Sarah Kennedy's Special Bunny Cake

A special recipe, straight from the horse's mouth for Easter!

Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients
For the sponge cake:
125g/4oz soft margarine
125g/4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g/4oz self-raising flour
1x13cm/5in bought round cake
4 bought madeleines
4 sponge finger biscuits

For the yellow butter icing:
150g/6oz butter
300g/10½oz icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
a few drops yellow food colouring
150g/5oz desiccated coconut

For the decoration:
700g/1lb8oz ready-to-roll white icing
green food colouring or paste
orange food colouring or paste
sugar flowers
1 white marshmallow
1 liquorice cartwheel
2 round white mints
1 tube red writing icing
1 brown smartie
2 mini marshmallows
a few strands of uncooked spaghetti

You will need: 1x40cm/16in round cake board

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. To make the 20cm/8in sponge cake, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding 1 tbsp of flour with the second egg.
4. Add the vanilla essence and fold in the remaining flour.
5. Line and grease a 20cm/8in baking tin and spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
7. Allow the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.
8. To make the yellow icing, beat the butter with half the sugar in a bowl until smooth, add the remaining icing sugar with the milk and the yellow colouring. Beat until creamy.
9. Colour the desiccated coconut yellow using the yellow food colouring and a little water.
10. Cut the 20cm/8in cake in half and sandwich together, forming a tall semi-circle, with a little of the yellow butter icing and stand the cake upright with the rounded side up.
11. Cut the 13cm/5in bought cake in half and sandwich together, formaing a tall semi-circle with a little of the icing. Stand upright, with the rounded side up, and cut one end off at a slant so it fits the larger cake to form the bunny s head.
12. Coat each of the cakes with the yellow icing and sprinkle all over with the desiccated coconut pressing it lightly onto the icing.
13. To make the ears, coat two of the madeleines with yellow icing and sprinkle with the coconut. Combine a Madeleine with half a sponge finger to make each of the back haunches, and use two sponge fingers, with one end cut at a slant, to make the front legs. Cover these with yellow icing and sprinkle with the coconut.
14. Colour 600g/1lb5oz of the ready-to-roll icing green by kneading in some green food colouring. Roll out the icing to cover the cake board and trim the edges.
15. Colour the remaining icing orange and mould to form a carrot using the off-cuts of the green icing for the leafy carrot top.
16. To assemble the cake place the body and head of the rabbit in the centre of the board. Attach the ears to the head using toothpicks.
17. Place the front and back legs in position and attach using a little of the yellow icing.
18. Add a smartie for the nose, two mini marshmallows for the teeth and spaghetti for the whiskers.
19. Attach the white mints for the eyes and add a blob of red writing icing in the centre for the pupils. Make eyelashes using strips of liquorice. Add the marshmallow for the tail.
20. To finish, place the carrot in front of the rabbit and decorate the board with a few sugar flowers.