Easy Easter Bunny Donuts

These Easter bunny donuts start with boxed cake mix baked into mini donuts, then get almond ears, a white candy melt coating, and a tiny pink nose. An easy Easter treat to decorate with kids.

These little Easter bunny donuts are almost too cute to eat, and they’re one of the easiest Easter treats you can make with kids. Each one is a mini cake donut with halved almonds for ears, a coat of white candy melts, and a pink dot for a nose. The pink nose is my favorite part.

The secret to how easy they are? Boxed cake mix. I come from three generations of bakers, so I’ll always tell you scratch cake tastes better. When I want the real thing, I make a from-scratch cake like my easy sponge cake. But nobody bakes a cake from scratch just to turn it into bite-size bunnies. For a decorating project where the fun is in the ears and the nose, cake mix is the right call. It also means the donuts are ready fast, so kids aren’t waiting around to start decorating.

Donut Maker or Donut Pan?

You can make these with a BabyCakes Mini Donut Maker, a nonstick donut pan, or silicone donut molds.

I use the BabyCakes. It works like a waffle maker with mini donut-shaped molds. There’s no oven to preheat, cleanup is quick, and I can keep an eye on the donuts the whole time. A donut pan or silicone molds in the oven work too. Both methods are in the recipe card below.

How to Make Easter Bunny Donuts

1. Heat your donut maker or oven. Plug in the BabyCakes and lightly grease the molds with vegetable oil. Give it about 2 minutes to heat up. For the oven method, preheat to 350°F and lightly grease your donut pan or molds.

2. Mix the batter. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, water, oil, and egg until combined. Transfer the batter to a piping bag or zip-top bag and snip the end. This makes filling the small molds much neater.

3. Bake the donuts. In the BabyCakes, add about 2 tablespoons of batter per mold. Don’t overfill, because the batter expands. Close the lid and check after 3 to 4 minutes. In the oven, fill the molds ¾ full and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Cool completely. Move the donuts to a cooling rack and let them cool fully before decorating. Warm donuts won’t take an even coating.

5. Split the almonds. Halve the almonds lengthwise. The flat side sticks to the donut much more easily than a rounded whole almond.

6. Melt the candy melts. Follow the package directions for melting, I used Wilton Bright White Candy Melts.

7. [Optional] Thin the candy melts. For a thinner coating, warm the candy melts in the microwave first. Then add ¼ teaspoon of vegetable shorting or Wilton EZ Thins at a time until it reaches your desired consistency. If using shortening, avoid adding too much as this can affect the final texture of the candy coating.

8. Keep the coating fluid. Set the bowl of melted candy coating inside a larger bowl of hot water. This keeps it from hardening before you finish dipping.

9. Attach the ears. Dab a little melted candy coating on each almond half and press two onto each donut. They set in about a minute and are then ready for dipping.

10. Dip and shake. Dip each donut, ears and all, into the white candy coating. Give it a little shake to even out the coating so the surface is smooth. Set it back on the rack.

11. Add the pink noses. Put about a teaspoon of the melted white candy in a small bowl. Use a toothpick to add a little oil-based pink coloring at a time until you like the shade. Then dot on a nose with a toothpick.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Easter and spring desserts

Looking for more treats for your Easter table? These two pair well with the bunny donuts:

• This light and creamy zabaglione spooned over fresh berries is lovely for Easter brunch.
• My blueberry cheesecake is a make-ahead dessert for larger gatherings.

You can browse my other desserts and baked goods.

If you make these bunnies, leave a rating and a comment below. I’d love to hear how your kids’ bunnies turned out! For new recipes and baking tips, subscribe to my newsletter.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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