Vegan Bunny Cake ( Vegan Pistachio Spice Cake )

I got a Bunny cake for my wedding shower many years ago now. Actually we registered for all sorts of stuff they said we would never use, and most of those things have come in handy now. (Cherry pitter—great clafoutis. French Onion soup container—pot pie vessels.) The bunny cake mold had yet to be used. So today, I tried to make a vegan bunny cake. What the Hell do Vegans Eat Anyway had a nice one that stood up but didn’t have a recipe. So, I decided to make my own. This cake was TASTY, but it didn’t have enough structural integrity to stand up. Herein the issue might be that I hate to read the directions. Apparently the best way to do these molds to make a cake that rises so much it fills both sides rather than cooking both sides separately. So, what we got was a cake that stood for a scant thirty seconds. And, even when supported with a lattice of toothpicks, still fell in the wind. So, our bunny became instead a bunny recumbent upon the grass (in this case crushed pistachios.) But, a tasty bit of sleeping rabbit she was.

There was a daunting challenge at A Slice of Cherry Pie for one's Easter cakes. While my cake did not stand up, it did take wonderful. Many, many family members were convinced it was too good (cakey, moist, tasty) to be vegan. So, I thought, why not join the Easter Cake Bake party.

Recipe:
Vegan Bunny Cake ( Vegan Pistachio Spice Cake )
Preseason your bunny mold in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes

In a large bowl, mix the following:
2 2/3 cup unbleached flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup finely ground pistachios
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

In a second bowl, mix the follow:
1 1/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup pure lys syrup
2 T cider vinegar
2 t vanilla extract
1 T pistachio flavoring

Mix the wet with the dry.

Grease and flour each half the bunny. Fill each with the batter. Bake at 350 degree for 20 minutes (in a convection oven.)

Vegan Saffron Pistachio Buttercream
(adapted from the Cookies and Cream Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)
In a stand mixer whip the following
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons pistachio flavoring
1 T saffron dissolved in 2 T hot water
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

Use this to glue the bunny together and then pipe it over the bunny. If you wish your bunny to stand up, I suggest a couple dowels.