Believe it or not, this was my first time ever trying to work with fondant. If you’re interested in trying a beginner fondant recipe, this is a safe cake to start with. A bumble bee themed cake is perfect for a bee themed birthday (my first bee-day, or sweet-one birthday). This easy bee cake even works well for a bee themed baby shower cake for a baby bee shower or mommy to bee shower theme.
There is a lot of room for you to cover up any mistakes with this cake because if the smooth sheet of fondant you put on top of your cake cracks at all, you’ll usually be able to cover the cracks up with some honeycomb-shaped bee cake decorations.
You’re going to make a bee-utiful cake that will leave your guests buzzing with excitement. Let’s get started!
How to make a bee themed cake
Bake cake
I used two 6 inch round cake pans for this recipe. You can use one box of your favorite cake mix or if you have a delicious cake recipe you like using, that’s great too.
Make sure you put a circle of parchment paper down inside your cake pans and grease the sides so your cake will release easily from the pans after baking.
Bake your cake, vanilla, chocolate, or any other flavor you like will be fine. The entire cake will be covered in frosting and fondant, so you won’t see what’s inside once it’s decorated.
Let your cakes cool completely on a wire rack until they are room temperature. Then you can cool them in the fridge for 15 minutes, or even wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in your freezer before you frost them. Cold cake is easier for beginners to work with because it usually crumbles less.
Make buttercream frosting
To make your vanilla buttercream mix 1 cup of unsalted butter and about 4.5 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of whole milk or cream. Blend it in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer until it’s completely mixed.
Frosting crumb coat
Trim the tops of your cakes to make them as flat as possible; this will help a lot when you start frosting your cake because your surfaces will be more even. You may also need to trim the sides of your cakes to make them as similar in size/shape as possible.
Put your first cake down on a cake board, then add a layer of frosting to the top of this first cake. Set the second cake on top and now you can add your first layer of frosting over your entire cake. This is called a crumb coat because it catches all the little bits and pieces (crumbs) that might stick into your frosting and make it look less smooth.
If you don’t want to cover your entire cake with fondant, you can add a second layer of light yellow icing once you have your crumb coat finished. Then you’ll just be making a few fondant decorations and sticking them to your buttercream cake.
Sheet of fondant on top
Take about 400 grams or 14 oz of fondant to cover the top of your cake. Satin Ice brand fondant is some of the best tasting and easiest to work with. You can buy white colored fondant and color it yourself, or you can purchase yellow fondant for this part. If you are buying colored fondant instead of coloring it yourself, you may want to use white fondant to cover your cake with, then save your yellow precolored fondant for the decorations, so they have contrast against the white.
Work it over really well with your hands on a silicone baking mat or silicone fondant mat. Then roll it out to about 12 inches or 30 cm round using your silicone fondant mat as a guide.
If this is your very first time using fondant, check out a video or two to watch how other bakers carefully put fondant on top of a cake. My first attempt I ended up with a crack in my fondant, but that’s fine for this style of cake because you can usually cover up your mistakes with more decorations later.
Make fondant honeycomb decorations
Once you have a sheet of fondant smoothed out on top of your cake, make a 19 inch or 48 cm rope of fondant from the same color you just used. A nice thin rope of fondant will cover any mistakes as well as the edges near the bottom of your cake.
Then use a slightly darker shade of yellow fondant to make your honeycomb decorations. Use about a golf ball size of yellow fondant for this step or one 4 oz package. You’ll need a small hexagon shaped cookie cutter or fondant cutter. You can also cut the shapes out by hand but it will take a bit longer and be more difficult to get them consistently the right size. Cut out about 20 honeycomb shapes to decorate with and then press them lightly onto the side and top of your cake.
Make fondant bees
With the scraps of yellow fondant leftover from your last step, roll them into small round ovals to form your little bee bodies.
You can either color a pinch of fondant black with food coloring, or buy the smallest package of black fondant you can find for your bee stripes. Roll out a tiny thin strip of black fondant and separate it in two to create two stripes for your fondant bee.
Press the black strips around the yellow ovals to give your bee some stripes.
Take a pinch of white fondant and press it into the shape of two tear drops. Then join the drops together in the center to make bee wings and press them gently onto the back of your bee.
The last step is to use a toothpick and black food coloring to draw on the eyes and smile for your bee.
I made three bees to go on top of this cake. You can make however many you’d like as your decorations.
Make fondant flowers
You can use a flower-shaped cookie cutter to get a nice cut-out shape to decorate the bottom of the cake with. This is an optional added touch and you can use any color of fondant you’d like.
Decorate Bee Cake
If you haven’t done so already, gently press the yellow hexagons (honeycomb decorations) onto the side of your cake in a fun pattern. To start off, find any cracks in your fondant and cover them with honeycomb shapes, then add more decorations from that starting point.
To make sure your fondant bees stick to the top of your cake, use a small amount of water to wet the bottom of the bee and press it into the cake.
You can use a toothpick and black food coloring to trace a dotted line on top of your cake to show the ‘flight’ of your bee and add to your decoration if you’d like.
Tips to make a bee cake at home
What type of fondant do I use for a bee birthday cake?
Satin ice fondant is some of the best tasting and easiest to work with. If you’re a total beginner with fondant like I am, I would not suggest trying to make your own at home.
Do I have to use fondant or can I just use buttercream?
You could skip the base layer of fondant and use more buttercream frosting for this bee-themed cake. Bake your cakes, put frosting between each layer, add a crumb coat and chill your cake. Then add a second layer of smooth buttercream frosting over the outside of your cake. You can tint this top layer of buttercream a light yellow color, just like the fondant looks in my photos.
Then add your small fondant details by pressing the little bees into the buttercream frosting of your cake.
How do I get smooth fondant to cover the cake?
Gently smooth it straight down over your cake, not at an angle. I highly suggest watching a quick video tutorial on how to cover a cake with fondant before getting started so you can see the technique they use. It will help you smooth things out instead of getting a lot of cracking.
Bee Cake Ingredients and Materials
Ingredients:
- Box cake mix
- Three eggs
- ½ cup oil
- One cup water
- Black food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
- 1 cup Butter
- 4.5 cups Icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Heavy cream or milk
- 510 grams/18 g of fondant
Materials:
- Hexagonal cookie cutter
- Small flower shaped cookie cutter (optional)
- Silicone baking mat/fondant mat
- Fondant rolling pin
- Two 6 inch round baking pans
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Large bowls
- Spoons
- Cake spatula
- Parchment paper
Final thoughts on bee cakes
This cake is the perfect addition to your dessert table for a bee themed baby’s first birthday or for a baby shower. Honey bees and beehives are cute decorations and a wonderful theme you can use to celebrate your little baby bee at a special occasion.
For another sweet recipe idea, try out this Strawberry Banana Smoothie. Cake might be a sweet way to end your party, but a smoothie is the perfect way to start your day. You can even freeze it and make smoothie popsicles for a healthy addition to your desserts! You might also love this light, summery, Lemon Jello Poke Cake recipe.
Don’t forget to save this easy bee-themed cake tutorial to your Pinterest so you can find it later! Or share it with someone who would buzz with excitement seeing this bee-utiful cake!
Easy Bee Cake
Equipment
- Hexagonal cookie cutter
- Small flower shaped cookie cutter (optional)
- Silicone baking mat/fondant mat
- Fondant rolling pin
- 2 Six inch round baking pans
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Large bowls
- spoons
- Cake spatula
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 Box cake mix
- 3 Eggs
- ½ cup Oil
- 1 cup Water
- Black food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
- 1 cup Butter
- 4.5 cups Icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Heavy cream or milk
- 18 oz Fondant
Instructions
Bake cake
- I used two 6 inch round cake pans for this recipe. You can use one box of your favorite cake mix or if you have a delicious cake recipe you like using, that’s great too.
- Make sure you put a circle of parchment paper down inside your cake pans and grease the sides so your cake will release easily from the pans after baking.
- Bake your cake, vanilla, chocolate, or any other flavor you like will be fine. The entire cake will be covered in frosting and fondant, so you won’t see what’s inside once it’s decorated.
- Let your cakes cool completely on a wire rack until they are room temperature. Then you can cool them in the fridge for 15 minutes, or even wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in your freezer before you frost them. Cold cake is easier for beginners to work with because it usually crumbles less.
Make buttercream frosting
- To make your vanilla buttercream mix 1 cup of unsalted butter and about 4.5 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of whole milk or cream. Blend it in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer until it’s completely mixed.
Frosting crumb coat
- Trim the tops of your cakes to make them as flat as possible; this will help a lot when you start frosting your cake because your surfaces will be more even. You may also need to trim the sides of your cakes to make them as similar in size/shape as possible.
- Put your first cake down on a cake board, then add a layer of frosting to the top of this first cake. Set the second cake on top and now you can add your first layer of frosting over your entire cake. This is called a crumb coat because it catches all the little bits and pieces (crumbs) that might stick into your frosting and make it look less smooth.
- If you don’t want to cover your entire cake with fondant, you can add a second layer of light yellow icing once you have your crumb coat finished. Then you’ll just be making a few fondant decorations and sticking them to your buttercream cake.
Sheet of fondant on top
- Take about 400 grams or 14 oz of fondant to cover the top of your cake. Satin Ice brand fondant is some of the best tasting and easiest to work with. You can buy white colored fondant and color it yourself, or you can purchase yellow fondant for this part. If you are buying colored fondant instead of coloring it yourself, you may want to use white fondant to cover your cake with, then save your yellow precolored fondant for the decorations, so they have contrast against the white.
- Work it over really well with your hands on a silicone baking mat or silicone fondant mat. Then roll it out to about 12 inches or 30 cm round using your silicone fondant mat as a guide.
- If this is your very first time using fondant, check out a video or two to watch how other bakers carefully put fondant on top of a cake. My first attempt I ended up with a crack in my fondant, but that’s fine for this style of cake because you can usually cover up your mistakes with more decorations later.
Make fondant honeycomb decorations
- Once you have a sheet of fondant smoothed out on top of your cake, make a 19 inch or 48 cm rope of fondant from the same color you just used. A nice thin rope of fondant will cover any mistakes as well as the edges near the bottom of your cake.
- Then use a slightly darker shade of yellow fondant to make your honeycomb decorations. Use about a golf ball size of yellow fondant for this step or one 4 oz package. You’ll need a small hexagon shaped cookie cutter or fondant cutter. You can also cut the shapes out by hand but it will take a bit longer and be more difficult to get them consistently the right size. Cut out about 20 honeycomb shapes to decorate with and then press them lightly onto the side and top of your cake.
Make fondant bees
- With the scraps of yellow fondant leftover from your last step, roll them into small round ovals to form your little bee bodies.
- You can either color a pinch of fondant black with food coloring, or buy the smallest package of black fondant you can find for your bee stripes. Roll out a tiny thin strip of black fondant and separate it in two to create two stripes for your fondant bee.
- Press the black strips around the yellow ovals to give your bee some stripes.
- Take a pinch of white fondant and press it into the shape of two tear drops. Then join the drops together in the center to make bee wings and press them gently onto the back of your bee.
- The last step is to use a toothpick and black food coloring to draw on the eyes and smile for your bee.
- I made three bees to go on top of this cake. You can make however many you’d like as your decorations.
Make fondant flowers
- You can use a flower-shaped cookie cutter to get a nice cut-out shape to decorate the bottom of the cake with. This is an optional added touch and you can use any color of fondant you’d like.
Decorate Bee Cake
- If you haven’t done so already, gently press the yellow hexagons (honeycomb decorations) onto the side of your cake in a fun pattern. To start off, find any cracks in your fondant and cover them with honeycomb shapes, then add more decorations from that starting point.
- To make sure your fondant bees stick to the top of your cake, use a small amount of water to wet the bottom of the bee and press it into the cake.
- You can use a toothpick and black food coloring to trace a dotted line on top of your cake to show the ‘flight’ of your bee and add to your decoration if you’d like.
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