Hippity Hop Bunny Cake

April 2024. Spring in Memphis, and I am 65, watching the azaleas and dogwoods bloom along my neighborhood walk, the annual resurrection that makes the winter worth surviving. The smoker wakes up in spring the way the whole city wakes up — slowly, with a stretch, then fully, with purpose.

Marcus and Angela in Whitehaven, building their family, their house full of the sounds I remember from our own early years — a baby's laugh, a spouse's voice, the daily music of people learning to live together. Naomi growing with the speed of childhood, each visit revealing a new word, a new capability, a new expression that catches my breath because it echoes someone I lost.

Baked beans on the smoker — navy beans soaked overnight, simmered with onion, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, and my BBQ sauce, then smoked uncovered at 250 for two hours. The hickory settles into the sauce and transforms ordinary beans into something that belongs at any table, any gathering, any moment when people need to be fed and comforted and reminded that simple food, made with patience, is the best food there is.

Another week in the book. Another seven days of tending fires — the one in the smoker, the one in the marriage, the one in the family, the one in the church. Each fire needs something different: wood, attention, food, faith. But the tending is the same for all of them: show up, add what's needed, wait patiently, trust the process. Low and slow. Always. Low and slow.

After a week like that — Naomi growing so fast she’s practically a new person every visit, Marcus and Angela’s house humming with the beautiful noise of a young family finding its rhythm — I wanted to bring something to the table that matched the season and made the little ones light up. The smoker handles the serious business, but spring deserves something playful and sweet, something Naomi could point at and laugh. This Hippity Hop Bunny Cake is exactly that: pure April joy on a platter, the kind of thing that turns a Sunday visit into a memory.

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 box (15.25 oz) white cake mix
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 cans (16 oz each) white buttercream frosting
2 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
Pink food coloring gel
2 large pink or white marshmallows, halved (for the cheeks)
1 large pink gumdrop (for the nose)
2 large candy eyes or chocolate chips (for the eyes)
Assorted jelly beans or pastel candies (for decoration)
Black licorice strings or black gel icing (for whiskers)

Instructions

Bake the cakes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Prepare cake batter according to package directions using the eggs, oil, and water. Divide evenly between the pans and bake 28—32 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks and cool completely.
Shape the bunny. Place one whole round cake on a large cutting board or foil-covered surface — this is the bunny’s face. Cut the second round cake in half. Position the two half-circles upright on top of the first cake, one on each side, to form the bunny’s ears.
Apply a crumb coat. Spread a thin layer of white frosting over the entire bunny shape to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate 15 minutes to set.
Frost generously. Apply a thick, even layer of white frosting over the entire bunny — face and ears — smoothing as you go.
Add coconut. Press shredded coconut all over the frosted surface, covering it completely for a fluffy fur effect.
Tint the inner ears. Mix a small amount of frosting with pink food coloring gel. Spread or pipe a pink oval in the center of each ear and gently press a thin layer of coconut over it.
Decorate the face. Press candy eyes or chocolate chips into place. Add the gumdrop nose, marshmallow cheeks, and licorice or black gel whiskers. Arrange jelly beans along the base of the cake as a colorful border.
Serve. Transfer carefully to a serving platter and present at room temperature. Slice from the face outward to serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Hippity Hop Bunny Cake — The Sweet Side of a Spring That Bloomed Right on Time