Easy-to-make, easy-to-decorate Easter cakes

Flower & Garden Magazine, March-April, 1998 by Inger Skaarup, Kay Melchisedech Olson

Treat your guests to a beautifully decorated cake.

Here are several easy-to-make cakes that can be the

highlight of any spring celebration.

Cake decorating is such a

highly-developed art that it can

hardly be limited to the classification

of baking and cooking. Specialty

cakes, decorated to resemble all

kinds of objects, can actually serve as

a table centerpiece as well as dessert.

If you've never tried cake decorating,

you may be surprised to learn

how relatively easy it really is. You

can produce the Easter Bunny Cake

or the Mini Egg Cakes without any

special skills.

Our cakes were decorated with

ready-to-spread frosting tinted with

food coloring. We used disposable

icing tubes and a half dozen different

decorating tips, However, you could

just as easily spread the frosting with

a spatula knife and obtain almost the

same results.

Here's how we made our Easter

Bunny and Mini Egg Cakes.

Easter Bunny Cake

Materials: One 8-inch round cake

pan, half recipe of standard cake

mix, piece of plastic (cut from milk

jug), two containers of vanilla

ready-to-spread frosting, pink and green

food coloring, two blue and one pink

candies, three pieces of uncooked

spaghetti, one large marshmallow,

and a spatula knife. Optional items:

icing bags, decorating tips

(multi-opening, small closed star, leaf),

shredded coconut.

Cut two long oval shapes from

milk jug plastic for ears; set aside.

Tint small amount of vanilla frosting

pink and another small amount

green; set aside.

Bake the cake according to

age directions; allow to cool. Brush

away excess crumbs, cut in cake in

half. Spread white frosting on the

bottom of one half, sandwich to bottom

of other half. Place cake on plate

with cut edge down.

Fill any remaining gaps between

the two cake layers with additional

white frosting; spread frosting over

entire cake, or cover it using

multi-opening decorating tip to produce

"furry" effect.

Apply dab of white frosting to one

side of a large marshmallow, place at

one end for tail, cover with frosting.

Insert both plastic ear pieces into

front of cake as indicated on photo.

Cover outside of ear with white

frosting; inside with pink frosting. If

using a decorating tip, use the small

closed star shape to fill in inner ear.

(If you are not using decorating tips,

unfrosted white cardboard can be

substituted to form ears.)

Insert two blue candies into frosting

for eyes; insert one pink candy

for nose. Break uncooked spaghetti

noodles in half, insert three on each

side of nose for whiskers. Apply a

mouth of pink frosting with decorating

tip, if desired.

Finishing: With green frosting and

leaf decorating tip, form "grass"

around bottom edge of bunny. A few

jelly beans may be placed around the

green frosting, if desired. (If you are

not using decorating tips but want

your Easter Bunny cake to have a

"furry" appearance, shredded

coconut may be sprinkled on surface

of white frosting.

Mini Egg Cakes

These mini eggs are easy to make

and fun to decorate. Your guests

will just love to be able to pick their

favorite decorated egg.

Materials: The recipe and ingredients

for a yellow or white cake

(or a cake mix), vegetable oil for

greasing pans, apricot jam, a pastry

brush and icing in the colors

of your choice. Remember, you

may tint any white icing using

food coloring pastes, or choose

your colors from pre-tinted,

ready-to-spread frostings. You

also will need a mini egg cake

pan or a sheet cake pan and an

oval cookie cutter.

Begin by baking the egg

cakes using your favorite cake

recipe or cake mix. Pour the

batter into well-oiled mini

egg pan and bake at 350

degrees for 20 to 25 minutes,

or until done. (A cake mix

will make about 12 eggs.

Set remaining batter aside

and bake a second batch.)

Remove cakes to a baking

rack to cool.

If you do not have a

mini egg cake pan, make

the egg cakes by baking

a shallow cake in a large

sheet cake pan. Use an

oval cookie cutter to cut

out egg shapes when

cake has cooled.

Before you proceed

to preparing the frosting

and decorating the

eggs, melt about 1/2

cup of apricot jam

in a saucepan. Care

brush the loose crumbs off the

egg-shaped cakes with a dry pastry brush.

Then, using the same brush, cover

the cakes with a thin layer of the

melted jam. This creates a nice,

smooth surface for the icing glaze.

Select the color for your base icing

by coloring a white icing with food

coloring paste, or simply by selecting

a pre-colored icing. Place the egg-shaped

cakes on a baking rack set on

a tray to catch any icing drips. Now

melt the icing in a microwave for

14 to 45 seconds, depending on the

microwave. Stop every 15 seconds

and check, by stirring gently, to see

if the icing has reached pouring

consistency. (Do not let the icing get

so hot that it cooks.)

When the icing is pourable,

carefully pour it over the eggs, making

sure to cover the surface completely.

Allow the excess icing to drip onto

the tray below. Let the egg cakes dry

for about 15 minutes before finishing

the decorations.

Finishing: Decorate the eggs by

piping designs onto the surface with

contrasting colors and various

decorating tips. If you do not have any