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...

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
Yield: 20-24 cupcakes
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line 2 muffins pans with cupcake liners.
  2.  In a bowl mix sour cream and baking soda together; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, sift flour and cocoa powder together and set aside.
  4. In a standing bowl mixer cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and beat until combined.
  5. Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined. Add in egg yolks and vanilla and beat until combined.
  6. Turn off the mixer and use a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon and alternate adding sour cream mixture and flour mixture, beginning with the sour cream and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix just until combined.
  7. Fill each liner with a full ice cream scoop of batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Cupcakes: Baker's Royal
Vanilla Buttercream
  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • seeds scraped from one vanilla bean
  • 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract (or regular, if you don't have clear, the clear helps keep the color nice & bright)
  • 1 ½ pounds powdered sugar, sifted
  • 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
  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.
Itty Bitty Bumblebee:
  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

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11 Comments

  2. I'm going to make this for my cousins first birthday!! This might sound weird but yes, I'm 10 and baking for parties!! Well, some people think it's weird. I don't because lots of other people bake right??

    Reply

    1. Maria! Let us know how they turn out for you!!! So excited to see you have a passion for baking at so young! Keep it up! <3 Betsy

      Reply

  3. Hello 🙂 I've been looking everywhere for a simple chocolate cupcake recipe and I think I've found it. I was reading the recipe and it says 2 cups flour. What kind AP, cake??

    Reply

      1. OK thank you. Is there somewhere/address I can send you pictures of work I did with your recipes. I had so much fun and had a lot of compliments and would like to say thank you and also show you.

        Reply

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