Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

After that, grease the bottom of your pans( 6", 5" and cupcake pan) using vegetable shortening. Then, put a parchment paper. And lightly dust each pan with cocoa powder. Afterward, set aside.

Then, using a large mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients together and whisk to combine. Afterward, add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. After that, beat using an electric mixer for 2 minutes until everything combines well. Do not forget to scrape the bowl's sides using a rubber spatula. And then, add the hot water and mix again until all the ingredients incorporate completely.

Then, cool the cakes once they cook for about 5 minutes in the pan. Next, transfer them to the wire racks to cool completely.

Before anything else, cream the vegetable shortening until it becomes light and fluffy. Then gradually add the powdered sugar and continue creaming until the mixture blends well.

Afterward, add the salt, vanilla, and whipping cream. Then, blend at low speed until moistened. After that, add the additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Make sure to beat the mixture at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

First and foremost, prepare your cooled cakes. With that, one 6-inch layer, one 5-inch cake layer, and six cupcakes.

After that, take your buttercream frosting and make another batch. Then, add 1/3 of a cup of unsweetened cocoa to the powdered sugar to make a chocolate frosting.

Afterward, color a small amount from the batch of buttercream with pink icing color for the teddy bear's cheeks. Also, include another small amount with blue for the bowtie. And then save a little of the buttercream for the teddy bear's eyes.

Then, use the remaining buttercream and add a small amount of chocolate buttercream. Do this to make a light brown color to make the frosting for the belly, nose, paws, and ears.

To create the bear shape, use a sharp knife to remove a small curved portion from the 6-inch cake layer. With that, save the curved cake scraps for later.

Afterward, attach the 5" and 6" cake layers to form the head and body. Then, place them on a large rectangular cake board. Because of that, you can use a baking sheet if the cake board is unavailable.

After that, frost an area for the cheeks using pink buttercream. Also, ensure to frost the bear's belly area with light brown buttercream. Keep in mind to even out the frosting with an offset spatula. Then, cover a large area so you can make the belly and cheeks. With this, you can choose any size you want when piping the furry frosting later.

Then, using a round cutter, cut the curved sections from two cupcakes. Use them as ears for the teddy bear's head. Afterward, save the scraps for later.

Using the same round cutter, gently press and mark where you want the cheeks to be.

Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting using an offset spatula on the naked parts of the cake. Also, frost two cupcakes.

Afterward, use the lighter brown frosting for the cupcake ears. Next, frost the remaining cupcakes for the legs. After that, add more frosting to create a flat and smooth top.

To make the bear's snout, pipe a circular mound of light brown frosting into a wax paper sheet. And use an offset spatula. Do this to smoothen it out. Then, put the frosting mound in the freezer to make it firm. Because of this, you can smoothen it out more using the offset spatula once it firms up.

Then, position the firm frosting mound in the bear's head. And gently tuck two pieces of chocolate buttons underneath to create the eyes.

Afterward, place the dark chocolate frosting in a piping bag with an open star tip. Make sure to do this to create the teddy bear's fur. Ensure to use the round cutter's impression as a guideline for creating perfectly shaped cheeks.

After that, pipe some frosting near the bear's neck and place two frosted chocolate cupcakes to create the arms. Then, gradually add a small amount of frosting to the bottom of each cake. Do this so that the cakes will not move around and keep the bear's shape.

Then, carve away some of the cake if you want the legs to face upward. Next, attach the frosted cupcakes to the cake to create the legs. Then, you can use a straw through the cupcakes into the cake to secure it even more.

Afterward, pipe frosting around the bear's body. However, make sure not to include the light brown patches for the ears, belly, and bottom paws.

For each paw, place a big chocolate button and three small chocolate buttons facing side down into the frosting.

Then, cut one large chocolate button almost in half. After that, position it as a nose, and put a tiny amount of frosting.

Afterward, pipe tiny dots on the chocolate button eyes of the reserved buttercream.

Color the remaining chocolate frosting with a darker brown and draw or pipe a smile on the bear's face.

Using the cake scraps, create a bowtie and paste it using some frosting. Finally, cover the bowtie with blue buttercream.