Pink Coconut Bunny Cut Up Cake
ingredients
For the coconut cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated white sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 400 ml can of high quality coconut milk, not reduced fat
For the buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- dash of milk
- gel food colouring in electric pink and leaf green
For the pink coconut + decor
- 4 cups of unsweetened shredded white coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon pink gel colour, or use grocery store food colouring in small 1/4 teaspoon increments until desired colour is reached
- For the eyes, nose and inner ears, I used store-bought coloured fondant - though I realize many don't have those things on hand, which is where grocery store candy comes in handy! (I rhymed.) Starburst works great for a little pink nose, just warm it up in your hand first to make it more pliable! Any round circular candies work great for eyes, and black shoestring licorice is the classique choice for whisker action!
instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch round cake pans with vegetable oil; cut out parchment paper circles to line pans.
- In a medium bowl, stir the flour, shredded white coconut, salt and baking powder until combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the pure vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the coconut milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on low until gently but thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl; do not over mix the batter.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared 9 inch cake pans. Bake in the middle rack of the oven, turning pans halfway through baking time to ensure even baking.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely in pans on wire racks.
Make the buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the icing sugar 1/4 cup at a time until the icing sugar is incorporated. Add the vanilla and dash of milk.
- Now, crank that dial to maximum and let it whip into a fluffy buttery sugary frosting.
- Remove about 1/3 of the buttercream out of the stand mixer bowl and place in a separate medium bowl. Add the pink gel food colouring to the stand mixer bowl and beat on high until the colour has incorporated.
- Using a spatula, colour the reserved buttercream with the desired amount of green gel food colouring – I used 1/8 teaspoon to get light green, and a little more for the slightly darker shade.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with an open star tip (I used a small French multi-pronged open star tip) with the green buttercream and set aside.
Assemble the cake
- Remove the cooled cakes from their pans. Using a serrated knife, level the cake, then follow the instructions as noted above in the photos!
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