Easter Bunny Bottom Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (15.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix (such as Duncan Hines®)
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 1 pound flaked coconut, or more as needed, divided
• 3 drops red food coloring, or as needed
• 3 drops green food coloring, or as needed
• 2 marshmallows, halved lengthwise
• 1 (16 ounce) container ready-to-use pink frosting, or more as needed
• 3 tablespoons ready-to-use white frosting, or as needed
• 1 pink fruit rolls (such as General Mills® Fruit Roll-Ups)
• pink paper bunny ears

Step 1

Warm your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour three muffin cups, and do the same for a glass or ceramic bowl that’s safe to use in the oven. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs. Using an electric mixer on low, blend everything until just combined, then crank it up to medium and mix until the batter is smooth, about two minutes.

Step 2

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them up, and pour the rest into your prepared bowl. Pop the cupcakes into the oven first—they’ll need about 18 to 21 minutes until they’re golden and spring back when you gently press the tops. Let them cool in the tin for a bit, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely. The cake in the bowl will take longer, around 33 to 45 minutes. Once it’s done and a skewer comes out clean, let it rest in the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Step 3

While everything cools, it’s time to color the coconut. Put about two-thirds of it into a resealable bag with some red food coloring, seal it up, and shake until it’s a pretty shade of pink. Keep adding drops and shaking until you’re happy with the color. Set aside about half a cup of plain white coconut in a bowl, then put the rest into another bag with green food coloring and shake it up until it looks like fresh grass.

Step 4

Once the cake and cupcakes are cool, use toothpicks to attach two cupcakes, tops facing the cake, to one end—these will be the bunny’s feet. Cut each marshmallow in half and place them, cut-side down, on top of each cupcake to make the pads of the feet. Attach the last cupcake, top side against the cake, at the other end to act as the tail.

Step 5

Spread pink frosting over the cake and the “feet,” avoiding the tail area, then press the pink coconut over the frosting. Slather white frosting on the tail cupcake and cover it with the reserved white coconut. Cut small ovals and circles from a fruit roll-up to create the pads on the feet, sticking them on with a bit of frosting. Finally, stick paper bunny ears onto the serving plate near the front of your cake, and scatter the green coconut around to look like grass. Enjoy your adorable bunny cake!