Preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit and line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to beat together the cake mix, milk, eggs and melted butter until a smooth, fluffy batter forms, about 2 minutes.
Scoop about ¼ cup of batter into each prepared cupcake liner. They should be filled about ¾ way full. Depending on how full the cupcakes are you should be able to fill 20-24 liners.
Bake the cupcakes for 19-23 minutes or until they spring back when tapped and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with just a couple of crumbs.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely before frosting, about 30-40 minutes.
When you are ready to decorate the cupcakes, place half of the coconut in a small bowl and add a few drops of yellow food coloring.
Stir the food coloring into the coconut until the coconut is all covered. It will be colored in a gradient of orange with some pieces darker and some lighter. This will work well so don’t worry about them all being the same shade.
Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the frosting and stir until the frosting is an even, light yellow color.
Frost each cupcake with a layer of yellow frosting and then dip the edge of the cupcake in the coconut and twist the edge in a circular motion to make a coconut “mane”. The center of the cupcake should be just yellow frosting, with no coconut on it.
If the coconut gets low or starts to have only small pieces, add the rest of the bag and a few more drops of coloring and mix it up and then continue decorating.
Add two candy eyes to the coconut free center of the cupcakes with a mini chocolate chip below them for a nose. Place the chocolate chip so that the point is pointing down away from the eyes.
Use the black decorating icing to draw on a mouth, a line running down from the nose that splits into two “U” shapes.
Add two brown M&Ms on either side of the face, in the mane, to be the ears of the lions.
Serve your lions with pride!
Notes
Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.The calories shown are based on the recipe making 24 cupcakes, with 1 serving being 1 cupcake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**