnies or Peeps
Foil Easter Chocolate Eggs

Let’s get started
Bake your sponge cakes and let cool (recipe below).
While the cakes are baking prepare your simple sugar, butter cream frosting and rolled fondant (recipes below).
Tint your coconut by placing it in a zip lock bag; add a few drops of green food colour; zip up the bag insuring the bag is full of air (this will allow the coconut to tint quicker). Get rid of any lumps or dark off coloured clumps of coconut and spread evenly on a plate so that the coconut dries (you don’t want to put wet coconut on top of your cake – it will make a mess of your fondant).
Roll out small balls of fondant to trim your cakes; insuring you that you have enough balls to go around the circumference of the cake.
Once cakes are cooled; cut them in half; spray them with the simple syrup (this will insure you cake stays moist) and smooth out a generous dollop of butter cream frosting between layers.
Stack layers 4 layers high.
Crumb coat the cakes with butter cream frosting (covering the cakes with the frosting); the butter cream will allow the rolled fondant to stay in place.
Cover each of the cakes with the fondant.
You can use dowels (wooden or plastic) to support your cake should you want to exceed two tiers.
Spread butter cream frosting on top of the base cake, top with smaller layer.
Spread royal icing on top of the top layer and place coconut on top to create ‘grass’.
Have fun and use your creative touches to make it a one of a kind cake.

Sponge Cake Recipe
Ingredients
6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Beat egg yolks by slowly adding sugar, salt and vanilla, beating constantly until very thick and the colour of cream. Slowly mix in flour on the lowest mixer setting. Beat egg whites to soft peaks (should flow out of bowl when tipped), fold into the batter about a fourth at a time. Spoon into 2 parchment lined 8-inch layer cake pans, bake 25 mins until golden brown and springy. Cool for about 5 mins then loosen with a spatula and turn out. Peel off paper, turn right side up and cool completely. Fill and frost.

Variations
Strawberry Sponge: replace vanilla with 1 tsp strawberry extract, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
Lemon Sponge: replace vanilla with 1 tsp lemon extract, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
Orange Sponge: replace vanilla with 1 tsp orange extract, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2tbsp. finely grated orange rind
Nut Sponge: before folding egg whites into batter stir in ¼ to 1 cup of your favourite nuts
Chocolate Sponge: Add ¼ cup of cocoa and 2 tbsp cold water and add to egg-sugar mixture
Coffee Sponge: Mix 1 tbsp instant coffee and 2 tbsp water and add to egg-sugar mixture

Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients
½ cup butter, softened
4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk

Directions
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.

Simple Syrup
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Directions
Combine sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil; stirring until all the sugar dissolves.
Leave at room temperature until cooled. Pour into a squeeze bottle or a spray bottle.

Rolled Fondant
Ingredients
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup shortening
½ tsp salt
1 tsp of clear vanilla extract
8 cups of confectioners’ sugar/icing sugar
Food colouring; we only use Americolor Soft Gel Paste (a little goes a long way and you’ll get brighter brilliant colours without all the hard work of kneading)

Directions
Combine corn syrup and shortening in a bowl over a double boiler until melted, set aside and cool to room temperature. In the meantime, shift icing sugar and discard any lumps.
Create a well in the icing sugar and pour in the cooled mixture until soft and smooth.
If it’s too sticky add more sugar; if too stiff add droplets of water until it reaches a nice smooth workable consistency.
Divide the dough into balls (this will depend on how many colours you want to tint and of course the size of the cake you’re covering).
Colour your icing using a drop of Americolor Soft Gel Paste (or food colouring of your choice; gel food colouring works best for fondant) at a time until the right colour is achieved.
Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll to a thickness of 1/8 to ¼ inch thick.
Using your rolling pin cover with icing and roll on to the rolling pin and then gently and carefully drape over your cake, insuring that the icing drapes well over the cake and on to your board.
Using a fondant smoother, gentle push out the air bubbles to the edges and work the side draping around the cake until its smooth right around.
A Lazy Susan or a Cake Turntable will easily allow you to run a knife around the base of the cake is one easy swoop to cut off the excess icing.

You’re now ready to decorate your cake.