For as long as I can remember, my aunt and I have made a special bunny cake (very creative name, I know) for Easter every year. It's always a crowd favorite on the dessert table. It consists of a bunny face, ears, and a bowtie. When I was younger, I would look forward to making this cake all year along. I loved going to my aunt's house and any time we spent together was always a blast. This is still true today.

We always start by sorting through all the ingredients lined up on my aunt's counter when I arrive. She always has bags of candy and shredded coconut all ready to go. All the sugar was very exciting to me as a kid. We begin the baking process by making two circular, chocolate cakes. We always use Devil's food cake from the box, of course. I used to love using the electric mixer and was always impressed by how my aunt cracked the eggs in a separate bowl to avoid possible eggshells in the larger bowl with all the other ingredients. Little kids are always impressed with the smallest things. After the cakes are baked and cooled, we leave one for the face and cut the other into two ears and a bowtie. When I was younger, I would always be amazed when my aunt made the ears and bowtie in such a simple way.

Then, we assemble the cake on a colorful plate. We frost the whole thing with whipped vanilla frosting and cover it with shredded coconut to look like bunny fur. I think this started my love for any desserts with coconut. We use two gumdrops for the eyes and a ton of jelly beans to colorfully decorate the bowtie. Licorice whiskers and a gumdrop nose complete the cake. After we are done, we wrap it all up to resist the urge to take a premature piece. We use toothpicks and aluminum foil to make a tent so that the aluminum doesn't smudge the frosting or the design of the cake. However, we always eat the excess parts of the cakes we had cut off and enjoy the extra candy. This is definitely the best part.

This may seem like such a simple and silly tradition, but it is one of my favorites. I love how my aunt brought it to me when I was little and that we still continue it, even though I'm now almost twenty years old. We were even able to bring my younger sister into it once she was old enough to help. Now, it is something that all three of us enjoy and share with each other. The rest of my family always looks forward to eating it too. No other dessert ever compares and this one is always gone first. I love eating it the next day, on the rare year that we actually have leftovers.