of bonnets and bunnies, carrots and cake

~ jama

Warning: The following post contains photos of unbearably adorable rabbits capable of blatant emotional manipulation.

Emma, Madeline, Nancy Jane, Nettie, Eloise, and Sylvia don their bonnets and bows for Easter tea.

Well, it’s happening again.

My ears are growing, and my nose is twitching. That can only mean one thing.

It’s carrot time!

photo mosaic from mkasahara’s photostream

Wait a minute. Wait a minute! Don’t you mean rabbit time?

photo by S. Das

Time for all of us soft, cute, furry bunnies to melt hearts everywhere?

photo by Madeleine

I don’t know about you, but here in New Hampshire it’s not even spring yet.

photo by Madeleine

Carrots? Did someone say carrots?

photo by faisalee

Bleckk! I’d rather have cake.

photo by jpockele

Here’s one with marzipan veggies and everything.

photo by Cake Doctor

Oh, this one looks nice.

photo by atnaturesmercy

I know! Let’s make our own Easter cake. Miss Potter will help us.

First, we’ll go to her garden:

WE HAVE A LITTLE GARDEN


Garden at Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm, Near Sawrey, England
photo by gobucks2

We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.

We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or blighted blossom there.

I’m sure carrots are growing there. Oh, who’s that?

THE LITTLE BLACK RABBIT


photo by Martin Sweeney

Now who is this knocking
at Cottontail’s door?
Tap tappit! Tap tappit!
She’s heard it before?

And when she peeps out
there is nobody there,
but a present of carrots
put down on the stair.

Hark! I hear it again!
Tap, tap, tappit! Tap
tappit!
Why — I really believe it’s a
little black rabbit!

Be a bunny this year, and bake a cake for those you love. Here’s my favorite Easter cake recipe. We like to serve ours on Peter Rabbit plates, and don’t mind getting frosting on our whiskers!

14 CARROT CAKE
(serves a bunch of bunnies)

Beat together:

2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together:

2 cups flour
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

Combine egg mixture with flour mixture.

Then, combine:

2 cups grated carrots
1 (8-1/2 oz.) can drained pineapple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Add this to the batter.

Place a paper towel on the bottom of a  9″ x 13″ pan.

Add batter, then bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Cook until slightly pulled away from the pan. Cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 1b. powdered sugar
8 T soft butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

*Alternately, you can bake this in two 8 or 9″ round cake pans.

NOTES:

This cake is almost foolproof, unless you overbake it. Otherwise, it’s moist, moist, moist.

It’s so delicious that hundreds of rabbits (or people dressed as rabbits), may follow you everywhere, twitching their noses and begging for more.

Have a Hippity Hoppity Easter! I’ll see you next week!

 

*Poems are from Beatrix Potter’s Nursery Rhyme Book (F. Warne & Co., 1984).

32 thoughts on “of bonnets and bunnies, carrots and cake”

  1. Carrot cake is my husband’s favorite, so I’m definitely trying this version! What happens to the paper towel, though? And should you also use a paper towel for the round cake version?

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  3. After the cake has cooled a little, reverse the pan onto a tray or something, and the cake will (or should), nicely fall out. Then, all you have to do is peel the paper towel off the cake. It’s much easier to wash the pan this way. For round pans, I would use the usual grease and flour method.

    I didn’t realize you had married a rabbit :)!

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  4. Carrot cake looks great, but I want that atnature’smercy cake in the middle. Mmm.

    Jules
    7-Imp

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  7. Yes, that one does look great. The rabbit cookies are supposedly from Crabtree and Evelyn. I don’t think we have one of their stores around here anymore.

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  8. I’ve never had a problem with the paper towel. It does sound scary, but apparently, it remains intact while baking. But if you’re nervous, you can still grease and flour the pan as usual, and it’ll still turn out good.

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  10. Adorable photos, again! I’ve been to Miss Potter’s house & it looks/feels just like her books! Quite the adventure getting there, driving a too-big rental car down skinny roads (on the wrong side), looking for a driveway!

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  15. Mmm, I wouldn’t mind getting some of this carrot cake on my whiskers.
    By the way, what is the name of the pretty little bear in the lavender bunny costume ~ the one hiding in the pink china cup? Do you think she might like to sip some tea from an acorn teacup.

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  18. Tanita Says 🙂

    Oh, man, CUTE overload. I WAS warned, but I didn’t heed it.

    I’m also suddenly starving for carrot cake.

    Happy Bunnies, Jama! Joy to you!

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  19. Those bunnies are so cute! Especially the one asking for carrots. *heart* Hmm, maybe I should get some pet bunnies.

    Happy, Happy Easter, Jama! *hugs*

    Tarie :o)
    Into the Wardrobe

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  20. LOVE the bear’s tea party. I have those same dishes–pattern is called Lady Something. And the same Beatrix Potter dishes! Why do I feel we could swap houses and barely notice the difference? Very cute. Now I want to drag out all my BP Wedgewood and have a tea party.

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  26. Lady Carlisle! What a hoot! I guess we just have good taste :). Bears and tea parties and English china just go so well together. Do you still have your Muffy Vanderbear collection? (I recently gave a trunk full of Muffy stuff to my niece.) But I miss her colorful plastic shoes . . . and all those outfits!

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  27. Yes, I have the whole family still, plus some extra Muffys and Hoppys. I gave several Ms and Hs and boxes of clothes to my great-nieces. Under my bed, tho, it’s still Muffy City. I can’t part with Mother’s Day tea party and the Bunk Trunk. When I fell down the VanderBear hole, I dropped deep!

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  28. Nice Blog

    Hi Aunt Jama,
    It’s your nephew Brad… Nice blog, can you send us your e-mail (brousseau@foamtech.net and aah313@gmail.com); Ashley and I want to send you some pictures from our honeymoon. Thanks talk to you later.

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  30. To A Wonderful Spring

    Ohhhhhh Jama, this is such a beautiful post. I found myself reading it over and over. The teddy bear tea party is the sweetest and that little bunny’s tongue! I showed my son and he LOVES Peter Rabbit and that amazing marzi pan cake! I’ll let you know how my carrot cake turns out. Here’s to a wonderful Spring:)
    Kim Baise
    http://www.beeskneesbooks.blogspot.com

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  32. Pingback: dessert recipe archive « Jama's Alphabet Soup

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