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Looking for something fun to serve on Easter? How about making a Bunny and Friends Easter Basket Cake!
I’m back with more 99 Cents Only Stores awesomeness! Do you remember the fun DIY Valentine’s Day Candy Buffet I shared last month? The kids (and hubby) enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do something fun for Easter too.
The idea for this cake came from my oldest daughter, who came with me on my last trip to the 99. Years ago, I made her a custom birthday cake and she constantly reminds me of how it’s her favorite cake, EVER. So while we were shopping at the store, she suggested a custom Easter cake – genius! And thanks to the 99, I was able to create a custom Bunny and Friends Easter Basket Cake for a fraction of the cost of a designer bakery cake.
I can’t even tell you how much fun we had at the 99 Cents Only Store. We found a large variety of Easter treats and tons of cute decorations. But since this shopping trip was specifically for an Easter basket cake, I tried my hardest to stay focused because I have a tendency to get easily distracted by all the great valued items throughout the store. Okay, I failed at staying focused. A few giant plastic Easter eggs made it into my shopping cart along with drinks, fresh fruits, snacks (I found Annie’s snacks!), and school supplies for the kids. But hey, it’s hard to pass up so many good deals, right?
Here is a picture of my 99 Cents Only Stores haul. I may have gone a little overboard. I didn’t use everything in the picture to create the Bunny and Friends Easter Basket Cake, but trust me, none of this will go to waste. I’ll be using the leftover goodies in other fun Easter desserts too.
[Tweet “How to make a Bunny & Friends Easter Basket Cake @99Only #Easter #cake”]
Bunny and Friends Easter Basket Cake
The total amount spent to create this custom cake was $14, which is awesome when compared to the $50 cost of a custom cake from our local bakery.
99 Cents Only Stores Shopping List (click on image for the shopping printable):
Other items I had on-hand and used – scissors, pen/pencil, two round cake pans, sugar, water, and food coloring (optional).
Frosting the Easter Basket Cake:
First, start by baking the cake by following the directions on the box. I used two of my own 8″ round cake pans to bake two round cakes. Let the cakes cool completely. Then place the cakes in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up and make it easier to frost. Frost the top of the first cake, stack the second cake on top, and frost the entire cake. Don’t worry about a nice frosting job, as everything will be covered with sweet decorations.
Decorating the Easter Basket Cake:
Once the cake is covered in frosting, line the outside of the cake with chocolate wafers. I used about 1 1/2 packages of chocolate wafers.
Tip: This cake has to be served right away because the wafers tend to soften quickly. If you need to make this ahead of time, substitute the wafers with Kit Kat bars, bunny Peeps, or leave it plain.
To create ‘grass’ for the top of the Easter basket cake, I added green food coloring, 2 T. of sugar, and 2T. of water to 1 1/4 cup of coconut flakes. You can also skip the food coloring and just add in the sugar and water to moisten and sweeten the coconut flakes.
Tip: If you don’t like coconut, fill the top with jelly beans, other candy pieces, or leave it plain.
Now it’s time to add bunny and friends! First, I cut off about 1″ of the plastic kabob stick and added the giant marshmallow bunny onto the cake. For the small friends, remove the marshmallow or jelly friends you don’t need, cut off portions of the kabob stick you don’t need, and place onto the cake. Then sprinkle jelly beans and gum eggs all over the top. I did change up the arrangement a bit, but the picture above gives you a general idea the bunny and friends arrangement.
Tip: Clean the plastic kabob sticks with soap/water before inserting into the cake. Use a serrated knife to cut the plastic kabob sticks when needed.
Creating the Easter Basket Cake handles:
To create the Easter Basket Cake handle, I cut a 1 1/2″ x 25″ long strip down the length of a poster board. Since the ribbon was wider than the strip, I folded the edges in and used tape to secure to the poster board.
Tip: You can use foil folded over itself multiple times to create the handle and cover it in ribbon. I used poster board because my daughter needed a portion of it for a class project and I used the remaining portion for the handle.
Fold the remaining ribbon on the spool in half and tie around the wafers. This will help stabilize the wafers and hold them together when pushing in the ribbon basket handle. Now push in the handles between the cake and wafers, about an inch down.
Here is the final Bunny and Friends Basket Cake arrangement. I added a plastic bunny carrot and removed the green bug friend to add in the jelly chick.
It was so much fun creating this Bunny and Friends Easter Basket cake that my daughter wanted to create her own Easter cake too. This is her cake with a duck swimming in a jelly bean pond and a bug king walking down a pink wafer path. Cute, right?!
Really, the decorating possibilities are endless. The key is to have fun and let your imagination run wild. Now, head to your local 99 Cents Only Stores and create your own Bunny and Friends Easter Basket Cake!
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That is adorable! I looks just like an Easter basket too. Pinned.
What a fun cake! I am not a great cake decorator, but even I could master this! Thanks for sharing at Celebrate Your Story!
This is a very fun one of a kind cake. The family will love this. Its very adorable.
That is so adorable Erlene and not to difficult for those of us not skilled in icing
Oh my goodness, that is the cutest thing! I am getting really excited for Easter!
Carlee recently posted…MiMi’s Easy Mushroom Flatbread
This is amazing!! What a great idea!! Thanks so much for sharing!! And thanks for taking the time to visit!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Thank you. It was a fun cake to make.
Erlene, this is fabulous! I love that you showed us how you made it. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle! Pinning to my Easter Treats Board.
Beverly recently posted…Easy Bunny Craft
My kids would have so much fun helping me decorate this. I see a new tradition in the making… Thanks for sharing at My Busy Beehives #beeparty! Hope to see you again!
Erlene,
That Easter cake is soooo precious! I love it! It could not look more yummy! Thanks for sharing @ #HOmeMattersParty
Jeannee
WoW…. This is awesome. I did this tonight and everyone loved it. My sister wants one, shell have to wait until Easter.
I want to post a pic so you can see how it came out. Not sure where though.
Thank you so much
I would love to see it. If you’re on Instagram, tag me @mypinterventures or post in the comments on my FB page.
Hey, Erlene! Just wanted to let you know that we loved your Easter Basket Cake so much when you shared it at the #HomeMattersParty last week, we’ve FEATURED it THIS WEEK! Hope you can check it out when you get a sec.
Michelle James recently posted…Home Matters Linky Party #127
Thank you so much Michelle!
So adorable! Thanks for joining us at Tasty Tuesdays this week 🙂
Thanks for the visit!
Awww….This is so cute.It seems it is easy to decorate when there are all the candy and sweets around.I want to check near by super market for such cute sweets.My kid would love to have such a cute cake!
Amila Wickramarachchi recently posted…Breakfast Food Items from Restaurants: Can You Replicate Them at Home?
This is sooooooo cute! I used to love decorating cakes, so many of my favorites were when I could incorporate cute things and make it simple, like this! Pinning and sharing. #HomeMattersParty
Emily recently posted…Meal Planning Made Easy with MyFreezEasy App
Pinning! So cute!
Thank you Lisa. Appreciate it!
Oh my gosh, this is absolutely adorable! Such a fun idea for a cake – I love the wafer sides and green coconut “grass”! Pinned & sharing on FB 🙂
Emily recently posted…Spring Wreath Ideas – Merry Monday #145
Thanks so much Emily. Anything food related is always a hit with my teens and they LOVE cake.
That’s adorable! My brother-in-law’s birthday falls on Easter weekend this year, so we will definitely need a cake to celebrate.
This would be a fun cake to celebrate an Easter birthday. I would make it more manly though 🙂
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal
Oh my goodness! This cake is so cute! I don’t know if I can pull off something like this, so I will be passing this on to my sister who is great with baking and cake decoration. I like the coconut topping, and those marshmallow bunnies definitely made the cake really pretty.
You can totally do it! Everything on the top of the cake is already prepared, so you just have to add it on.
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal
Easter cakes make great centerpieces! And one you don’t have to store year after year! 😉
So true! Cake never lasts very long in our house.
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal
This came out so cute. I might have to do it this Easter too.
Tag me on Instagram if you do! @mypinterventures
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal
This is fantastic! I love the cookies around the outside – this sounds so delicious and looks so fun.I have been trying to think of something fun and new to try for easter, and this is so inspiring.
Thanks Erica. The family enjoyed this and we ended up with two!
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal
Wow! This is such a fabulous idea. I would love to make this and use this as the centerpiece at my Easter dinner table. Thanks for sharing.
This cake is adorable!!!
That cake is amazing! What a cute and creative Easter idea. Its one of the best I’ve seen!
What a fun Easter idea! I’m always on the lookout for creative cake ideas, and this one…well, takes the cake (pun intended). I love that the kids can decorate the top of the cake themselves, too. Thanks for sharing the deals at the 99, and Happy Easter! #client
Thanks David. This was a really fun cake to make and my daughter loved decorating her own cake.
Erlene at My Pinterventures recently posted…Hawaii Style Corned Beef and Cabbage – Quick 30-minute Meal