Beehive Cupcakes
For Ella’s second birthday, we treated a few friends to admission at a local adventure honey farm and a low-key picnic.
Naturally, I couldn’t resist the desire to bring along some themed cupcakes, so with the help of some cute sugar bee decorations I whipped up these cute Beehive Cupcakes – perfect for a bee-themed birthday party!
Beehive Cupcakes
You can use a boxed cake mix or my easy chocolate cake recipe (below) – but whatever you do, take the time to make from-scratch buttercream frosting. Once you taste the difference of a homemade buttercream frosting to a canned frosting, you’ll never question the extra five minutes of effort it takes to whip up a fresh batch.
The touch of honey I added to the frosting is completely optional (you could use a flavour extract instead – vanilla, coconut, almond, etc) but I couldn’t serve beehive cupcakes without a nodd to the bee’s creation. I would have preferred to make a honey cake, but Ella requested chocolate cupcakes for her birthday. (I’ll share my Honey Lavender cupcake recipe soon!)
For the frosting, you want a large round frosting tip (like a Wilton #1A) and you’ll start icing the cupcakes in the center of the cupcake, swirling outward to the edges of the cupcake, before adding your center “upward” swirls to form the hive of your beehive cupcakes. To make the cute pointed edge, flick your wrist slightly at the end.
I used a bit of black royal icing to make cute “beehive doors” (they remind me of the beehives in those sweet Winnie the Pooh books) but you could alternatively use a Mini Oreo cookie or a bit of extra buttercream frosting dyed black.
Bee Cupcake Decorations
If you’re really talented and adventurous, you can attempt to make these bees yourself using a candy/chocolate mold but I went the simple route and purchased pre-made bee decorations.
Beehive Cupcake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- White sugar
- Cocoa powder
- Baking Soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Eggs, room temperature
- Whole Milk
- Olive Oil
- Vanilla extract
- Boiling Water
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING INGREDIENTS:
- Butter, room temperature
- Powdered Icing Sugar
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Honey Extract
- Yellow food coloring <– this set of food coloring has lasted me forever and I love that it creates highly saturated colors with just a drop
ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS:
- Egg whites
- Powdered Icing Sugar
- Cream of Tartar
- Black food colouring
Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.
Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Electric mixer<– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
- Large mixing bowl
- Piping bag
- Large piping tip <– a basic piping set will have all you need
- Cupcake pan
- Cupcake liners
- Cupcake scoop
- Cooling racks <– I have and love these tiered cooling racks, they save so much counter space and are also oven-safe
How to Make Beehive Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, whole milk, oil, and vanilla. Add slowly to the dry mixture, and mix until fully incorporated (about 3 minutes on medium speed).
- Slowly add the boiling water while the mixer runs, careful not to splash.
- Using a cupcake scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop the chocolate cupcake batter into cupcake paper liners until 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting Directions:
- Cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and creamy. Add the heavy whipping cream if you need a bit of wetness to achieve the desired consistency. Add the yellow food dye, if using, before scooping into prepared pastry bag.
Royal Icing Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. Add extra icing sugar (1/4 cup at a time) if not stiff enough. Add black food colouring once desired consistency is reached. Use the royal icing to pipe a door onto the “hive” and to attach frosting bees.
Grab your free printable to make our beehive cupcakes with honey buttercream frosting:
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Honey Bee Cupcakes
A fun vanilla cupcake with honey buttercream frosting shaped like a beehive - perfect for a bee-themed party.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 C Flour
- 2 C Sugar
- 1 C Cocoa
- 1 1/2 TSP Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 TSP Baking Powder
- 1 TSP Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 C Whole Milk
- 1/2 C Oil
- 2 TSP Vanilla
- 1 C Boiling Water
- BUTTERCREAM FROSTING INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powder sugar
- 4 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon honey extract
- Yellow food colouring
- ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS:
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup powder sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Black food colouring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, whole milk, oil, and vanilla. Add slowly to the dry mixture, and mix until fully incorporated (about 3 minutes on medium speed).
- Slowly add the boiling water while the mixer runs, careful not to splash.
- Using a cupcake scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop the chocolate cupcake batter into cupcake paper liners until 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting Directions:
- Cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and creamy. Add the heavy whipping cream if you need a bit of wetness to achieve the desired consistency. Add the yellow food dye, if using, before scooping into prepared pastry bag.
Royal Icing Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. Add extra icing sugar (1/4 cup at a time) if not stiff enough. Add black food colouring once desired consistency is reached. Use the royal icing to pipe a door onto the "hive" and to attach frosting bees.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
LorAnn Honey Super Strength Flavor, 1 ounce bottle
-
Cookie Scoop Ice Cream Scoop Melon Scoop 18/8 Stainless Steel with Trigger Cupcake Scoops (#14)
-
Wilton Excelle Elite 3-Tier Cooling Rack for Cookies, Cakes and More
-
Wilton Icing Colors, 12-Count Gel-Based Food Color
-
Wilton Bumblebee Icing Decorations, Yellow
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 419Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 227mgCarbohydrates: 70gFiber: 1gSugar: 61gProtein: 3g
Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.
Such cute bees!
These are so cute! Great for a Bee Party 🙂 (pinned!)
Wow, great article.Much thanks again. Will read on