This Saturday, beekeepers and honey lovers across America will be celebrating National Honey Bee Day to bring awareness to the importance of bees and their vital role in sustainable farming.

It’s safe to say we would quickly go hungry without bees. Bees are responsible for pollinating around 30 percent of the world’s crops as well as 90 percent of all wild plants. (Learn how to plant a pollinator-friendly garden here.)

Aside from being vital to our existence and the creators of one of the world’s most delicious natural foods, honey bees are also super cute. Not only do they communicate through dancing, but they also make an adorable “boop” sound when surprised.

Plus they look great on a cake, as expert cake decorator Tracey Mann shows in her book Cake Decorating Skills.

Follow the instructions below to make the perfect cake topper for National Honey Bee Day.

Fondant Bees

What you need:
Confectioners’ sugar
Yellow and black fondants containing gum tragacanth
Sugar glue
Rice paper
Black food colouring

How to make it:

1.     Lightly dust your work surface with confectioners’ sugar and knead the yellow fondant. Put it into the palm of your hand and roll a ball approximately the size of a raspberry; use two fingers to press against each end of the ball to change its shape and make it slightly more oval.

2.     Roll out the black fondant so it is about 1/16 inch (2mm) thick. Make sure you move the fondant every time you roll it so that it does not stick to your work surface. Add some extra confectioners’ sugar to the work surface if the fondant begins to stick.

3.     Cut out thin strips of black fondant with a sharp knife or cutting wheel, carefully lift them up with your fingers and run a paintbrush dipped in sugar glue under each strip of fondant.

4.     Carefully guide the strips onto the yellow body to form horizontal stripes across it. Cut off the excess fondant with scissors, making sure the join of the black fondant is at the bottom of the bee.

5.     Use the scissors to cut out a pair of oval-shaped wings for the bee from the rice paper. Make sure your hands are dry, as rice paper will disintegrate if it comes into contact with water. Carefully push the rice paper wings into the middle of the bee, tilted at a slight angle.

6.     Push a scallop modelling tool into the bee to create a smile.

7.     Put a toothpick into the black food colouring, so it coats just the end of it. Twist the toothpick over the edge of the pot to make sure it is clean. Push the coated toothpick into the bee where you want an eye, twist and pull it out, then repeat for the other eye.

8.     If you want your bees to be suspended in the air as if in flight make a hook in a piece of wire, dip it into sugar glue, and push it into the base of the bee. Use the wire to position the model wherever you like.

 

 

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Get the book:

 Cake Decorating Skills