Isn’t this the cutest Easter dessert ever? When a friend of mine, Megan – a talented baker, showed me this cake concept on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it. It’s so precious and what a wonderful Easter surprise.
I’m pretty proud of this first attempt at a hidden bunny loaf cake. There were a few hiccups in the kitchen when I was making it, but I have since figured things out. I will make it again and update photos, but I wanted to get the recipe out now so that you can make this adorable cake in time for Easter too.
Easter is a special time for my family. My maiden name means Easter in Italian. We love celebrating this holiday. When I brought over this test recipe to a family dinner, everyone wanted to know how the bunny got into the cake. That’s the first thing I wondered too. Follow along and I’ll show you how it all comes together. It’s not difficult.
The biggest issue I had making this cake was finding a bunny cookie cutter. I’m not sure what’s happening in Vancouver right now, but we are having a serious shortage of bunny cookie cutters. đŸ™‚ The cookie cutter should be an inch lower than the rim of your loaf pan. The cake needs room to rise. The only cookie cutter I could find was too big for my loaf pan. I also tried to find a deeper loaf pan, but they too are even harder to find. I now have a smaller cookie cutter, so we’ll see how that turns out. I’ll update the photos soon.
The first step in the process is to make a chocolate loaf cake. You can find my chocolate pound cake recipe below. It’s a great chocolate cake recipe. I made a half batch of the chocolate cake and I had enough cake batter to make eight 3 inch bunny cutouts. I used a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan. You can make the full chocolate cake recipe, but you will only need a half batch for the bunny cutouts. There’s no harm in have extra chocolate cake kicking around. I’ll leave that decision up to you.
To make the bunnies, slice the loaf cake into slices the thickness of your cookie cutter and then cut out the bunnies and set them aside.
Once all of the bunnies are cut out, line them up and squish them together a little. Feel free to use a couple of toothpicks to hold them together.
Put the bunnies in the freezer for 10 minutes while you make the vanilla pound cake batter. Freezing the bunnies makes them more firm and easier to handle. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the chocolate cake was just as moist as the vanilla cake even though the chocolate bunnies were baked twice. Putting them in the freezer helps keep them from becoming dry when they’re baked a second time. You don’t want to keep them in the freezer too long. Too much moisture isn’t good either.
The next step is to make the vanilla cake. I would recommend you make the full vanilla pound cake recipe that I have included below, just to be sure you have enough batter for any size loaf pan you may be using. You will likely have a little extra batter for a few cupcakes. Put a very thin layer (1/3″) of the vanilla cake batter on the bottom of a well greased loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Then stand up the chocolate bunnies in the centre. Carefully spoon the batter around the bunnies while you hold them in place. Remove the toothpicks and cover the bunnies with batter. Leave at least an inch of space for the cake to rise.
Bake the loaf cake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
If you wanted, you could do a hidden duckie variation. The duck could be vanilla and the cake could be chocolate.
I think I prefer a bigger bunny. A bunny that’s 2 inches tall would be ideal, but they are hard to find this Easter season. If you’re wondering where I got this gorgeous Nordic Ware bundt cake pan, you can find it at Williams Sonoma.
Enjoy and Happy Easter!
This moist buttermilk chocolate pound cake is super moist and delicious.
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
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Generously grease the cake pan with butter with a brush or your fingers. Be sure to get the butter into every corner of the pan. Put the buttered pan in the refrigerator while you make the batter. (Refrigerating the buttered pan will ensure that the butter coating doesn’t move when the batter is poured into the pan).
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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
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In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, around 3-4 minutes.
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Add the eggs one at a time. Blend until incorporated. The batter may look a little curdled. This is normal.
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Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that nothing is stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
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Add the vanilla and half of the buttermilk. Blend until incorporated.
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Mix all of the dry ingredients together with a whisk (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Blend on low speed until mostly incorporated.
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Add the other half of the buttermilk. Blend until incorporated.
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Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and blend until mostly incorporated. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a spatula.
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Remove the cake pan from the refrigerator. If you’re using an intricate cake pan, you may want to flour the pan for extra insurance. Pour the batter into the pan.
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Bake the loaf cake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you’re making this cake recipe in a bundt pan, it will take longer to cook, about an hour.
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Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before flipping the cake onto a serving plate. Shake the pan from side to side to determine if it has released from the sides of the pan. If not, check again in five minutes.
Moist pound cake made with buttermilk.
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp orange or lemon zest (one orange or lemon)
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
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Generously grease the bundt cake pan with cold butter. It will warm up as you move it around the pan with your fingers. Be sure to get the butter into every corner of the pan. Put the buttered pan in the refrigerator while you make the batter. (Refrigerating the buttered pan will ensure that the butter coating doesn’t move when the batter is poured into the pan).
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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
-
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl, beat the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy, around 3-4 minutes.
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Add the eggs one at a time. Blend until incorporated. The batter may look a little curdled. This is normal.
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Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that nothing is stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
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Add the vanilla and half of the buttermilk. Blend until incorporated.
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Mix all of the dry ingredients together with a whisk (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Blend on low speed until mostly incorporated.
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Add the other half of the buttermilk. Blend until incorporated.
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Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and blend until mostly incorporated. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a spatula.
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Remove the cake pan from the refrigerator. If you’re using an intricate cake pan, you may want to flour the pan for extra insurance. Pour the batter into the pan.
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Bake the loaf cake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you’re making this cake recipe in a bundt pan, it will take longer to cook, around 60 minutes.
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Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before flipping the cake onto a serving plate. Shake the pan from side to side to determine if it has released from the sides of the pan. If not, check again in five minutes.