We have seen so many cuter than cute parties featuring yellow, bumble bees, honey, and bee hives that we thought we would share a few photos and a recipe for two of our favorite cupcakes.

This recipe is for a Banana Cake topped with Honey Buttercream and finished with a Hive Comb Sugar Cookie or just a simple Bumblebee.

Let me first say, this is one of our favorite recipes. Banana cake is very sweet, but not overly sweet. It is more like a muffin, only topped with frosting. I have personally consumed many of these for breakfast. The combination of banana cake with honey - cinnamon frosting is perfect.

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Honey-Cinnamon Frosting (recipe below)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Top with Honey-Cinnamon Buttercream.

Honey Cinnamon Buttercream

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.

Sugar Cookie Honey Comb Shapes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons brandy, or milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Light Corn Syrup
Yello Sanding Sugar

Directions

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Brush with a light coating of corn syrup and dust with yellow sanding sugar to complete the look.

Decorating Suggestions

Bee Hive Cupcakes: Pipe frosting using a large round tip. You can be as creative as you want here, doing just a few fat rings, or going really tall with several more.

Honey Comb Cupcakes: Ice cupcakes with a spatula, then affix your sugar cookie shape on top, filling the center with fresh honey to finish.

Bumblebees: Create edible bumblebees to add to your frosted cupcake by combining large black jelly beans, almond slices and yellow tinted icing. (You can use store bought, or leftover honey buttercream.)

Starting with your jelly beans, secure an almond slice to each side of each bean with dots of icing. You may find it helpful to let the almond slices set in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before attempting to proceed.
Then stripe your yellowicing across in a zig-zag pattern using a sandwich baggie with a very small hole snipped off the corner. Refrigerate again to harden icing.
Nestle your bees onto the frosted cupcakes.