Best 2 Lion Cake Recipes

LION CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with racks in center. Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans and one cup in a jumbo muffin tin; line bottoms of pans with parchment; butter parchment. Dust pans and muffin tin with cocoa; set aside.
• Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into mixer bowl. On low, stir in eggs, buttermilk, hot water, oil, and vanilla; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl as necessary.
• Fill prepared muffin tin 3/4 full, using 3/4 cup batter. Divide remaining batter between two pans. Bake, rotating once, until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes (25 minutes for cupcakes). Let cool on rack 20 minutes; unmold and cool completely on rack, right sides up.
• With serrated knife, trim cake layers level. Place one on a cake round, trimmed side up, then place on a turntable. With offset spatula, smooth 3/4 cup caramel buttercream over top. Top with remaining 8-inch layer, trimmed side down. Thinly coat top and sides of cake with 1 cup buttercream. Refrigerate until frosting has set, about 20 minutes.
• Apply a smooth layer of buttercream to the cake. Slice top third of cupcake off, discarding the bottom; place the top on the cake, slightly off center. Coat cupcake top with buttercream, using offset spatula to create a smooth mound. This will become the snout of the lion.
• Place cake so the snout is closest to you. With a toothpick, sketch the lion's face. Refrigerate the cake.
• Fit five 12-inch pastry bags with couplers and Ateco tips. We used star tips such as No. 16, No. 22, No. 30, and No. 35 for the mane, and a small round tip such as No. 3 for the face. Divide remaining buttercream into 5 batches. Tint one dark brown, and place in bag with No. 3 tip. Tint the others four shades of orange; place in other four bags.
• Pipe outline of face on cake with brown buttercream. Pipe swirls of orange buttercream for mane. Stick licorice whiskers into cake; refrigerate until serving.

FIRST BIRTHDAY LION CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease with shortening or cooking spray bottom only of 1 (6-inch) round cake pan and place paper baking cups in 16 regular-size muffin cups.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, bananas, oil, water and eggs with electric mixer on low speed. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally until smooth. Place 1 3/4 cups batter in 6-inch round pan. Spoon remaining batter into 16 lined muffin cups. Bake round cake 35 to 40 minutes and cupcakes 18 to 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• In small bowl, beat cream cheese and yogurt on medium speed with electric mixer until creamy and smooth. Stir in yellow food color until mixture is desired color. Place 3 tablespoons of yellow frosting in small bowl; add orange food color to get desired orange color.
• To frost and decorate cake, slice 6-inch round cake horizontally to remove rounded top. Place cake cut side down on plate. Use yellow frosting to frost top and sides of cake. Use orange frosting to make muzzle of lion. Place cereal around top edges of cake to form the lion's mane. Add brown candy coated pieces for eyes. Insert pretzel sticks into cake near muzzle for whiskers. Use brown decorating gel to make mouth, nose and whisker spots on the lion face. Use remaining frosting to frost cupcakes. If desired, use cereal to decorate the cupcakes. Store cake and cupcakes in refrigerator.