Panda Cake

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour two 8-inch cake pans, an 8-inch diameter 3-quart stainless-steel bowl and 1 cup of a muffin tin. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Crack in the eggs, spoon in the sour cream, and pour in the oil and the vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour in the boiling water, and slowly mix until smooth.

Pour 1 1/4 cup of the batter into each cake pan, fill the one muffin tin and pour the remaining batter into the stainless steel bowl.

Transfer everything to the oven. Bake 15 minutes for the muffin, 25 minutes for the cakes, and 35 minutes for the domed cake. When each is done, remove from oven and set on a rack to cool. Let cakes cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes, adding the cream after the first few minutes.

Transfer 1/4 of the frosting to a small bowl. Stir the black food coloring into the small bowl. Set aside.

To assemble the cake, place one flat cake layer on a serving plate, spread 3/4 cup frosting on top and top it with the other flat cake layer. Spread another 3/4 cup frosting on top, top with the domed cake (rounded side pointing up). Frost buttercream over the entire thing.

Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to harden the frosting.

Cut the cupcake in half vertically for the two panda ears. Smear black buttercream over the cupcake ears. Attach ears to the sides of the head, with the cut side down on the head and the top of the cupcake facing forward. Then secure it in place with toothpicks.

Place remaining black frosting in a piping bag fitted with a small plain round tip. Pipe the shape of your panda eyes then fill in with frosting leaving a small opening for the white of his eye. Pipe a nose.

Cover the cake and refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator an hour before serving.