Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour one 9 inch round cake pan or line it with parchment paper for easy removal.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and granulated sugar together. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer on medium speed. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, which should take about 3-4 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Then, stir in the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk. Start and end with the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed, just until everything is combined. Be careful not to overmix, as this can make the cake dense.

Pour the cake batter into the cake pan. Use a spatula to smooth the top and make it level.

Place the cake pan into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Baking times can vary, so keep an eye on it.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then, remove it from the pan and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you're making your cake in advance, once it's room temperature, wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge or freezer.

To make the polar bear ears for this cake, melt about ½ a cup of white candy melts according to the package instructions. I put mine in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power for a minute and then 20 seconds at a time until they were melted.

Draw circles with a flat bottom (or semi-circles) on a piece of parchment paper or wax paper then flip it over so you can put the melted candy on top of the side with no ink.

Put the melted candy melts in a piping bag and cut the tip off, pipe them into the shape you made for the ears. You can smooth out the melted chocolate with the back of a spoon. Set them aside and let them cool completely. Don’t make them too thin or they’ll be more prone to breaking.

In a large bowl, combine 7 cups of powdered sugar, 2 cups of unsalted butter, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and up to ¼ cup of cream or milk. Start on a low speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer then work your way up to a high speed until the white icing is fluffy and well mixed. Mixing will take a few minutes.

Remove ¼ cup of your white vanilla frosting and divide it into two small bowls. Add black food coloring to one portion until the frosting is black for the polar bear’s eyes and nose.

Instead of adding black food coloring to your second bowl, add a small spoonful of your black frosting to your second small bowl of white frosting to make gray. You can always make it darker as needed.

Take your cooled 9 inch round cake and cut it in half to give you two semi-circles. Add frosting to one semi-circle and stack the second on top so you have a two-layer cake.

Add a layer of frosting to the flat edge of the double-layer cake to make it sturdy and then stand it on that edge on top of a cake board or flat serving plate.

Frost the entire outside of the cake with a crumb coat of white frosting. This layer traps in any crumbs and will give you a smoother, more even surface to decorate on.

If your white chocolate polar bear ears are round, cut the bottom to make them capable of sitting flat on top of the cake.

Put white frosting inside a piping bag with a #21 small open star piping tip and make two rows of thick frosting for the ears to sit on top of. Then add additional frosting on top of the first layer behind the ears and the sides for extra support.

Use a toothpick to score the face of the polar bear cake so you know which areas you will be frosting with black, gray, and white. Lightly draw in two circular eyes, a larger half circle for the gray muzzle area and a small oval for the black nose.

Use your #21 small open star piping tip and a piping bag of white frosting to outline the details you scored with the toothpick so you don’t accidentally cover them.

Work your way across the top and sides of the cake adding white stars over the whole cake to look like polar bear fur.

Add white frosting to the top and back of the cake using white stars.

Take your small star piping tip out of the piping bag of white frosting and clean it off and ready to use with a piping bag full of gray frosting.

Add your light gray frosting to the front of the cake where you previously marked it.

Once your gray is finished, remove the star tip and clean it again to get it ready for the black details. Use your star tip, and a piping bag of black frosting to pipe black stars to form the nose and eyes.

Lastly, use one final piping bag with no tip inside and the rest of your black frosting. Cut the very tip off the bag to make a small round hole and add eyebrows to the face of your polar bear cake.

Enjoy your adorable creation!