Directions

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Fill prepared muffin tin three-quarters 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 cupcake. Let cool on rack 20 minutes; unmold and cool completely on rack, right sides up.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Place cake so the snout is closest to you. With a toothpick, sketch the lion’s face. Refrigerate the cake.
7. Fit five 12-inch pastry bags with couplers and Ateco tips; we used star tips such as #16, #22, #30, and #35 for the mane; a small round tip such as #3 for the face. Divide remaining buttercream into 5 batches. Tint one dark brown, and place in bag with #3 tip. Tint others four shades of orange; place in other four bags.
8. Pipe outline of face on cake with brown buttercream. Pipe swirls of orange buttercream for mane. Stick licorice whiskers into cake; refrigerate until serving.