Bunny Cupcakes

Betty's Easy Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for fan forced ovens). Line 2 x 12-cup muffin pans with paper cupcake cases.
2. Open the cake box, remove enclosed frosting sachet and reserve for another use. Place the cake mix, eggs, oil and water in a bowl, then whisk (by hand or using an electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Divide the mixture evenly among the cupcake cases. Bake both trays together in the oven for 18-22 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Place 1¼ tubs of the frosting in a bowl and beat in a little pink food colouring gel to give a pale pink colour. Spread the cupcakes with the pink frosting. Use a teaspoon to top each with a smaller swirl of the remaining uncoloured frosting.
4. Spray the blades of a pair of kitchen scissors with cooking oil spray and cut each marshmallow in half widthways through the thick middle, then cut each half in half again to make 4 bunny ear shapes from each marshmallow. Spray the scissors with more cooking oil spray if needed. Dip the cut side of each ‘ear’ into pink sugar sprinkles to coat. Arrange 2 marshmallow ears on each cupcake.
5. Use the mini chocolate beans and chocolate sprinkles to make bunny eyes, whiskers and a nose on each cupcake. Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Betty's Tips

• If you have only one muffin pan, cover and refrigerate the rest of the cake mixture while baking the first batch. Cool the pan under cold running water, dry thoroughly, then bake the rest of the cupcakes, adding 1-2 minutes to the bake time.
• Use tubes of writing icing to pipe the whiskers on the cupcakes if you can’t find chocolate sprinkles.