Rabbit Holes
Makes 4 disappearing bunny cupcakes and 20 grass-and-flower cupcakes
There’s a good reason you’ve never seen the Easter Rabbit: quick as a bunny, he jumps back into his hole to hide. This cupcaking project focuses on the business end of the bunny. His tail is a mini marshmallow coated in nonpareils, his feet are white circus peanuts, the grass is frosting, and the hole he’s disappearing into is a coating of dark chocolate cookie crumbs.
- 24 vanilla cupcakes baked in green paper liners (see Sources)
- 1 cup chocolate frosting
- ½ cup chocolate cookie crumbs (Oreos, Famous Chocolate Wafers)
- 1 can (16 ounces) plus 1 cup vanilla frosting
- Green and yellow food coloring
- Assorted malted milk eggs and jelly beans
- 2 tablespoons flower candy decors (Cake Mate)
- 8 white circus peanuts
- 4 small black jelly beans
- 24 brown chocolate-covered sunflower seeds (available at gourmet candy stores or see Sources)
- 4 mini marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon white nonpareils (available at baking supply stores or see Sources)
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of the chocolate frosting into a small ziplock bag, press out the excess air, and seal. Place the chocolate cookie crumbs in a small shallow bowl. Spread the remaining chocolate frosting on top of 4 of the cupcakes. Starting on the edge, roll the tops in the cookie crumbs to cover completely.
- Arrange all the cupcakes on a serving platter in 4 rows of 6, distributing the chocolate-crumbed cupcakes randomly throughout.
- Tint 1 cup of the vanilla frosting light green with the green and yellow food coloring. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting bright green. Spoon some of the light green frosting into one side of a ziplock bag and spoon some of the darker green frosting into the other side of the bag. Press out the excess air and seal the bag. Snip a ⅛-inch corner from the bag. Using a squeeze-and-pull motion, pipe grass on top of the remaining cupcakes. Pipe along the edge of the cupcake first, then work in concentric circles toward the center, each row slightly overlapping the previous row (see Making Fur).
- Arrange the malted milk eggs and jelly beans in clusters on the cupcakes. Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with the flower decors.
- For the feet, cut the circus peanuts in half lengthwise (only the flat bottom portion will be used). Cut the black jelly beans in half lengthwise. Snip a ⅛-inch corner from the bag with the chocolate frosting. For each foot, pipe 4 small dots of frosting on the smooth flat side of the peanut. Add a jelly bean half, lengthwise, and 3 brown sunflower seeds to make the pads of the foot. Press 2 feet onto each of the chocolate cupcakes, spacing them slightly apart and allowing them to extend over the edge of the cupcake. Roll the mini marshmallows in the corn syrup and then in the white nonpareils to make the tails. Press the tail onto the cupcake just above the feet.
