Sharing is caring!

A delicious homemade strawberry and vanilla cream bundt cake decorated like a beautiful Easter Basket filled to the brim with everyone’s favorite holiday treats!

Years ago my son had a boy scout cake auction, around Easter, to raise money for their troop. I came up with the idea of baking a bundt cake, and flipping it upside to look like a basket. I topped the cake off with all the usual Easter basket trimmings and a pipe cleaner handle.

It was a huge hit! That cake sold for a nice hefty profit…I think it was all candy and the chocolate bunnies! (I get it… I have a deep love for chocolate bunnies as well!)

This beautiful Easter cake is easier to make than you’d think. So don’t leave just yet! You can make this cake too! I’m going to share all my tips, and alternate ideas, on how you can recreate this cake!

How to Make an Easter Basket Cake

You can use any cake recipe you’d like to make an Easter Basket Cake.

I recommend a homemade cake, like my World’s Best Vanilla Cake Recipe. It is a very dense cake and can handle the weight of all the cake toppings! (Those bunnies have a little bit of a tummy issue going on this time of year! By no means am I judging!)

TIP: If you don’t feel confident making a cake from scratch, you can use a cake mix.

I went with my Vanilla Cake Recipe and kicked it up a bit by making it a Strawberry and Vanilla Cream Cake, by simply adding a few tablespoons of strawberry jello to half the batter. It creates a scrumptious Spring cake.

Note… you can make two 8 inch rounds instead of using a bundt pan. It really is all about what is easiest for you! You could even use a store bought angel food cake!

Strawberry Vanilla Cake Recipe

Preheat oven to 350°.

In the bowl of your mixer, add 2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste, and three large eggs.

Beat on medium speed, until eggs and oil are well incorporated and batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes.

Add in 1/2 cup sour cream and beat until smooth and well incorporated.

Add half the flour, 3 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat on low speed and slowly add half the milk. Mix until the flour begins to incorporate.

Add remaining flour, continue mixing on low speed. Add remaining milk and beat until ingredient are just combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top.

Note this batter is a little thin, but don’t let that concern you. It bakes beautifully with a moist, dense, cake.

To create the beautiful strawberry swirl in this cake, remove 2 cups of batter and place in a separate bowl.

Add 4 Tablespoons of Strawberry Jello.

Adding jello is a fantastic and simple way to add flavor to a cake.

Mix until well combined and sugars break down in the jello.

Prepare a bundt cake pan by spraying it with non-stick baking spray. A spray that contains oil and flour.

You can use a smooth bundt pan or a bundt pan with designs. It’s 100% up to you. I went with a smooth sided pan knowing I would be doing the “basket weave” pipping design.

Reserve 1 cup of the vanilla cake batter to make 2 cupcakes. The cupcakes are used to “fill the hole” in the middle of the bundt cake.

Pour remaining vanilla cake batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Add the strawberry cake batter by the scoop full, on top of the vanilla cake batter, all the way around the pan.

Using a butter knife, swirl the strawberry batter into the vanilla batter.

Bake the cupcakes, first, for 18–20 minutes in preheated oven. Cakes should spring back when touched in the center.

After the cupcakes have baked, add the bundt cake and bake for 35–40 minutes until cake is set and springs back when lightly pressed.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool on wire rack until completely cool.

How To Make Buttercream Frosting

While the cake is cooling, make a batch of my Amazing Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. You’ll use this frosting to cover and decorate the cake. It’s ultra light and creamy! Perfect for pipping and pairs beautifully with the Strawberry and Vanilla Cream Cake.

TIP: Don’t want to make your own frosting? You can buy 3–4 cans of vanilla frosting from the market. This is about having fun! So make it fun and stress-free for you and your kids!

In the bowl of your mixer add 1 cup softened butter and 1 cup shortening. Mix on medium speed until both are incorporated and a light creamy yellow color. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Slowly add 8 cups sifted powder sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with 8 ounces of heavy whipping cream, and 3 teaspoon vanilla extract. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with each addition.

TIP: Sifting eliminates any little balls of powder sugar and creates the smoothest frosting possible. Which is important to keep your frosting tips from clogging.

Frosting should be fluffy and creamy and cling to the beater of your mixer.

Remove 2 cups of frosting for the green “grass” in the basket, mix with 2 drops of Wilton Green Food Coloring Gel. Remove 1 cup for the lilac color for the trim of the cake. Use 1 drop of Set aside.

One batch of frosting will be plenty to do everything you see on this cake and more!

Easter Basket Cake Decorating

Please read through all these instructions beforehand. You do NOT have to decorate this cake with piped frosting. There are other ways to create an Easter Basket Cake, and I’ll share some of my other ideas how you can create the perfect Easter Cake.

Remove the cake from the bundt pan by placing a plate up against the bundt pan and flip the cake out of the pan.

Remember we used a bundt pan so that we could get the shape of a “basket”. To do that, the top smaller portion of the bundt cake needs to be the bottom, with the wider part being the top.

Place the cake plate you’ll be using on the opposite side of the cake and carefully turn the cake upside down.

Insert a cupcake, with the liner removed, (unless you enjoy a little paper with your cake…you do you!) into the center of the bundt cake.

Cover the cake, top and sides, with a thin layer of the white butter cream. The piped frosting needs something to adhere to. It’s always a good idea to cover a cake with a “crumb” coat before you begin to pipe the cake with additional decor.

Using a knife or spatula mark the sides of the cake for the basket weave pipping. The lines are a guide for your straight lines with the basket weave tip.

TIP: If you don’t think you can pipe a basket weave on the outside of the cake, you can use the prongs on a fork to create a basket weave pattern in the frosting. Just be sure to frost the outside of the cake a little thicker than a crumb coat.

What Wilton Cake Tips to use

• Wilton Tip 48 for the Basket Weave
• Wilton Tip 22 for the Top and Bottom edging
• Wilton Tip 233 for the grass
• Wilton Tip 352 for the flower leaves

You’ll need four Wilton disposable 16 inch bags. Cut the tip off each bag and place the decorating tip down into the tip of the bag.

Now before you say “I can’t do this!”. Yes! You Can! I had never done the basket weave before. I simply googled a YouTube Video and watched it 3–4 times (it’s about a minute long) to get the technique down… and then I did it!

Using your line as a guide and the basket weave tip, starting at the top edge of the cake, pipe a line down the guideline you marked on the side of the cake. Starting at the top, pipe a 1-1/2 inch horizontal strip, evenly, over the top of the vertical strip of pipped basket weave.

Leave a space as big as the pipping tip, then pipe another strip, another space, and another horizontal line.

Then pipe another vertical line, making sure to cover the ends of the horizontal lines. Pipe another set of horizontal lines in the empty spaces. Continue around the outside of the cake until the outside of the cake is covered.

Don’t stress if your lines aren’t perfect and things look a little wobbly, like mine! You can cover mistakes with flowers and leaves.

With the Wilton number 22 tip, fill one side of the bag with vanilla, the other with the lilac. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Squeeze enough frosting into a bowl, until the two have combined to give you the “faded” combo you desire.

Pipe stars along the bottom. For the top, make a swirl by making a circular motion with your hand, while squeezing the frosting tube, and going around the outer edge of the cake.

On the top, create “grass” by using Wilton tip 233.

Fill a pipping bag with light green frosting. Starting along the outer edge, pipe green “grass” by squeezing the bag, while pressing down, and pulling up. Release the pressure on the bag as you pull up to cause the frosting to “break” creating grass.

Continue going around the outer edges, working your way to the inside.

TIP: Don’t want to pipe a field of grass? No problem! Let me offer an alternative…you can Color Coconut Flakes and just sprinkle them on top of the cake. A few drops of green food color and 2 cups of shredded coconut in a Ziploc bag will do the trick.

When the entire top of the cake is covered in “grass”, in whatever form you choose, you can start to decorate the top of the cake with all the goodies you’ve collected.

Start with the chocolate bunnies in the center of the cake top, then use foiled covered chocolate eggs, malted Easter eggs, jelly beans, and sour sugar covered jelly beans to surround your chocolate furry friends.

For the flowers, I purchased pre-made Wilton Fondant Flowers from Joann’s. I wanted to make this as simple as possible.

Scatter a few flowers among the candy on top of the cake, place some down the sides and front of the basket weave. (Remember…we’re covering up our mistakes!)

Use the leaf tip, Wilton tip 352, to scatter leaves among the flowers. Again a fantastic way to cover up any little wobbles you may have had with the basket weave.

For the handle, It will take six pipe cleaners, two linked together to get the right length. Intertwine three lengths together…(Time to bust out those preschool skills!) to create a handle for the basket. Press the ends into opposite sides of the cake.

That’s it! Isn’t it beautiful? It’s such a fun cake to make and serve to your Holiday Easter Guests.

It’s even fun on the inside! Look how pretty this cake is when it’s sliced.

I hope, regardless of how you choose to decorate this cake, that you’ll give it a try! A few bags of Easter Candy, a baked cake, a bowl of frosting, and you too can have a fun cake this year on your Easter Table.

Other Favorite Easter Desserts

• Coconut Raspberry Cheesecake
• White Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake
• Easy Lemon Berry Angel Food Cake
• Easter Bonnet Cookies
• No-Bake Strawberry Cream Pie
• Southern Butter Pecan Bundt Cake from Julia’s Simply Southern
• Raspberry Fluff Cake from Soulfully Made

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting today! I hope you’ll take a minute to look around at all the other delicious Easter and Spring Recipes I have here at my Nest!

Have a very Happy Easter! Remember…making food for those we care about is an expression of L.O.V.E.

Happy Nesting!

Sharing is caring!