I Made a Bunny Cake!

When my daughter was little I made a bunny cake almost every Easter. I haven't make one for her son yet and he is five!  Well, the drought is over - this is the year for a bunny cake! Quite appropriate as we are experiencing a lot of storms and rain here in Northwest Arkansas!

The first thing necessary to make a bunny cake is to make two round cakes. They should be same size even though they are not going to be stacked. I use a nice white cake as cut edges will be frosted and the crumbs don't show as badly as they would if I used a chocolate cake. This year I used a cake mix but a scratch cake would work too. I also used two cans of ready-made frosting.

Once the cakes are cooked and cooled. Remove them from the pans. Place one on a rigid, flat surface. I used a piece of corrogated cardboard covered with aluminum foil. Put the other one on a cutting board and cut the two ears as shown in the picture below. The middle section will become the bunny's bow tie.

I cut paper shaped to mask areas that I want to keep clean during the initial frosting process - the center of the ears, the eyes and nose.

The next step is to frost the face and ears with white frosting. Arrange the pieces as shown below. Just frost over the paper masks. Sprinkle shredded coconut over the cake to simulate fur.

The paper masks are removed in this photo. Place some frosting in a small bowl and use food color to tint it pink. Fill in the center of the ears and the nose. I tinted frosting blue for the eyes and the knot of the tie. I thought a yellow bow tie would be appropriate for my bunny cake. I used a teaspoon and carefully placed the colored frosting in the areas that were masked by the paper shapes. I mixed the a small about of each of the colored frostings together and added some more blue and red in an attempt to get gray for his mouth. It is really a bit on the purple side!  I put it into a sandwich bag and cut a small hole in the corner and piped his mouth.

Using candy to decorate the bunny works well too. I have also tinted coconut green and placed it around the cake to simulate grass. Just put some coconut loosely in a plastic bag and add a few drops of green food color and shake!

I can't wait to see the reaction of the little one when he sees his first bunny cake in the morning!



My Favorite Artist

My grandson is 5 and  an artist. That's what he tells me! And I always respond with, "You're my favorite artist!" At my house, he has an art box that is stocked with markers, crayons, colored pencils and water colors. The paint and markers are his favorite. He also has a sketch book so he always has paper. It's all stored under the couch with a little table that has folding legs. I live in a very small house, so this is one way to maximize storage space. He always knows where it is. Many times when he first arrives, he pulls all his art stuff from under the couch, sets up the table and gets his folding cars chair that is stored by the tv. He is entertained for a long time. He made himself a calendar with blank spaces. Now every time he comes to see me, he writes a number in an empty box to record how many times he has been to visit!

I have a plastic box with a lid where I store all his works of art that don't make it to the refrigerator or the front door. I'm quite sure I'm the only person in the world that still has the Christmas insert from Walgreen's on the refridgerator door right at 5-year-old level. It's his favorite book. When he wants to see something, he goes in there and carefully removes the magnets, takes a look and then carefully puts it back!

Recently, he drew portraits of my dogs. He tells everyone they are his dogs too!



This is Louise, the mini-dauschund. I thought it was quite perceptive of him to notice her reddish-brown color. And Louise is obviusly a very happy dog!

This my Shitzhu, Joey. He has curly hair which Logan portrayed with the long oval-like shapes. Joey is white so no color was needed for him! Judging from the smile he's sporting, he's a very happy dog too!

Logan draws pictures for me all the time, so expect to see more. One year for Christmas, he made a painting for each of his parents and we framed them as gifts. They are proudly displayed in their home. I just love watching him create!