Itty Bitty Bumblebee

I don’t mess around too much with classic Cupcake combos… like chocolate & vanilla.  I have a fav chocolate cake recipe that I love and I’ve recently become attached to the most amazing, light & fluffy vanilla buttercream but, when it comes to dressin’ them up a bit… that’s where I get to have a little bit of fun!

I like to think that less is more… so I’m not going to hate on lots of sprinkles or anything like that… but I prefer a little bit of fancy that goes a long way.  These cupcakes were for a 1st birthday party with a bumblebee theme.  I saw a bunch of tutorials online that made super cute bumblebees but I didn’t really feel like messing around with fondant and I didn’t really want them to be cartoony… so I went with a modified version of a Martha Stewart tutorial.

I don’t have pics of how I piped everything, because good grief is it hard to take pics without a timer lol, but I will tell you what I did and hopefully that helps a bit! I’m making lady bugs this weekend with the same concept, so I’ll let you know how they turn out!

Cupcake Classic-Chocolate & Vanilla

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup Dutch process  cocoa powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a standing bowl mixer with the paddle attachment on medium until light and fluffy at least 3 minutes.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
3. Add the vanilla and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and beat until on low until combined.
4. Beat the frosting on high for at least 4-5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.  If needed, add more heavy cream to reach your desired consistency.

Source: My Baking Addiction

Itty Bitty Bumblebee:

• Vanilla buttercream
• Yellow food coloring
• Almond slices(2 for each cupcake)
• Black Decorating Frosting

1. Place 1 cup of buttercream in a small bowl and mix with 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring.  You can use more as needed to achieve your desired shade of yellow.
2. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes with a large round tip.  You want them to sort of look like clouds.  I used my large round tip from Bake It Pretty.
3. Using a Wilton #12 create a small yellow bumblebee on each cupcake.  I started at the “front” of the bumblebee and then squeezed a small amount of frosting out until I had a little bit more than a circle and pulled up towards the back of the of the bumblebee to get a “stinger” of sorts.
4. Place the black decorating frosting in a piping bag with a small round tip (Wilton #4) and draw 2 small lines over each bumblebee.
5. After all of the bumblebees are completed, add 2 almonds to each bumblebee for wings.  Try to match the almond slices, you want them to be relatively the same size.

Happy cupcakin’ … ;)

x0-Jenn