Ingredients
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 pounds carrots, finely grated
6 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup nonfat buttermilk
4 cups sugar
3 cups vegetable oil
2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
1 cup golden raisins
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Cream-Cheese Frosting for Bunny Carrot Cake
10 cups mini marshmallows
2 chocolate-covered espresso beans
1 pink jelly bean
1 pale-yellow licorice twist (6 inches), cut into 2-inch lengths and sliced into needle-thin pieces
2 cups loosely packed pink cotton candy
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat an ovenproof 13-inch-diameter 6-quart bowl with cooking spray. Dust with flour, and tap out excess. Set aside.
Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla seeds, and raisins in a large bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a medium bowl. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture. Transfer batter to prepared bowl.
Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 2 1/2 hours. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool in bowl 40 minutes. Unmold onto rack. Let cool completely.
Place cake, broad side down, on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, trim 2 sides to create a slightly pointed head and body. Using 2 scraps from sides, cut out two 5-inch-long ears. (Trim bases of ears at an angle so that they will lean toward tail.) Attach with frosting. From 1 scrap, carve a ballshaped tail that has 1 flat side; attach with frosting. Refrigerate cake 20 minutes. Spread a thick layer of frosting over cake.
Cover entire cake (except for insides of ears and the tail) with marshmallows. Press in espresso beans for eyes and the jelly bean for a nose. Add 8 pieces of licorice for whiskers. Just before serving, cover ears and tail with cotton candy.
