Boxed cake mix, canned frosting, flaked coconut, and fun decorations make these darling Easter Bunny Cupcake an easy and impressive dessert for the holiday.
48sticks gum in white or other colors such as yellowblue, green (Extra gum comes in colors, see the tip section!)
24sticks pink or red gum
24miniature marshmallows white or colors
24pink or red jelly beans
0.67ouncetube black decorating gel
2 1/2cupssweetened flaked coconut
1drop each food color: red green, blue, yellow
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Prepare cake mix as directed on box for cupcakes. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Prepare Decorations
Meanwhile, divide coconut among five small bowls, about 1/2 cup each. Add 1 drop of red food color to one bowl and mix with a spoon. Finish mixing using your fingers to lift and gently rub coconut. Repeat for each color. You should have a bowl of yellow, blue, pink, and green. Keep one of the bowls of coconut white.
Prepare ears by stacking two of the same color gum sticks on top of each other; trim into bunny ears using kitchen shears.
For the center of each ear, cut a red/pink stick of gum in half lengthwise, trim about half an inch off of the end to trim into ear shape.
Use a little frosting to “glue” the pink centers to the white gum ears.
Decorating the Cupcakes
To ensure that the coconut sticks to your frosting, frost one cupcake then immediately turn upside down, dipping top of the frosted cupcake into coconut. This ensures that the frosting does not have a chance to dry. Repeat frosting and dipping for all cupcakes.
To add the bunny features, use a toothpick to create two slits in the top of the cupcake, then insert the ears into the slits.
Cut a miniature marshmallow in half. Add a dot of frosting to the cut side of the marshmallows; press onto the front of the cupcake to create the paws.
Gently press a jelly beans on for nose.
Before adding the eyes, gently pat down the coconut in the eye areas to give you a smooth surface to pipe onto. Use black decorator gel and/or black nonpareils to add the eyes. For “sleeping” eyes, use gel to create half circles.
Notes
The brand of "Extra" gum sticks come in multiple colors. Here's a list:
Polar Ice - white.
Peppermint - blue.
Smooth Mint - light blue.
Spearmint - green.
Cinnamon - red.
Juicy Fruit Original gum is yellow.
It’s best to serve these immediately, however if they must be made ahead, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Gum will melt in warm or moist conditions, so covering the cupcakes at room temperature could cause your gum ears to fall.
Before adding the eyes, gently pat down the coconut in the eye areas to give you a smooth surface to pipe onto. For “sleeping” eyes, use gel to create half circles.