Egg-citing Easter

I know it's September but it's technically Spring in South Africa and since Easter falls in Spring in the Northern Hemisphere I thought it would be quite apt to share with you some of my favourite Easter baking...

I don't think many things could compare to the smell of baking wafting through your house on a bright and sunny day... and when that smell happens to be a sweet, almost cinnamon-ly scent, you just know that it's hot cross bun time!

Home made Hot Cross Buns

So this year I made about 4 batches of these hot cross buns and they were an absolute hit. The sticky dough made with currants and raisins, piped with a white cross and then glazed,  makes the best treat during the Easter season. My favourite way to enjoy these is by toasting them and then slathering on butter when still hot.  Sinful but still heavenly. I often find the ones in the shops to be a bit heavy, these were light and airy, the trick is to leave the dough for about am hour in a warm area, the dough needs to rise properly before baking!

Mhmmmmmmm....














The Rabbit Cake

So I made this cake last year as a bit of a twist on the normal Easter cake. Essentially it is a rabbit digging into the ground  so all you can see are the feet, tail and ears. I used carrot cake (I thought that makes the most sense) with carrot cupcakes for the tail and feet. I wanted to use minimal fondant so I covered the cake in a cream cheese icing and then coated with coconut. The ears and details were made with fondant.

I made sugar flowers to decorate the bottom of the cake and piped royal icing grass as well. To top it off and keeping with the Easter theme I added some giant speckled eggs and voila! Carrot Easter Bunny Cake!