Carrot Cake Easter Bunny Cake

I know Easter is over, but today is Jelly Bean Day and since the only time we eat any sort of jelly beans in this house is on Easter, specifically for this cake, I figured I'd share it with you and you can make it next year!


Every year, for as long as I can remember, we have made a bunny cake for Easter. It was originally made with yellow/white cake, white frosting and coconut on top to make it look like a fluffy bunny. My kids LOVE to decorate one every year, but no one really ate it because we're not huge coconut fans in this house. So last year, I made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and this year I opted for a carrot cake with homemade cream cheese icing. Turns out, this was the best version for our family as carrot cake is just about everyone's favorite. I even make it easy on myself (since I'm usually preparing most of the other food too) and I buy the Duncan Hines Decadent Carrot Cake. I LOVE this brand as it has actual dried carrots and raisins that you reconstitute before adding it into the mix. The cake is extremely moist and you don't have to shred any carrots (besides, baking cakes/pies...not my thing!). 

Carrot Cake Easter Bunny Cake
1 Package Duncan Hines Decadent Carrot Cake


Prepare cake according to package directions and bake in two-8" round cake pans. Remove from oven and let cool. 


Cream Cheese Icing
1-8oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 c. Butter, softened
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 c. Confectioners Sugar (a.k.a. powdered sugar or 10x sugar)
1 tbsp. Milk


Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Next, add the vanilla, sugar and milk and mix until well blended. 


Decorations
Jelly Beans
Black Licorice

Place one round cake on a flat board or serving platter. With the second round cake, cut out the 2 ears. The middle will become the bow tie. Ice the cake with the icing, then decorate using the jelly beans for the eyes and mouth and the licorice for the whiskers. 


Enjoy! 

Triple Chocolate Toffee Bombs

I have one more Valentines treat to share with you but it was purely by accident. I had purchased this new Duncan Hines cake mix called Triple Chocolate and forgot about it. Over the weekend, the family was in the mood for something chocolate so I told them I'd just make this cake as a bundt cake. Well, I made it but my pan is shot because this is the third time I've made something in it and the cake stuck to the bottom causing a huge mess. So I decided to make cake balls with them. I used the same premise as the Oreo truffles but also found some Heath bits left in the closet so I threw in some of those for good measure as well. They were a definite hit (I mean really..who wouldn't like chocolate and toffee?!). You can dip them into regular, dark or white chocolate, it's completely your preference. I just mixed it up since I only had a little of each kind. Don't forget if the chocolate is a little thick, simply add a touch of oil to help thin it out. You can also use some sprinkles to make them festive but I didn't have much of those left either.  I like these best when kept in the freezer. 

Triple Chocolate Toffee Bombs
1 Package Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Cake Mix, prepared
8oz. Cream Cheese, softened
2 c. Heath English Toffee Bits
White Chocolate, for coating
Semi Sweet Chocolate, for coating

Prepare cake according to package directions then let cool overnight. Add cake to a bowl and crush using a fork. Add in the cream cheese and toffee bits and mix well. Form into 1" round balls, place on parchment paper and freeze for approximately 30 minutes. Melt chocolate according to package directions and dip balls into the chocolate. Place on parchment paper until they are dried. Makes approx. 4 dz. 

Enjoy!

Shared at Mandy's Recipe Box 2/14/12
Shared at Chef in Training 2/14/12
Shared at Newlyweds Blog 2/15/12
Shared at Lady Behind the Curtain 2/15/12

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