How to Make a Bumble Bee Birthday Cake

A bee cake is what started the whole thing. We were shopping at Jo-Anns when my 2 year old son saw a picture of a cake that looked like a bee up on the wall advertising their classes and said he wanted it. From there, we picked out the bee theme for his third birthday. He talked about getting a bee cake for 3 whole months before his party so I knew I had to get it right. Luckily the trickiest part was getting the right colors but once that was done, putting the cake together wasn't hard.

Check out all my Bee Party posts here.

Supplies

Baked round cake
Chocolate frosting
White frosting
Buttercup Yellow Wilton Icing Color Paste*
Black Wilton Icing Color Paste*
White candy wafers (2)
1 black "bump" chenille stem (I got mine from consumer crafts)
Frosting bag or tube
Small round frosting tip
Offset spatula

*Those avoid synthetic food dyes should avoid these ingredients and choose a natural product like India Tree Natural Decorating Colours. Please note that while I have heard good things about this product, I have not had a chance to try it myself.
Directions

Step 1: Yellow Base

Use the yellow food coloring paste to dye the white frosting your preferred shade of yellow. Be very careful and slowly add the food coloring to avoid ending up with frosting so dark yellow it is orange. (this may or may not have happened to my first batch of frosting).

Once your frosting is the right color, follow the technique from Sweet C's Designs: Easiest Way to Frost a Cake Ever where you warm up the frosting and then pour it over the cake. If the frosting isn't spreading smoothly on its own, use the offest spatula to help spread the frosting as needed.

Step 2: Black Frosting

Use the black food coloring paste to dye the chocolate frosting black.

Fit your frosting bag or gun with the small round tip and fill with a small amount of black frosting. Draw the outlines of each black area onto the cake (shown with red lines below).

Follow the same technique used for the yellow frosting to pour in the black details: Warm up the frosting and slowly pour in the black details in between the lines. Use the spatula as needed to smooth out or direct frosting into the right areas.

Step 3: Details

Use the frosting still in the frosting bag or gun to add small dots to the white candy wafers. Place them on the cake as eyes

Trim off a 2 inch section of chenille stem and insert them in the cake above the head as antenna.