This pretty spring confection is a five layer honey spice cake filled with whipped buttercream icing and topped with a layer of marshmallow honey fondant. A cute little beehive is made from leftover cake pieces (removed because I just had to make the cake a hexagon to go with the honeycomb theme) and placed on the top amid icing flowers and leaves and a jellybean honey bee or two.
You’re looking at a lot of time, labor, and ingredients. The butter! Omygosh, the powdered sugar! If this has you shaking your head, don’t stop reading. I’ll give you time-saving options.
The picture doesn’t do it justice; this is a huge cake. I used 10-inch square pans, which hold roughly twice what a standard 9-inch round pan holds. Even after cutting my cake into a hexagon shape, it weighed a ton. Trust me, it’s a thing of beauty, but be prepared to make a lot of icing! (And by this I mean . . . buy extra butter and powdered sugar. Depending on how generous you are, or how many flowers you want to make, you may need another batch.)
Right off the bat I’m going to go into my usual disclaimer: I’m a little bit nutty when it comes to playing with my food. I’m also retired and have a whole lot of free time. If you don’t want to go all the way with this project, here are some ideas for cutting corners:
- In the first place, don’t cut corners! I made a hexagon to resemble honeycomb. You can stick to a round or square cake.
- Cut the recipe in half and use three 9-inch round pans. (If you only have two pans, use approximately 2 1/2 cups of batter in each of your available pans and bake the cakes. (They won’t take as long to bake, so start checking at 30 minutes.) When they’re done, re-use one of the cake pans with the remaining batter. It will be fine waiting there on the counter for its turn. Don’t try to divide them – just level the tops and go with three thicker layers.
- If you choose not to go with a hexagon shape, you won’t have leftover cake for the beehive. Use a big round pastry tip and pipe a buttercream beehive in the middle. Or just decorate with flowers and bees.
- Easier yet? Make cupcakes. The fondant can still be rolled out and pressed with bubble wrap for the design, then cut into squares and draped over the cupcakes. An icing beehive on each would look really cute.
- Speaking of fondant, you could save time by buying it (in the cake decorating aisle of large stores), but it sure won’t taste as good. Lots of people just peel it off anyhow, so it’s up to you.
- Flowers are a lot of fun to create, but they can also be very time consuming. You can buy pre-made decorator flowers, use edible fresh flowers, or even buy wafer paper edible flowers online. (Just type “edible wafer flowers” into your search engine.) See what wafer paper pansies look like here on my Brownies for a Crowd post.
- Don’t forget that you can spread this out a bit, too. Make the cakes ahead. Wrap them well and freeze them, or let them chill in the fridge for a day or two. If you’re making flowers, do that ahead of time, piping them onto pieces of waxed paper and freezing them. The bees can be made way ahead. They don’t need any special treatment – just put them up high where they aren’t a temptation to little ones, so they don’t “fly away”.
TO MAKE BEES, use jelly beans – a yellow one for the body and thin slices of either yellow or white for the wings. I used a Wilton edible ink marker for the eyes and stripes, but found that some jellybeans really resisted the color. A little dark chocolate and a very small piping tip might be easier for you. I stuck a pin in the poor bee’s bum for easy handling, and then when he was finished, pulled out the pin and put a tiny strip of black licorice in the hole for a stinger. I melted a little white chocolate in a small dish to use as glue and attached two thin slices to the sides for wings. You will need to hold them in place for a few seconds to let the white chocolate dry.
My little bee factory
The following recipe is for the LARGE spice cake. It’s easy to cut in half if you prefer to go that route. Yes, yes, I know – the recipe goes on and on and on. That’s because it is for the fondant, the cake, and the icing!
| Honey Bee Spice Cake | Print |
- FONDANT (for best results, make the day before):
- 14 ounces marshmallow creme (also called "fluff")
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- yellow and orange food coloring, and a small amount of cocoa powder to achieve honey color
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- CAKE:
- 1 cup cooking oil (peanut, canola, anything light colored)
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Juice and zest of one large lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
- 12 eggs, separated
- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon cardamom (optional)
- 1½ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup milk
- WHIPPED BUTTERCREAM ICING:
- 1 pound (4 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 1 cup shortening
- 3 pounds powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (clear vanilla for a lighter color)
- 1 teaspoon banana flavoring (optional - substitute lemon or extra vanilla if preferred)
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- assorted food coloring
- Small bubble wrap
- Decorations: flowers, bees (you can find these pre-made in some cake decorating departments, or make them from jelly beans), leaves, sprinkles
- FONDANT: In a large bowl, combine the marshmallow cream, honey, and vanilla extract. Add food coloring one drop at a time, and a little cocoa powder, until it is the color of honey. Stir in as much of the powdered sugar as you can.
- Lightly coat your work surface with shortening and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. Using greased hands, knead the remaining powdered sugar into the fondant. This may take 10-15 minutes. When finished, the fondant should be fairly stiff and should not stick to your hands. (If it's still sticky, use a little more powdered sugar.) Cover with a bowl on the counter or place in a plastic storage bag. Leave out on the counter until ready to use.
- CAKE: Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour (or use an oil/flour spray like Baker's Joy) 3 10-inch square cake pans. (If you don't have 3 pans, bake the cakes in shifts.) Place parchment in the bottom of each pan.
- In a large bowl combine oil, butter, sugar, and honey. Beat for 2 minutes.
- Add vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat until combined.
- Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl frequently.
- In a large bowl or pan, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and milk.
- Beginning with the dry ingredients and ending with the liquid, add ⅓ of each at a time, mixing each time just until incorporated. So . . . ⅓ of the flour mixture, mix. ⅓ of the liquid, mix, repeat until all is combined.
- In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks begin to form. Fold gently into the cake batter.
- I filled two of the pans a little over half full - about 7 cups of batter in each - (these will each be divided into two layers once cooled) and filled the third pan less than half full - about 4 cups of batter. The third cake will be thinner, and won't be divided - just use it as the top layer.
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes (a little less for the thinner cake), or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. Ovens vary - if you see that the cake is browning and pulling slightly away from the sides of the pan, give it the toothpick check!
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then carefully turn them out.
- For easiest handling, I really recommend you chill the cakes thoroughly before cutting layers or trimming.
- I made a cardboard template of a hexagon and used it to cut the cake before layering it. Save the trimmings in a covered bowl for later if you plan on making a beehive for the top.
- Divide each of the two larger cakes into two equal layers. Leave the thin cake as is. A little dome won't hurt with this cake, because the fondant will be draping over it, but you can level it if you'd like.
- ICING: In a large bowl, beat the butter well. Add the shortening and beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in the vanilla and banana flavoring. Add powdered sugar slowly. If mixture gets too thick to beat, drizzle in a little of the cream. Scrape sides often, and beat until completely combined.
- Slowly add cream, beating at high speed until icing is thick but spreadable. If it is too thick, add a little more cream. If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
- Spread icing between each layer, being careful to bring the icing all the way out to the edge. (Piping a "dam" around the edge is very helpful.)
- Cover the entire cake with a very thin coating of icing. This is a crumb coat, which will trap the crumbs and keep the cake looking nicer when you ice it.
- Chill for at least one hour, or pop the cake in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
- Spread icing over entire cake. Don't worry too much about making it perfect. If you're using the fondant top, you'll only see the bottom part of the cake. Save about ¼ cup of icing if you are making a beehive for the top.
- DECORATE:
- Roll the fondant out on a greased surface generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll just a little less than ¼ inch thick. Cut a rough circle at least 1 inch bigger all around than the top of the cake. Press entire circle with lightly floured bubble wrap to achieve a honeycomb effect. You can do this with a rolling pin, but I find that I have better control when pressing with my hand.
- Using both hands, lift the fondant up and quickly drape over cake. Fondant will stretch! Don't press onto sides of cake - let it hang. Use a pair of scissors to trim around the bottom of the fondant in a slightly uneven design or scallop, leaving the bottom inch or two of the cake showing.
- To make the beehive, combine cake scraps with just enough icing to make it hold together when you squeeze it. Form a beehive and drape with a thin piece of fondant. Use fingers to press smoothly. Press a little cocoa in the beehive entrance to give it some depth. Set on cake.
- Decorate with icing flowers, leaves, honey bees.
Mmmm. Marshmallow creme!
Grease those hands and knead it! Use as much powdered sugar as it will hold.
Fondant. Yes, it’s messy to make, but pretty tasty! Cover and let it rest.
Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.
Divide the two larger cakes as evenly as possible. Level the third (thinner) cake and use whole.
Layer with icing.
It’s crumb coated. Now chill!
Roll it out, almost 1/4-inch thick so it will show the bubble marks.
Press the bubble wrap firmly on fondant.
Ice the cake. Make it pretty around the bottom, but don’t worry too much about the top. It’ll be covered with fondant.
Lay the fondant over the cake. Use a scissors to trim it up so the bottom of the cake shows. I piped decorations around the bottom first. Don’t do this! It made it harder to shape the fondant.
Roughly shape the beehive out of cake scraps mixed with a little icing.
Lay fondant over hive and press gently to shape. Use thumb and a little cocoa powder in the bee entrance to give it some depth.
Decorate with icing leaves and flowers, or anything else that suits your fancy.
That’s it. Piece of cake, right? Hahaha, I know. I’m ducking right now.
Lorinda
Bee-u-tiful! Always in awe of your beautiful baking creations. I have pinned and I am sharing this beauty. Almost too pretty to eat! I said almost.
Thank you, Tampa Cake Girl! I even had a hard time cutting into this one, and I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to cake 🙂 You’re a doll!
I know I use “wow” a lot in my comments on your blog, but, well, Wow! This is lovely!
You have just the right amount of photos to help me get through the project, should I choose to do so. I’m not sure I have the stamina, so I appreciate your shortcut tips. The cupcakes sound quite appealing and about right for my ability.
I think the cupcake would be really cute – and always easier to serve. But creating the cake was fun too. Thanks for your comment, Mary Rose!