Easy Honey Bee Mine Cake Tutorial That’s Super Impressive

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Looking for a unique Valentine’s Day cake that looks almost too pretty to eat?! This Bee Mine Cake is super creative and perfect for your Valentine! 

This Bee Mine cake is made with honey lemon cake layers filled with creamy honey lemon buttercream. The cake is wrapped in white chocolate that looks just like a honeycomb, and then it’s completed with a fondant red heart and honey bees! 

I promise this cake is beautiful to look at, but it’s also freaking delicious, which starts with a light and fluffy honey lemon cake. It’s sweet and zesty lemon, which cuts through the sweetness of the earthy honey. The cake layers bake golden brown and delicious! 

Next, the cake is filled and frosted in a creamy honey lemon buttercream that uses fresh lemon zest and rich honey. The honey is perfectly whipped into the buttercream, which makes it easy to devour! The flavor combination is perfect for late winter early spring. If you wanted to stop there, you would have a perfect bakery-style cake, but if you’re going to take the decorating to the next level, you’ll want to see how to turn white chocolate into a cool honeycomb design! 

To make the honeycomb on the sides of the cake, believe it or not, you’ll need a large sheet of bubble wrap. By spreading the melted chocolate over unpopped bubble wrap, you’ll get the same texture as real honeycomb! How cool is that? And let me just say you’re friends and family would be so impressed! 

Then the cake is decorated with mini fondant bees! I’ll walk you through how to form each bee and make them cute too! The last detail is the red heart fondant piece that says, “Bee Mine.” Your Valentine will not be able to resist this sweet cake! 

Even though this Bee Mine cake is totally perfect for Valentine’s Day, it’s also a great cake design idea for birthdays, baby showers or any spring celebrations! 

Tips for Success: 

• Read through all the ingredients and instructions so you can get a better idea of how much time and what you need to make this cake.
• If you are in a rush for time or you would like to break up the decorating, then make the fondant decorations the day before, so the fondant has plenty of time to dry.  
• A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three, 8-inch cake layers.
• In this cake recipe, you need 1 cup buttermilk; if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily use 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to make your own. 
• Be careful not to overmix this cake batter, or else the cake will come out dense. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
• You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month. 
• You can make the buttercream a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping.
• Serve at room temperature and cut the cake with a hot knife to cut through the chocolate honeycomb quickly!

What Tools You’ll Need to Make This Cake: 

• 5-quart, Stand Mixer with mixing bowl & paddle attachment
• 3, 6-inch cake pans or 2, 8-inch cake pans
• Offset spatula 
• 8-inch or 10-inch white cake board 
• Serrated knife or cake leveler 
• Turntable 
• Cake scraper or bench scraper
• Whisk or sifter
• Rubber Spatula
• Non-Stick Cooking Spray and Parchment Paper
• Ice Cream Scooper with Trigger Release (for dividing cake batter evenly)
• Cake Stand, optional
• Small fondant rolling pin 
• Silicone fondant mat
• Small rolling pin
• Fondant (yellow, black, red and white)
• X-Acto knife
• 2, 20-gauge covered wires 
• Wire cutters
• Cornstarch and Vegetable Shortening
• Bubblewrap
• Heart cutters
• Edible black food color pens

Here’s how to make this uniquely sweet Bee Mine Cake! 

Let’s Get Baking! 

How to Make Sweet Honey Lemon Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.
5. Turn the mixer on low and add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture then add buttermilk. Add in the remaining flour mixture and until fully incorporated. 
6. Pour in the honey, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and zest. Mix on medium for another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
7. Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place into the freezer to chill for at least 30 minutes. 

How to Make Creamy Honey Lemon Buttercream 

1. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Turn the mixer to low and add the honey, salt, and vanilla. 
3. Next, gradually add powdered sugar, followed by the cream. Mix on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
4. Before using turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles or use a rubber spatula to push out the air bubbles. (You may need to repeat this step when frosting the outside of the cake). 

How to Make the Red Heart and Bee Fondant Decorations

1. To make the fondant heart, roll out a thin piece of red fondant and use a large heart cutter to cut out a heart shape. Set aside to dry. Once the heart has dried, then write “Bee Mine” with an edible black food coloring pen. Set aside until ready to use. 
2. To make the bees, you’ll start with yellow fondant and roll it into small ½ inch balls. Then form into a rounded rectangle shape with a slightly tapered bottom. Make 6-8 bee bodies. Set aside. 
3. Next, roll out some black fondant into a rectangle piece that’s something similar to 6 inches x 3 inches. Then use an x-acto knife or a bladeless molding tool to cut ⅛ inch stripes. 
4. Use a small paintbrush to attach the black pieces to the yellow body with a small amount of water. Make 2-3 horizontal lines on each yellow bee body. 
5. Then roll out a thin piece of white fondant. Use a small piping tip or circle cutter to form the wings of the bees. Form each small circle into a teardrop shape and attach two wings per bee with water. Set aside to dry for at least 2 hours. 
6. Once the bees have mostly dried and have a hard outer shell, draw two big eyes and one tiny smile on each bee with an edible black food color pen. Set aside to dry until ready to use. 

How to Put It Altogether

1. Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the dome of the cakes to make the layers flat and even. 
2. Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board. Layer one honey lemon cake, cut side up onto cake board. Add a 2/3 cup of honey lemon buttercream over the cake using an offset spatula to spread buttercream and make it even. 
3. Place another cake layer cut side down over the top. Repeat the process for another layer — Crumb coat with honey lemon buttercream and freeze for 30 minutes. 
4. Add a thicker layer of buttercream to the cold cake. Use an offset spatula and cake scraper to make the sides as smooth as possible. Then place back into the fridge to set the buttercream for 10 minutes. 
5. Take a flexible tape measure to measure the exact circumference and height of the cake. Then add 4 inches to each measurement. For example, the cake is 21 inches x 6 inches with the added inches, it’ll be 25 inches x 10 inches. Use this measurement to cut the bubble wrap to that size. You want it to cover the cake entirely, so having extra makes it easier. Set aside. 
6. In a medium microwaveable bowl, add yellow chocolate candy melts for 1-minute increments until candy melts have fully melted. 
7. Use an offset spatula to spread the melted chocolate over a long sheet of bubble wrap. Move quickly to make the chocolate layer evenly across the bubble wrap, and it should be thick covering all the bubbles. 
8. Line the bottom of the bubble wrap with the bottom of the cake and wrap bubble wrap around the cake. It’ll only take a few minutes for the chocolate to get hard, so you want the cake to be frosted and cold before starting. You need the chocolate to be playable to wrap around the cake quickly.   
9. Press the bubble wrap slightly into the cake to make sure it’ll stick to the sides of the cake. Then place the cake into the refrigerator to set the chocolate. Chill for 10 minutes. 
10. Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully remove the bubble wrap from the chocolate. It should quickly release itself. 
11. After removing the bubble wrap, take a hot knife to clean up the steam in the back of the cake. (To get a hot knife, place the chef’s knife under hot running water to heat the blade, wipe off any excess water. Use immediately before it cools.) The hot knife will cut through the chocolate smoother. The bubble wrap makes the sides of the cake look like a honeycomb. 
12. Then carefully break the top edge of the chocolate to create an organic honeycomb look. Use the remaining chocolate honeycomb to decorate the top of the cake. 
13. Next, cut the covered wires into two pieces and wrap the wires onto your finger or a handle of a wooden spoon to create a twisted wire. Then use some melted yellow chocolate to dip one end of the wire and carefully insert it into a dried fondant bee, so it looks like it’s flying. 
14. Add the bees to the cake by inserting the bees on wires into the top then use melted chocolate to attach the fondant heart and bees on the sides of the cake. 
15. Serve at room temperature and cut the cake with a hot knife to cut through the chocolate honeycomb quickly! Enjoy! 

You May Also Enjoy: 

• Raspberry Champagne Cake (recipe)
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake (recipe)
• How to Make Perfect Cake Pops (free training) 
• How to Cut & Serve Cake (free guide)
• How to Decorate Your First Cake (free course) 
• Cake Decorating Tool Kit (24-piece kit with free shipping) 

This Valentine’s Day is guaranteed to BEE the best with this sweet honey lemon cake! I genuinely believe that all bakers can make this cake even beginner bakers. If you are willing to try, you’ll succeed! 

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at xokatierosario@gmail.com, and I look forward to seeing your Valentine’s Day creations! 

Happy Decorating! 

Hey, if you liked this tutorial, you really should check out, Cake Decorating Creator Program, my online cake course. I coach you on everything I teach on these cake tutorials so that you can uplevel your baking and decorating skills. We 10x it so you get the results you want most. Like any new skill, it’s important to learn from the ground up to build a foundation, so take on any cake challenge. It is an investment your future self will thank you for. Check it out at XOKatieRosario.com/online-cake-course. I will see you there.

 

Watch The How-to Video Below: 

It’s easy to feel intimidated and less confident in the kitchen when you are just starting to bake. If you’re looking for an easy way to avoid common baking mistakes, then you should check out my FREE checklist. This checklist will give you the best start to feel more confident in the kitchen. 

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