I was thinking and thinking and couldn't come up with a theme for my daughter's 4th birthday party. I finally thought to do a Bunny Party. Olivia really likes bunnies, even her must-have stuffed animal for bed time is a bunny she received shortly after her birth from her godmother Barbara from BKluge Photography, located in Halifax. I searched for bunny cakes on Pinterest, as I wanted to try something different than piping one, this year and finally came across this awesome Blog Post.
My friend Lila from Sweet and Lovely Crafts (she has an AWESOME BLOG, don't miss out on it!) sent me this link on how to make these Bunny Ears - this is what we used instead of party hats.
So, here is what I did for our little girl's 4th birthday party. Let's start with the cake. I made the Cookies & Cream Cupcakes recipe, and used it for this cake, as it's a really nice treat. Since I only had half the Oreo Cookies I needed, I used half Oreo Cookies and half Golden Oreos and we loved the cake.
I used a stainless steel bowl from a regular Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for the top part of the cake and a 9" cake pan for the bottom part. I made the amount of the recipe above and before I poured it into the pan and bowl, I put two stripes of parchment paper into each pan, so they overlapped and made an X for easy removal. I also greased the pans before I put in the batter.
Once I was done putting the batter into the round cake pan, I put in the Oreo and Golden Oreos (only half the cookie with the centre on it), alternating, until the whole top was covered. I then pressed all the cookies down a bit further into the batter and smoothed the batter over top as much as I could, as I wasn't sure if they would burn, if left uncovered. I think that was actually my favourite part of the cake - the way the bottom of it tasted, thanks to the cookies!
So when taking the cakes out of the oven, I turned the one from the cake pan and upside down. Then I trimmed the top part of the cake from the Kitchen Aid Stand mixer (and by the way, this one took a loooong time, to actually be baked). Then I turned that upside down as well and set it on the other cake, putting a generous layer of frosting in between.
Next, I frosted the whole cake with a nice layer of frosting, trying to form somewhat of a neck and head.
Next, I attached two little muffins with tooth picks as the bunny's nose and cut two little teeth out of a white marshmallow. I cut the nose out of another piece of white marshmallow (because I couldn't find any pink ones) and put pink hearts on it, to make it look pink. I also cut two little eyes out of licorice.
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| You could also use this kind of licorice, if you want to make your bunny look a bit crazy! ;) |
My dear husband made the bunny ears that we only stuck in the bunny the next morning. He made them out of white bristol board and pink paper, making a pocket with the white paper, so he could stuff a pipe cleaner in between, so the ears can be bent. Make sure you let some pipe cleaner stick out of the bottom, so you can easily stick it into the cake. To finish off the bunny, I gave the neck of the bunny a bit of colour - purple of course!
One of my favourite parts of the cake were the sparklers! Unfortunately we weren't smart enough to have one person light them on the right and simultaneously another person light them on the left side and therefore the right side finished sparkling before the left side even began, but it was still cute. :)
We made these Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies that were fairly quick and easy. Though, as you can see from the picture, I forgot all about the cotton ball tail - shame on me!
The kids made a Bunny craft and a Candy Necklace. For the Candy Necklace I bought purple laces at the Bulk Barn, Fruit Loops, Marshmallow Bunnies and Candy with a whole in the middle.
After that, the kids had Bunny Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches and Bunny Fruit Kabobs with Vanilla yogurt dip for lunch.
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| Picture (c) of Lila from Sweet and Lovely Crafts |
The Bunny Fruit Kabobs included bunnies out of water melon, melon and cantelope.
I'm happy to say that Olivia very much enjoyed her Purple Bunny Party for her 4th Birthday. If anyone tries out any of these ideas, especially the cake, please let me know how it turned out, as I would love to get your feedback.
