Celebrating Easter, like all holidays in my childhood, came a long with a set of traditions that were anticipated all year long with much excitement. For this spring time holiday, there was always getting a new Easter dress (I still remember my favorite one, I'll have to dig up a photo), dyeing eggs (of course if I ever do this one again they'll have to be wooden), getting out the Easter baskets my mom made us, and searching through all of our plastic eggs for the best chocolates and of course any money. And in my younger days, we always looked forward to a bunny cake! I first remember these from visiting my maternal grandmother (both my grandmothers are master bakers) during the Easter holidays. Guess which one is me in the picture below....
I'm in the middle, about seven months old. The traditional bunny cakes that my grandmother made used an angel food cake cut in half yielding two bunnies, then frosted with a marshmallow cream frosting, and decorated with paper ears and whiskers, all lying on a bed of green coconut grass with jelly beans strewn about.
My mom also made us the bunny cake on the holidays we spent together at home. I'm on the right in the photo below (this was not my favorite easter outfit), about 3 years old.
And so, after many years of no bunny cakes, I decided to bring it back this year. Of course, we all know that vegan angel food cake is a near impossibility (though I've heard of a few recipes that attempt it), so I changed it up a little and made the coconut cake from ED&BV, along with the coconut dream frosting. I baked an 8 inch cake, cut it in half, filled it with frosting, then turned it on it's side. 
I cut out a notch above the eyes to give it a bit the head more definition from the body. The pink tail is a cake truffle made with the cut out cake and some pink buttercream frosting. And of course, the jelly beans for the eyes and nose are vegan (from pangea)! You'll also see my bonus bunny, after a tip on the ppk boards, I ran out and got this vegan dark chocolate bunny (Lindt brand), cause you can't have Easter without a chocolate bunny.
So there you have it, three generations of bunny cakes!! Happy Easter!
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44 comments:
ahh too cute!!! You are really talented--YOU should be doing pastry & baking school with me! The coconut cake is FABULOUS!!!!! My omni family and I enjoyed it thoroughly and my dad (who didn't even know what vegan meant) loved it so much he asked for a "slice to go" for his business trip!
mmmmm dark chocolate bunnies are my weakness....
Aww, look at your adorable bunny cake! Well done!
That was a wonderfully innovative way to continue your family tradition. And besides--it looks fantastic! (And you were soooo cute. . .) :)
that sofa! I think we had the exact same one!
Such a cute idea! I think it's awesome when you're able to recreate old family traditions to make them more vegan-friendly- it makes them even more special. Hope you have a happy Easter!
happy easter! I love those old photos - SO cute. And I love that you resurrected the bunny cake (ha ha).
YAY!!! Not only do I love the cake, but I love the fact that you're still managing to carry on a tradition but adapt it to your current lifestyle! Yesss! And its cuteness certainly doesn't hurt :-)
Adorable, it's nice to take traditions from childhood and reinvent them for our current lifestyle. Dibs on the cake truffle tail!
How awesome! I love your cake. I can't wait for grandchildren to enjoy our traditions. Vegan jelly beans? Where did you find those? Yum!!!
So sweet! My mom used to make "bird's nests." (Now that I think about it, I have no idea what they were made out of. Jelly beans for eggs and something sweet/crunchy for the nests...some sort of coated pretzel?) I loved Easter as a kid, too. Such a nice spring-y holiday.
ahhhh...yes, my family also had the infamous brown plaid sofa when i was growing up...and homemade easter dresses...i especially love the rear-view photo of your bunny cake, so cute! i'd also like to know which brand of vegan jelly beans you used.
So cute! And I have to agree with vegan addict, the first thing I noticed in the photo was the brown plaid sofa! I think we had one just like it...
That looks awesome! I want some bunny cake!
When are you going to be in Seattle? Maybe I'll see you at Vegfest. I'm going Sunday.
What a great idea! That bunny cake is so cute! And so are all the photos of you...
Coconut bunny cake! How cute. And how amazing for you to keep up the tradition. =)
Happy Easter!
You amaze me. 'Nuff said.
And oh my goodness, you were such a cute little kid!
Happy Easter, dear girl!!!
I knew immediately which one was you!
The cake is adorable and I know it was really yummy. Happy Easter!
How cool to keep up with a family tradition. And I love those pictures from your childhood, lots of cute, very happy looking kiddos.
That cake is too cute. You are really good at decorating cakes! I'm not sure I could even frost a sheet cake. I love the tail on the back too! You really went all out with this. It looks great, but I bet it tasted even better.
Okay, is that just too cute? It is after Easter (a holiday I don't celebrate anyway) and I still want one.
Now that was a nice way to start my Monday.
Cheers!
I've never seen a bunny cake before! The pictures of little you and the bunny cakes are adorable. I did have my Easter without a chocolate bunny - maybe I'll see them on sale somewhere and have a belated Easter treat.
That's too adorable! It kind of reminds me of the black cat cake my mom used to make for Halloween. Hope you had a great holiday!
Aw, how sweet! I'm glad that you decided to bring back the tradition, even if it had to be slightly "updated." And thanks for sharing those early pictures of yourself, they're just priceless. :)
My friend from Portland will be going on Saturday, so maybe I'll go that day as well. I dunno. Vegfest is awesome!
This was a great blog. How sweet of you to share your family traditions. These must be good memories for you. So what was your favorite Easter outfit?
Those are pretty much the coolest cakes ever! I've been trying to veganize all of our family traditions, too. It's so awesome finding ways to make them work for us now.
Look at that! I think you've just inspired a new tradition!
Those are such cute photos- they remind me so much of the Easter morning pics of me & my sibs from when I was a wee one!
It's not always easy to veganize old traditions, but it's a great way to begin hybrid new ones.
Cheers!
your bunny looking so delicious & vry pretty. I am gonna eat it. So plz forgive me.........
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Happy Easter! Those bunny cakes are AWESOME! I always looked forward to angel food cake for Easter as well, let's hope with all the progress people have been making in vegan baking, it won't be too far off!
those old photographs are priceless - as are your cake-decorating skills!! bravo, amanda!! keep that bunny cake tradition alive!! :0)
LOL That's really cute. The only thing I would have done differently was use brown jelly beans for the eyes and nose.. the red ones make it look like the evil bunny from Monty Python. :-)
I love your old photos and I triple the response.. "We had that same sofa!" LOL
Happy Easter! I love that bunny cake & how adorable were you in your little Easter outfit...bunny & little you - both too cute.
Very cute.
I wish I would have known that Lindt bunny was vegan. I wanted something chocolaty yesterday, and those were on clearance practically everywhere I went.
And seriously. Did everyone have that couch?
Some great pictures and a very cool bunny cake history.
It's so funny because I thought YOUR Irish Soda Bread looked better than mine!
And I still haven't been to Spiral in Dallas! LOL my mom and I took my cousins to Spiral in Ft. Worth because we took them shopping in the Stockyards. I'm hoping to organize a vegan meet-up sometime next week at Spiral Dallas... it's just that all the Dallas folks I've been emailing with have conflicting schedules. Yikes-- I may just have to go by myself, as I'm really eager to get there!
soooooo cute!!!
Beautiful story and absolutely adorable cake! Would it be weird to make a bunny cake for other holidays? I'm not sure I can wait until next Easter!
that is out of control! too cute to even comment on with words...it's just *SQUEE!*
so adorable
So cool! I loved the pictures of you as a kid. Bunny cake is rad!
This is 100% adorable! I love it!
that. is. adorable!
My family had a bunny cake, too! My mom recently turned over the cake mold to me, so I can't wait to make one for next Easter. Maybe I'll do a similar then and now post with me as a child w/bunny cake and modern day bunny cake. :D
AH, so cute. I made a vegan pistachio bunny cake this Easter, but couldn't get it to stand up.
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