Why You’ll Love These Mini Chocolate Bunny Cakes:
- Rich & Moist—My favorite chocolate snack cake batter is used to make moist, rich, and delicious mini cakes.
- Perfect for Easter—The pan I use for these cakes creates the cutest bunny-shaped cakelets, an adorable (and delicious) addition to your Easter dessert spread.
- Easy to Make—These mini bunny cakes can be made in less than 40 minutes—no mixer required.
These mini chocolate bunny cakes are an adorable twist on my favorite chocolate snack cake recipe, baked in a festive bunny cakelet pan that makes them perfect for Easter. Moist, rich, and extra chocolatey, these perfectly-sized cakes are sure to be a hit with kids and grown-ups alike—all while looking beautiful on your Easter table. Best of all, they’re incredibly easy to make and can be prepped ahead of time, so you can check one thing off your holiday to-do list early.
Two Items You Absolutely Need For These Easter Bunny Cakes
- The key to these mini bunny cakes is the pan—this Nordic Ware Bunny Cakelet pan is the exact one I use. It creates perfectly portioned, festive little cakes that are just right for Easter dessert.
- The other must-have for this recipe is baking spray (not cooking spray), which is used to generously coat the pan. In case you’re wondering, baking spray includes flour, which is the key to cakes that pop out of the pan easily with no sticking. I use the classic Baker’s Joy No-Stick Baking Spray.
Chocolate Bunny Cakelets Ingredient Notes
Cocoa Powder: You can use either Dutch process or natural cocoa powder in this cake batter. Whichever you choose, just keep in mind that the quality of the cocoa powder will affect the mini cakes’ richness and depth of flavor. I highly recommend Ghirardelli cocoa powders!
No Eggs: White vinegar and baking soda react, creating a leavening effect similar to that of an egg.
Oil: I love baking with avocado oil, but feel free to use your favorite neutral oil.
Sour Cream: A couple tablespoons of sour cream make this cake extra moist—trust me!
How To Make Easter Mini Chocolate Bunny Cakes
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl or batter bowl.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients in a 2-cup glass measuring cup, or a small bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not overmix!
- Important Step: Spray the Nordic Ware bunny cakelet pan generously with baking spray (not cooking spray).
- Fill each bunny about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top with the chocolate cake batter.
- Bake the bunnies in a preheated oven until the tops have poofed up and started to crack, and a toothpick stuck into the middle of the cakelets comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Then, carefully remove them and allow them to finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.
Ways to Serve These Chocolate Bunny Cakes
- Drizzle on some hot fudge or chocolate ganache.
- Top with whipped cream.
- Add some pink frosting on the bunny ears and stick coconut on the bunny tails.
- Serve as is! These cakes are moist and delicious all on their own.
Make a Big Chocolate Bunny Cake
The pan I used to make this large chocolate bunny cake (above) is also from Nordic Ware. It’s a bit older, and it seems that they’ve replaced it with this similar pan (shop on Amazon). Although the design has been updated, the newer pan holds the same amount as the pan I have (10 cups).
A double batch of the chocolate snack cake batter filled the larger bunny pan perfectly. After generously spraying the pan with baking spray, I filled each side about 3/4 of the way to the top. I baked the cake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees—until a toothpick stuck into the thickest part of the cake came out clean. I recommend turning the pan about halfway through baking.
Similar to the small bunny cakes, I let the two halves of the large cake cool in the pan before transferring them to a wire cooling rack. Once completely cooled, you can use frosting and/or kitchen skewers to help the two halves stick together to form an upright bunny.
Read on for the recipe for these easy mini chocolate bunny cakes!
Once you’ve made a batch, leave a rating and review below to let me know how you like them.
Mini Chocolate Bunny Cakes
Equipment (Shop on Amazon)
- Pyrex Measuring Cups I use the 2-cup one for this recipe
- Baker's Joy Spray or baking spray of choice
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder either Dutch process or natural
- ¼ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp instant chocolate pudding
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp instant coffee
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup avocado oil or other neutral oil
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 heaping tbsp sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, mini chocolate chips, instant chocolate pudding, baking soda, instant coffee, and salt until there are no visible lumps of flour or cocoa powder. Set aside.1½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup white granulated sugar, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 tbsp instant chocolate pudding, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp instant coffee, ½ tsp salt
- In a 2-cup measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the milk, avocado oil, vinegar, vanilla extract, and sour cream.1 cup milk, ⅓ cup avocado oil, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 heaping tbsp sour cream
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Whisk and/or stir with a spatula spoon until well combined with no lumps. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
- Generously spray the bunny cakelet pan with baking spray. Fill each mini bunny about ⅔-¾ to the top. Gently tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
- Bake the cakelets on the center rack of your oven at 350°F for 23-25 minutes. The tops of the cakes should be slightly cracked, and a toothpick stuck into the middle of each cake should come out clean when they are done. Do not overbake!
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 4-5 minutes. Then, carefully place them on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. I've found that the easiest way to transfer the cakes to the cooling rack is to place the rack upside down on the cakes and flip both the pan and cakes (with hot pads or oven mitts) so the cooling rack is right side up with the cakes on top. If you generously sprayed the pan with baking spray, the mini bunny cakes should easily drop out of the pan.
- Once the cakes have completely cooled, dust them with powdered sugar, drizzle on hot fudge, or eat these mini cakes all by themselves! Store in an airtight container or bag on the counter. So long as they are not overbaked, these cakes will stay moist, so feel free to bake them the day ahead.
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