The Creative Cake Maker: How to Decorate a Bumblebee Birthday Cake

This bumblebee cake is a quick, easy cake-decorating project that doesn't take much more than a box of cake mix, some colored icing and marshmallows. If you want to add the wings, you'll need some vanilla candy wafers or some white chocolate to melt down.

Ingredients:

1 standard box of cake mix (whatever flavor you prefer), baked and cooled. You will only need one round layer for this cake so I usually make 12 cupcakes with the extra cake mix. . If you need assistance in baking and cooling your cake, please refer to these video tutorials on "How To Bake A Cake".

How To Bake A Cake (Part 1): Preparing Your Baking Pans

How To Bake A Cake (Part 2): Mixing & Baking Your Cake

How To Bake A Cake (Part 3): Testing, Removing and Cooling Your Cake

Yellow gel coloring or food coloring

1 container of chocolate icing (or black colored icing)

1 container of vanilla/white icing, colored yellow using the yellow coloring

1 large marshmallow

Vanilla flavored Candy Wafers or White Chocolate (optional if you want to add wings)

Tools:

3 sandwich sized zipper sealed bags

Spoon

Scissors

Spatula or Knife - if you want to smooth down the sides of the cake

Large plate, cake stand, or cake board for displaying your finished cake

Wax Paper - (if making wings)

Microwave-safe bowl or Double Boiler - (if making wings)

If you have not already done so, bake your round layer cake according to package directions and cool it completely. If it is not cooled, your icing will start to melt and slide off the cake.

Place your cake right side up on the plate you will display it on. If you prefer, you can place your cake on a cake board and move it to it's permanent home once it is completed. However, most of us don't have cake boards handy. The cake pictured here is resting on a large glass appetizer plate.

First, fill one sandwich bag 1/3 full with some chocolate icing. Push the icing toward one of the bottom corners of the bag. Snip a small hole in the corner of the bag with your scissors. Twist the excess bag to create a decorating "piping bag". Place the "twist" in the joint between your thumb and the rest of your hand. Close your hand over the rest of the bag (See picture #2). View a video tutorial for this step if you are unsure how it should be done. To decorate your cake, you will squeeze the bag. Try it a little on some wax paper to get used to it. For this cake, you will need the bag to make dime sized "blobs" or "dots" of icing.

Now, following the design on picture #3, "pipe" an outline for the head of the bumblebee. Leave a 2-inch space and pipe another 3 rows of chocolate icing.

Follow behind it with 3 more rows of piping. Leave a second 2-inch space and pipe the rest of the way to the edge of the cake with chocolate icing.

If you want to have the piping going down the sides of the cake, continue your rows over the edge and down the side. If you want smooth sides, use your spatula to ice the cake sides in chocolate and smooth down.

Now, fill a sandwich bag 1/3 full with yellow icing. Just as you did with the chocolate icing, push the icing toward one corner and cut a hole in the corner. Fill in all the areas of the cake between the chocolate that still have cake exposed.

For the eyes, cut the ends off a large marshmallow and press them close together at the front of the cake on the chocolate "head". Then, pipe chocolate "eyes" onto the marshmallows. You may need to put icing into a third bag for this so you'll have a smaller hole. Suddenly, with the eyes done, the cake becomes a giggle grabber.

For the wings (optional), melt down your candy wafers or your white chocolate. This can be done in a double boiler or in a microwave. Place the melted chocolate in a Ziploc bag and snip off a tiny hole in the bottom corner. Using the melted white chocolate, "draw or outline" a pair of wings (separately) on a piece of wax paper. Do not fill in the wings. Doing so will make the wings very heavy.

Allow the wings to cool and harden. Gently remove them from the wax paper and place upright in your cake.

With the wings done, your cake is finished! You can put candles in the cake and enjoy!