Easter Tutorial: Rabbit From Alice In Wonderland

I never had the chance to make an Alice in Wonderland themed cake during all these years working in cake decorating. The truth is, I actually didn’t want to take that chance. You know that making famous themed cakes isn’t my style at all.

I knew that I wanted to show you how to make a funny, easy and useful rabbit in this tutorial and, while I was looking for inspiration, I ran into the famous White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland, with his monocle and everything. So I decided that I’d combine tradition and fantasy in this Easter tutorial.

I must confess that I really enjoyed making this rabbit, as I was out of my confort zone (modelling with chocolate). So, without further ado, let’s start!

Required materials for modelling an easter rabbit with sugar paste:

• 1 Cake (or dummy) of 16cm high x 10cm diameter, previously ganached
• 250gr of Renshaw Modelling Paste
• 100gr of Renshaw Fondant coloured with Navy Blue
• 600gr of black Renshaw Fondant
• 100gr of white Renshaw Fondant
• ProGel Navy Blue
• Rainbow Dust Colours: Gold, Holly Green, Milk Chocolate, Rose
• Edible glue
• Vodka
• Maizena (cornstarch)
• 1 Dummy ball (4cm diameter)
• 1 Dummy cone (6cm high)
• 1 Dummy circle (3cm high x 5cm diameter)
• Baroque brocade mould
• Basic modelling tools
• Some brushes
• Fondant rolling pin (big and small)
• X-acto knife
• Ruler
• Wire 26 gauge
• 1 Skewer

Step by step

1. Prick the skewer in the dummy ball.

2. Cover the sphere and the skewer with white modelling paste, giving the head of the rabbit a primal shape. Keep in mind that the centre is flat and it makes a diagonal from the upper part of the ball until the edge of the snout, which is slightly rounded.

3. Add two balls of modelling paste on each side of the snout in order to start giving it some volume. In order to smooth the joints, I brushed some edible glue and I worked the paste with a silicone brush.

4. Then, make a pair of holes to place the eyes. The eyes are an important part, as they are the fixed point from which you’ll start modelling the face: they mark the proportion and the distance between the different facial elements.

5. For the eyes, make two modelling paste balls of the same size. It’s really important that they are slightly bigger than the eye sockets you did before, as you’ll have to do the eyelids later. If you were to make the eyes smaller, they would look sunken.

6. To get a more structured face, integrate a strip of modelling paste with a rounded tip in the centre. In addition, make the eyelids using two fine strips and pasting them with some edible glue. Take notice of its shape and position. Use a silicone tool to integrate the eyelids to the head.

7. You’ll surely need to add more modelling paste to the snout and make It bigger, so repeat step number 3 if it’s necessary.

8. With a sharp modelling tool, or with a plastic knife, make a V mark and a vertical line in order to create the nose and to separate both cheeks.

9. For the mouth, use a rounded modelling tool and press in order to sink it slightly. This way, the mouth will stay hidden under the cheeks.

10. Give the head some texture with a rounded tip silicone brush and take the chance to mark some spots on the cheeks and to make both nostrils. Let the head dry.

11. For the body, use a dummy cone and circle. Join them using a skewer.

12. Cover the dummy with some white Renshaw Modelling Paste, leaving the front side more flat than the back side, which has to be more rounded. Next, add an extra ball of modelling paste and integrate it to the body in order to give it more height.

13. Prick the head using the skewer. Previously brush it with some edible glue.

14. Add some texture with a soft silicone brush. Try to do irregular, wavy marks to give the fur some realism.

15. For the ears, stretch some modelling paste and cut two pieces in the shape of an elongated leaf. Glue both sides of the lower end and pinch the upper part. Insert a wire gauge 26 in one of the ears. Prick it to the head. Stick the other ear directly on the head, downwards.

16. For the painting, use some white alcohol and mix it with chocolate brown and yellow colours, in order to get a roast tone. Be careful: the colour mustn’t be very strong. Paint the body, the head and the ears. Add some pink colorant to shade the nose, the snout and the inside of the ears. Check out the picture for getting the shades right. Paint the eyes with a mixture of alcohol and black powder colorant.

17. For the jacket, use some fondant coloured with Navy Blue. Cut a rectangle of the same size of the body and cut both bottom corners. Brush some edible glue on the body of the rabbit and glue the piece of fondant on it.

18. For the arms, make two strips of fondant of the same size with CMC. Cut one of the edges in an angle. Make a mark on the middle in order to fold the arm and insert a piece of wire gauge 26.

19. Make a teardrop with some white modelling paste and flatten it, make 4 small cuts, brush some edible glue around the wire and prick the hand. Paint it.

20. Stretch some white modelling paste and cut it until it’s 3mm wide. Create some waves and stick them around the hand. To facilitate the drying, prick a fine wire under each sleeve and let them dry.

21. To make the collar, stretch some white modelling paste and cut it until it’s 4mm wide. Brush some edible glue on one of the sides and fold the whole strip repeatedly. Surely, you’ll have to make the whole collar in four or five parts. Once you have all the pieces folded, put some edible glue on the collar again and glue it to the rabbit. Use some fine wires again to hold the collar.

22. You can add a nice bow made with white modelling paste. Stretch a thin piece of modelling paste and cut three strips. Fold one of the strips, folding both edges towards the centre. Stick the other two under the bow.

23. For the monocle, use a white wire gauge 28. Roll one end of the wire in a brush handle of 5cm diameter. Then, bend the wire and shape it. Prick it between the body and the lapel. Paint it with a mixture of gold powder colorant and vodka.

24. Add some details to the jacket, like buttons and shoulder pads. Paint them with the gold colorant also. Here you can be more creative. Let your imagination fly and make all the details that you want.

25. For the cake, I opted for a classic and elegant style, in the same line than the rabbit. Cover the cake and a cake base of 20cm diameter with black Renshaw Extra fondant. If you don’t have a lot of practice covering cakes, you can visit my post on how to cover round cakes with fondant.  After covering the cake, make an oval 13cm high with some white fondant and glue it to the cake.

26. Paint the egg with a mixture of Rainbow Dust Holly Green and white powder colorant. Dilute the mixture with vodka and use a flat brush to paint the egg. You can shade the lateral of the egg, leaving the centre in a more clear tone. That way, you’ll create a sense of depth.

27. To add more details, make a baroque frame with a silicone mould. I filled the moulds with some extra modelling paste. Glue the pieces to the cake and paint them with a mixture of gold colorant and vodka.

Decoration alternatives

I think that this design is very flexible and has a lot of possibilities. One option is to change the clothing of the rabbit and make a sweater or a cardigan. Another thing that you can do is turn the simple egg into a Fabergé egg, full of jewelry and brocades.

This is possibly one of my favourite tutorials, as I really enjoyed myself throughout the whole process. I hope you enjoy it as well!

See you on my next post!

Marc