Beehive Cupcakes

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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!

Cute Beehive Cupcakes - perfect for a Bee Themed Birthday Party. An easy chocolate cupcake topped with a honey-touched buttercream frosting, these sweet birthday cupcakes are simple and fun.

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.

Cute Beehive Cupcakes - perfect for a Bee Themed Birthday Party. An easy chocolate cupcake topped with a honey-touched buttercream frosting, these sweet birthday cupcakes are simple and fun.

Beehive Cupcake Ingredients

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS:

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

 

A simple beehive cupcake - the perfect easy dessert for a bee-themed birthday party.

How to Make Beehive Cupcakes

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, set aside.
  3. 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).
  4. Slowly add the boiling water while the mixer runs, careful not to splash.
  5. Using a cupcake scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop the chocolate cupcake batter into cupcake paper liners until 3/4 full.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting Directions:

  1. 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:

  1. 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:

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Honey Bee Cupcakes

Honey Bee Cupcakes

A fun vanilla cupcake with honey buttercream frosting shaped like a beehive - perfect for a bee-themed party.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

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

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, set aside.
  3. 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).
  4. Slowly add the boiling water while the mixer runs, careful not to splash.
  5. Using a cupcake scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop the chocolate cupcake batter into cupcake paper liners until 3/4 full.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting Directions:

  1. 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:

  1. 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.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

1

Amount 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.

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