How to Make a Beehive Cake - Bzzz

If you are making a full beehive cake you'll need two deep cakes - 1 large and 1 medium sized.

My large cake was 9" and I used a 6 egg sponge cake recipe. (The medium cake was 7" diameter.)

You may choose to make two thinner cakes and layer them with jelly - I'd probably do this next time.

If you are making a half beehive cake like mine, you'll just need one deep cake. Or a large and a medium thin cake each turned into a sandwich with jelly.

Cut your round cake in half and put one semi circle aside.
From the other half cake, cut a smaller circle - I cut around a pyrex bowl.
(You cake use the spare cake to make cake pops, or eat it with jam and custard as a dessert - sponge cake freezes well if you want to save it.)

I think a beehive cake looks better with the edges rounded. Take a knife a cut a small amount at an angle from the top and bottom rounded edges of the cakes. This gives a more rounded appearance to the cake.

Now for each layer roll out a large enough piece of fondant, gumpaste or marzipan to cover the cake on the top and sides and tuck it underneath. I think this is easier and more effective than covering the whole cake in one go, and it means you can easily separate the layers to serve the cake.

For the layer on the top of the cake I made a microwave cake in a small glass bowl. I used a 1 egg sponge cake. A microwaved sponge cake doesn't look particularly attractive, but it's going to be covered up anyway.

For my half beehive I just cut this small cake in half.

Now stack up the cakes to form a beehive. You can also dust the beehive with cocoa powder at this point.

Roll balls of yellow fondant and lengthen then slightly to create bee bodies.
Add small balls of white fondant for eyes and draw on pupils with a black edible ink pen.

Cut out wing shapes from white edible rice paper. I cut four layers at the same time so they would all be the same.
Cut diagonal slits in the body of the bees and stick in the wings so they point backwards.

Roll out black fondant and cut thin strips and wrap them around the bee bodies. I put one in front and one behind the wings.
Also add a smiley mouth in black edible pen.

Use wooden food picks to fix the bees in place on the cake.