DIY Triple Chocolate Easter Bunny Dessert

We’re hopping right along into the spring season, and my heart has been thumping over all of the beautiful new green foliage, gorgeous pastel-colored flowers and the brisk cool morning air. Spring has always felt so refreshing to me, and seeing what has withered away regain new life and come into bloom is such a testament to the beauty of the season.

We built our home in a very wooded area, and each morning our yard comes to life with beautiful creatures and critters coming out to play in the blanket of morning dew on our lawn. My two girls have grown particularly fond of the wild rabbits we have that wrinkle their noses as they munch on the Bahia grass. We are big fans of the Easter bunny, and my daughters giggle with delight each time they see the store shelves flooded with those cuddly stuffed bunny rabbits and giant packs of pastel-colored eggs.

Those funny little bunnies in our yard served as the inspiration for this fun triple chocolate Easter bunny dessert that we will be serving with our lunch after Easter services this year, and everything needed to make this little dessert come to life came from the dollar store!

Your local dollar store can be a gold mine when it comes to finding simple decor to set the table with, and in this particular case, even creating a delectable dessert to celebrate the season! I picked up a few packs of terracotta pots and painted them white using a food-safe acrylic paint. I also found a pack of plastic plant labels and grass-shaped cupcake liners to trim and use as the sprigs of grass in the pot. The dessert itself is very simple, and all of the ingredients can also be picked up from the dollar store. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Before you begin assembling the desserts, make sure your chocolate cake is cooked and cooled and your pudding is prepared. The first layer of the dessert is made of crushed-up cookies. I found that leaving one cookie whole in the bottom and adding 2 crushed cookies on top of it was plenty. The whole cookie blocks the hole in the bottom of the terracotta pot so that none of the dessert falls out of the bottom.

Add a few spoonfuls of crumbled chocolate cake, followed by a layer of chocolate pudding and top with a final layer of chocolate cake.

Next, add one jumbo marshmallow in the center. Cut one more jumbo marshmallow in half and add a paw print to each one. Place each paw underneath the jumbo marshmallow. Add a small amount of vanilla frosting to one miniature marshmallow and secure it to the top of the jumbo marshmallow to act as a cotton tail. Finally, add a few sprigs of paper grass or a little sign if desired!

DIY Triple Chocolate Easter Bunny Dessert

Author: Southern Made Simple Serves: 6

• Terracotta pots • 1 box chocolate cake mix - prepared according to package instructions • 1 package cream-filled chocolate cookies • 1 package chocolate pudding mix - prepared • 1 package each, jumbo and miniature marshmallows • 1 small tube vanilla frosting • Pink food gel or edible ink marker to make the feet

Instructions

1. Layer crumbled cookies into the bottom of each terracotta pot (tip: add a whole cookie to the bottom first to cover the bottom hole so crumbs don’t fall out)

2. Layer a small handful of crumbled chocolate cake mix

3. Layer 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of chocolate pudding

4. Layer more crumbled chocolate cake mix to act as the “top soil”

5. Add one jumbo marshmallow to the center of each pot

6. Cut one jumbo marshmallow in half and draw feet onto the smooth sides and place beneath jumbo marshmallow

7. Dip the end of one miniature marshmallow into vanilla frosting and attach to jumbo marshmallow to act as tail

8. Garnish with additional decorations such as sprigs of fake grass or plastic gardening picks

9. Enjoy! (Leftovers should be refrigerated.)

This dessert is perfect for little hands to help create, and it makes for a perfect chocolaty treat to share during Easter celebrations at church, school or as a special dessert any day of the week.