Luscious Lions

My sister is having a fundraiser at her work for RSPCA cupcake day. She enlisted my help to bake and create some cute cakes for the occasion, so where else would I go but my favourite cupcake decorating book, Hello Cupcake.

Since the fundraiser is for the RSPCA, an animal theme was obvious, so we chose the Lion cakes from page 121. To complement the colour, we decided to bake orange cakes. Here is the recipe I used:

Orange Cake Recipe (makes 24 cupcakes or 1 large cake)

250g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice

2 1/2 cups plain flour

5 tsp baking powder

zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (355 F)

Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on a meduim speed for 8 mins or until thick and pale.

Line two 12 hole muffin tins with wrappers and fill each 3/4 full with cake mix.

Bake for 20 mins or until cakes are golden and spring back in the middle when touched.

Halve mixture for 12 cupcakes or a small cake.

To make the Lions, we used red licorice for the manes, blue mini m&ms for the eyes, heart shaped runts for the nose, chocolate frosting for the mouth details and orange fruit loop breakfast cereal for ears. We tinted the Betty Crocker vanilla frosting orange for the lions' faces.

They were quick to assemble and looked fantastic when completed!

 How cute! Hope they raise lots of money tomorrow!
This post participated in the Monday Link Party over at Craft-O-Maniac , Take a look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, and Feature Yourself Fridays at Fingerprints on the Fridge!