Our New Home!

The Honeybee Bakeshop Blog has moved!!!

Please visit our new website:

www.honeybeebakeshop.net

or go directly to the new blog here.

(This location will no longer be updated.)

Best Twilight Cake Ever

Best Twilight Cake Ever

July 2009

This is for all of you Twilight fans out there. Perhaps this is what makes Edward seem so yummy...

Note: I did not make this cake and I have no idea who did! If you have the source, please post it and I will happily credit them.

Tulip Cupcake Tower

Tulip Cupcake Tower
June 2009

Congratulations Danny and Elissa! This lovely couple enjoyed their wedding and reception so much that they decided to do it again so that their friends in the DC area could join in the celebration.

During this delicious dessert reception guests enjoyed chocolate fountains, cream filled strawberries, champagne and cupcakes! This cupcake tower is designed around the wedding colors of teal and hot pink with lovely summer tulips.

Each cupcake is topped with vanilla butter cream, chocolate curls and fondant flowers. The chocolate cupcakes are paired with pink ribbon tulips while the vanilla bean treats are topped with aqua forget-me-nots.



The plan was to place this top tier of cake at the crown of tower, but the stand was a little more wobbly than we wanted, so the tulip-topped cake added to the tablescape instead.

The cake is alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla cake with strawberry filling and iced in vanilla buttercream. A thin layer of white fondant on the top protects the gumpaste tulips painted hot pink.

Cake Details
Cake: Half chocolate, half vanilla bean
Icing: Vanilla buttercream
Decoration: Tinted chocolate curls, fondant ribbon flowers, handmade gumpaste tulips

BT Cupcakes

The Sweet Sound of... Cupcakes

June 2009

Three years have passed since BT released This Binary Universe and I have been anxiously awaiting his new tunes. I just had to do something to celebrate The Rose of Jericho being released as two sets of remixes on Beatport, and for the strong individual beats just screamed cupcakes. I am especially loving the Adam K & Soha remix from Part 2 and it is in heavy rotation on the kitchen playlist.

Cake Details:

Cake: Vanilla bean cupcakes
Icing: Rolled marshmallow fondant

Dad's Birthday

Dad's Birthday
June 2009

Our family and friends descended on Washington, DC to celebrate my Dad's birthday in June. After a day sailing the Chesapeake Bay on the Schooner Woodwind (a must do if you visit Annapolis) we gathered together to watch a photo show celebrating his life.

My sister Karen discovered a new trick from M&Ms. You can order personalized chocolates with words AND photos. Crazy fun! Our colors were green and yellow, a nod to my father's distinguished career designing tennis facilities, along with blue for the ocean and platinum to honor to occasion. The first photo is from his actual childhood album, and the second was taken last month in Disney and shows that he is still a kid at heart!

Boxed M&M Party Favors

Close-up of the M&M Photos

To continue the dot theme I surrounded the cake with green and blue chocolate wafers tinted to match the candies. The cake was a light vanilla with lemon curd filling.

Happy Birthday Dad!


The Cake

---------------------------------------------------

PARTY: PART TWO

To ensure that everyone coould party, there was a separate gathering in Florida. Since it had a beachy-Floridian theme I sent down cookies packaged as party favors for the guests. Lesson of the day-- just because the USPS marks it fragile, does not mean that they will stop the herd of elephants from trampling it during the overnight mailing process. Apparently no amount of foam or bubble wrap could protect them from whatever crushed the box. Oh well!

Before

After

Oh nuts, it's birthday time!

Oh Nuts, it's my Birthday!
June 2009

I've always loved cupcakes and there is photographic evidence to prove it.


However, if I had to limit myself to one dessert for the rest of my life, it would definitely be the pignoli cookie. So before heading to the beach for a little birthday break I whipped up a batch for my friends.


I used this recipe from AllRecipes for the cookies. I didn't even change much, though I have a few notes since several folks asked for the recipe.

#1- Watch your almond paste! This is the main ingredient in the cookie so shop with care. My preference if for the Solo Almond Paste in the can. Note that this is NOT the same as the almond pie filling and that you should not substitute marzipan. The recipe calls for 12 oz of almond paste, which is a can and a half.

#2- Don't make the cookie too big. These are going to spread out quite a bit, so don't get too excited.

#3- Toast the nuts. When the cookies are done make sure the nuts are brown on top. Otherwise move the oven rack up a notch 2/3 through the cooking time.

Enjoy!

----------------------

I'd also like to give a shout out to my friends who whipped up a WONDERFUL strawberry shortcake with sweet biscuits and berries from the local farmers market. This is what summer tastes like. Yum!

Red Martini Cake

Red Martini Cake

June 2009

This cake was for a happy hour party, so it needed to be hip enough to stand on its own in a swanky bar AND be worthy of the chic birthday girl.

The triple layer chocolate cake is filled with red raspberry filling and covered in vanilla buttercream with a touch of lime. On top of the buttercream is a crazy drizzle of red chocolate. Not only does the chocolate create a great design, but when it hardens it actually creates a "chocolate cage" to support the weight of the real martini glass.


To give the cake a sophisticated feminine touch I added red flowers cut from red modelling chocolate. The same flowers were applied to the inner rim of the glass so that you would get the chocolate when you drink rolls over it. Yumm.



Two contrasting birthday candles on each side of the glass and the party was ready to roll.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate birthday cake

Filling: Red raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream

Icing: Vanilla buttercream with a touch of lime

Decoration: Melted chocolate "cage" and flowers made from modelling chocolate

Coffee Bean Wedding Cake

Coffee Bean Wedding Cake
May 2009


Ebenezer's Coffeehouse is one of my favorite places to hang out in DC, so I always jump at the chance to do wedding confections there. This cake was especially fun because the reception carried the coffee theme through to the cake. Lindsey and Michael know how to party!

The top two layers feature a coffee-cream cheese custard surrounded by Scharffen Berger chocolate cake. The largest layer is vanilla bean wedding cake with coffee-spiked chocolate ganache (think mocha latte). The outside is entirely buttercream, with double rows of dark roast coffee beans.

Here is a detail of the top layer and the gorgeous hydrangea.

Cake Details:

Cake: Scharffen Berger Chocolate Cake
Filling: Coffee-Cream Cheese Custard
Icing: Vanilla Buttercream
Decorations: Dark roast coffee beans and a large hydrangea blossom

* Special thanks to Deb, my flower consultant for tips on caring for a hydrangea stem.

-------------

UPDATE:

The wedding photographer, Stephen Elliott from Mud Productions sent me some fabulous pics of the cake cutting.

Stephen has amazing energy and all of that fun and creativity shows in his photography. Check out more of his great photography at his website.

9:30 Club Cupcakes

9:30 Club Cupcakes
May 2008

Posted today by Metrocurean , great cupcake news.

In a perfect world I could watch amazing live music in a crowded club with a fresh yummy cupcake. And now friends, that dream is a reality! Click here to read the story and see the new cupcake.

Buzz + 9:30 = Perfection

Flower and Butterfly Chocolate Lollipop Tree

Flower and Butterfly Chocolate Lollipop Tree

May 2009

Don't you just LOVE this picture-perfect display of chocolate lollipop flowers?! I made a bushel of in pink and white, with celedon green painted accents. This fabulous hostess used a craft cone and satin ribbon to build a lovely table display for her guests to enjoy. Genius!

Mini Cupcakes

Mini Cupcakes

May 2009

What is better than a tray of pink cupcakes? Three trays of pink cupcakes! When we first spoke about an afternoon bridal tea, we considered petit fours,traditional cupcakes, and sliced party cake. But minis seemed like the perfect way to play with the green and pink floral theme and give everyone the right amount of sweet.



With a small bite of cake it has to pack a punch. The batter is a rich egg and butter cake with a nice vanilla kick. Then they are topped with fluffy vanilla buttercream and flowers made from marshmallow fondant and candy-coated sunflower seeds. The flowers nestle into pillows of buttercream and are complimented by the really fun leaf-shaped paper liners that I found last month at Fran's Cake and Candy supply shop. I have been saving them for the perfect occasion and this turned out beautifully.



Cake Details:
Cake: Vanilla Party Cake
Icing: Vanilla Buttercream
Decorations: Punched flowers from tinted marshmallow fondant. The centers are candy coated sunflower seeds (this color scheme is from Trader Joes). Cupcake liners are green leaf shapes, but I don't know the manufacturer. I picked these up at Fran's Cake and Candy in Fairfax,VA.

Just for Fun - Pink Cake

Just for Fun - Pink Cake

May 2009

This cake was inspired by a tattoo I recently saw on someone's arm. So when I had a "for fun" cake, I wanted to give it a try. Tattoo guy would probably not be thrilled that I reinterpreted it in pink. But luckily he didn't stop by for dinner, or dessert.

This cake almost didn't get baked because the batter was just too yummy. Wanna see?

Cake Details:

Cake: (My favorite!) Vanilla bean party cake with Vietnamese cinnamon

Filling: Chocolate ganache

Icing: Buttercream

Decoration: Piped melted chocolate

Pink Chocolate Flowers

Pink Chocolate Flowers Lollipops

May 2009

One of my favorite new acquisitions is a mold to make flower and butterfly lollipops. A little hand painted (chocolate) detail and some luster dust (think glitter) and these are ready for spring.

Cake Pops

Cake Pops

May 2009

One of my favorite baking blogs is Bakerella. I love the creativity and that so many of the ideas are outside-the-box. One of her creations is the cake pop. The what? The cake pop. We are talking cake and frosting, smooshed together and covered in chocolate. Yes, chocolate!!!Basic instructions are here.

I had some cake and frosting around (shocking, huh?) so I decided to try my hand. I wasn't quite patient enough with the chocolate to get a thin smooth coat or decorate it like a bunny. But they were really yummy anyway.

Here are the ingredients:

• cake+frosting frozen into a ball
• lollipop stick
• melting chocolate
• sprinkles

When you put it all together you get yumminess.

I am looking forward to upping the fun factor, but enjoying the end product for sure!

Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate Birthday Cake mushed with vanilla-lime buttercream

Icing: Enrobed in red melting chocolate

Decoration: Rainbow sprinkles

Disney Pretzel Pops

Pretzel Pops

April 2009

We love Disney! This year we descended on the Orlando area for school vacation week. We had a great time exploring the parks, flying with Dumbo and swashbuckling with the pirates. All that activity requires serious snacking.

These pretzel pops were going to be an activity for the kids, but when three women are up late in the kitchen with a pound bag of chocolate, well... chocolate for everyone! I also learned that this is a goodie you can make using only a mixing cup and a butter knife. You have to use what you've got-- and our condo kitchenette was not set up for culinary adventures.

Aren't those sprinkles adorable? I am convinced that googleing any set of three random words will generate a product you can buy from a website somewhere. These were a product of "disney sprinkes purple." Sugar and pixie dust all wrapped up!

The craft store actually sells pretzel bags sized for the rods which made them easy to throw into a backpack for the days outing. Mmmmmm.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

April 2009

I love spiced linzer cookies. These were yummy filled with raspberry, apricot, and nutella. Yumm! The perfect ending to a fantastic meal with "the family". :-)

Linzers are really fun to put together. It took a while to get the powdered sugar to coat the spice cookies just right, but once you pop 'em together they are delicious.

Details:

Cookie: I pulled the recipe for spiced linzer cookies off of a website, but now I can't find the exact one! There are lots of good ones out there though.

Filling: Raspberry jam, apricot preserves, nutella

National Capital Area Cakeshow is HERE!

National Capital Area Cakeshow is HERE!

March 2009

I am very excited to kick off cake show today. A whole weekend of cake challenges, cupcake making, classes, and fun. Whoo hoo. The committee has put in countless hours making this a first rate show so I am really looking forward to experiencing all of the things that have been discussed and planned over the last year. And I cannot wait to see all of YOU there! There is a great information on the website for the directions, schedule of free demos, classes, etc. But here are some of the highlights.

(Assuming I get off the internets and finish my cake before registration tonight, I will post photos soon. )

The National Capital Area Cake Show

The National Capital Area Cake Show will be held on March 21 & 22nd at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, VA.

$10 Admission from 10am-5pm. Discounts for 2-day passes, children, students and seniors. A portion of the proceeds benefit our chosen charities: Shelter House, Inc. and Kristi's Christmas.

Visit us at www.cakeshow.org

~ Cake Decorating ~ Contests ~ Bake Sale ~ Youth Activities ~ Youth Classes ~ Vendors ~

* LIVE Cake Challenge on Saturday (Food Network style) with nationally recognized artists. DC favorites Warren Brown (CakeLove) and Norm Davis (The Sweet Life) will be emceeing the event. (Separate $25 ticket)

* Sugar art and cake displays- categories for competition include Wedding, Divisional (e.g., Special Occasion, Novelty, Spring Themed, Sculpted), Chocolate, Sugar Showpieces, Tasting, Gingerbread, Cheesecake and Decorated Cookies

* Trophies, prizes and cash valued at over $5,000

* Hands-on classes and demos, from beginner to master level

* Free youth classes and activities

* Gourmet bake sale goodies

Sponsored by the Virginia Chapter of the International Cake Exploration Society

Ramblings about Excel Spreadsheets and Cake

Ramblings about Excel Spreadsheets and Cake

March 2009

I've been slacking on my web posts again because my "real" job is getting underfoot this month. Perhaps I will achieve life integration by making cakes about spreadsheets... except that I have been told that "normal" people do not have the love for Excel and data tables that I do. I know my cakes for NCACS were taking on some spreadsheet-based planning before I ran out of time and ditched "planning". This series of events actually explains a lot about my life. Ha!

Cakewrecks posted a guy who submitted his letter of resignation on a sheet cake. Weird and extreme. Plus I have no plans to resign. But I think my coworkers might enjoy a weekly report or PowerPoint presentation on a cookie though. (Somewhere in my office Sharon is reading this and laughing.)

OK, back to cake.

I need to get in gear for cake show, but I will post more cakes soon.

Seaside Beach Cake

Seaside Beach Cake

March 2009

The sound of the waves crashing, the feel of sand between your toes, and the smell of salt in the air... what's better than a day at the beach? This cake celebrates the crashing of the waves and the search for the perfect seashell.



Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate
Filling: Chocolate ganache
Icing: Vanilla buttercream
Decorations: Molded marshmallow fondant shells painted with luster dusts, piped buttercream and fondant pearls

Engagement Party Cake

Engagement Party Cake

February 2008

This cake was designed for an engagement party. I love the raspberry color of the buttercream with the white decoration. I added a light raspberry essence to the buttercream which gave it a great flavor.

I'm always leery about adding fruit flavorings because I have this nightmare of serving a cake that tastes like Robitussin. No fear here because the flavor was great! I might even add it to the standard line up. One of the fun parts of having a customer-driven business is that people's request sometimes push me to try new things. Often it is a great thing that benefits other customers in the future. I love the give-and-take of the creative process.

Cake Details:
Cake: Chocolate

Filling: Chocolate ganache and pink buttercream

Icing: Vanilla buttercream with a light raspberry flavor

Decorations: Piped buttercream and fondant decorations with piped chocolate

Cupcake Art- Obama Cupcake Mosaic

Cupcake Art- Obama Cupcake Mosaic

February 2009

The post has announced that Zilly Rosen will be recreating her Obama cupcake mosaic this weekend for Family Fun Day at the Smithsonian. Read the article here if you would like to attend the Smithsonian event.

You can also watch the mosaic of 5,000 cupcakes take shape on the videocam here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/smithsonian-on-ustream.tv. It started at 2pm, but might take a while.

(Thanks to Amy for sending me this article!)

Princess Tiara Cake

Princess Tiara Cake

February 2008

I love how this cake came out. Fine, I am partial to girly cakes and princesses, what can I say?! It was for a fabulous princess-themed 1st birthday party and I was really excited that the birthday girl was already decked out in her princess dress when I arrived to set up the cake. Adorable.

I've seen a few tutorials on making a tiara/crown out of royal icing and I thought this would be an excellent chance to give it a try. It was a giant disaster. They looked lovely on the mold, but always ended up as shards of sugar during the drying process.

Royal icing tiara before it was reduced to powder. You can almost see it slipping out of my hand here.

So I tried a new tactic. I used a more simplified version of my template and rolled gumpaste into thin lines. This gave it much more structural stability and more flexibility for attaching embellishments like beads and glitter. And every princess knows it is all about the accessories.

Here are the two final gumpaste tiaras getting packed up for the car. The bottom one ultimately earned a place on top of the cake.


Cake Details:
Cake: One tier chocolate and one tier vanilla bean
Filling: Raspberry and buttercream for the chocolate cake layer, and chocolate ganache for the vanilla tier
Icing: Vanilla buttercream
Decorations: Fondant circles and beaded border and a handmade sugarpaste tiara with edible glitter (though no one actually ate the tiara I hope)

Sparkly Cupcake Cake

Sparkly Cupcake Cake

February 2008

I had a hard time titling this post because of the recent wave of "cupcake cakes" which are trays of cupcakes spackled together with icing. I am morally opposed to this plan because I appreciate both the stand alone cupcake and the traditional birthday cake model. I have never found cutting up the cake to be THAT difficult, and I think most people can handle the anticipation for the full 90 seconds it takes to circulate plates and forks. Don't worry, I just stumbled off that soapbox and will now continue with today's cake.

So, back to our story. This cake has a picture of a cupcake on it (which is very sparkly) and was served with a tray of cupcakes that had coordinated frosting. This way people choose between vanilla bean cake and chocolate cupcakes. A little something for everyone! I like this plan because I really like birthday candles to be in a real cake, but I would never deny anyone the fun of a cupcake. Especially not on their birthday.

Cake Details:
Cake: Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake

Filling: Chocolate ganache and mini chocolate chips

Icing: Vanilla buttercream

Decorations: Piped buttercream and fondant decorations with edible glitter

* not appearing: Chocolate cake and buttercream cupcakes in yellow and pink with rainbow sprinkles.

Country's Best Cupcakes from MSN Cityguide

The Country's Best Cupcakes from MSN Cityguide

MSN published thier list of the top 11 cupcakes in the US. Eleven is a round number for a list, don't you think? But I guess you can't ever have too many cupcakes.

Here is a link to the full article, and a short list of thier picks.

1* Saint Cupcake - Portland, Oregon
(The Fat Elvis) Sweet banana and chocolate chip cake, smeared with peanut butter fudge frosting and topped with a fried banana chip

2* Baked - Brooklyn, New York
(Sweet and Salty) Dark chocolate cake infused with salty caramel, topped with caramel chocolate ganache and fleur de sel

3* Main Street Cupcakes - Hudson, Ohio
(Half-Baked) Dark chocolate cake stuffed with chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookie dough, then finished with chocolate buttercream

4* Cupcakes - Chicago, Illinois (Peanut Butter & Jelly)
5* Cupcake Royale - Seattle, Washington (Lavender)
6* Dozen Cupcakes - Pittsburgh (East End Chocolate Stout)
7* Love at First Bite - Berkeley, California (Ginger Babycake)
8* Sugar Sweet Sunshine - New York, New York (Pistachio Cupcake) -- one of my personal favorites!!!
9* Cake Fetish - Albuquerque, New Mexico (Fluffer Nutter)
10* Lilly Jane's Cupcakes - Eagle, Idaho (Orange Ginger)
11* Back in the Day Bakery - Savannah, GA (Lemon Coconut)

It's a solid list, though the DC area is noticeably absent! I'd have to add the following three to make it complete. :)

* Honeybee Bakeshop - Arlington, Virginia (Wine & Cheese)
* Hello Cupcake - Seattle, Washington (Chocolate Mocha)
* Lavender Moon - Alexandria, VA (Smores)

National Capital Area Cake Show- Class Schedule

National Capital Area Cake Show- Class Schedule on line now!
January 2009

Now that it is officially 2009, let’s talk about how excited I am about the National Capital Area Cake Show (http://www.cakeshow.org/) which is coming up in March. Cake displays and demonstrations, a food network style challenge between decorating all-stars and lots of cake related mayhem. Really there is something for everyone who likes to look at, decorate, or eat cake! Plus all the profits are donated to local charities.

If you are interested in taking a class, I’d recommend signing up soon to ensure your place. There are lots of great teachers and topic available!

Here is the OFFICIAL announcement:

Hey All!
I wanted you to be the first to hear that class registration for the National Capital Area Cake Show, March 21 & 22, 2009 is NOW OPEN ONLINE!

Just go to www.cakeshow.org, under upcoming shows, and then under classes and demos, you will see the list of classes and most have a picture of the project. The classrooms this year are actually classrooms, some that require it are fully equipped kitchen classrooms. All will have audio visual support that will ensure that everyone can hear, see and learn! Its going to be great fun!

There are some really fabulous teachers this year so don't miss out - look today and register!

Also just to clarify, your tickets to the Main Live Challenge on Sat. ($25) are come and go tickets! So yes, you can register for a class, leave the challenge for it and then come back and see the finale! no problem.

And I know you cake people know lots of people! So please help us spread the word about the show and the classes! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Thanks so much for all of your support!
Amie W.
National Capital Area Cake Show - Publicity
www.cakeshow.org