One of my friends sent me a wonderful video tutorial by Mayen of Way Beyond Cakes to make adorable fondant bumble bees. This video inspired me to attempt something similar with cake pops. Cake pops weren't quite as easy to work with but in the end I was very happy with the final product.
#1) Gather all of your ingredients.
- 1 batch of basic cake balls in an oval shape
- 4" lollipop sticks
- Yellow candy melts
- 1 Styrofoam sheet
#2) Melt your candy. I fill my glass up with candy melts and microwave it at 50% power for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. I then stir the mixture thoroughly. If your candy doesn't fully melt after stirring it for about 30 seconds, return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds again at 50% power.
#3) Put a stick in it. Next I take one of the lollipop sticks and stick it into the bottom of one of the cake ovals. I then pull the stick out and dip it into the candy and reinsert it back into the hole I just made in the cake oval. I repeat this for all of the cake ovals and then put them back into the fridge.
#5) Cake pop. The next step I do in batches of about 10 cake pops, while I keep the rest in the fridge so they don't get too warm while I work. I dip each cake pop into the candy so that it is completely covered. I then gently tap the cake pop on the edge of the glass, slowly turning it, to remove any excess candy coating. Then stick your cake pop into some Styrofoam until it dries.
#6) Gather your decorating supplies.
- Black and white fondant
- Rolling pin
- Decorating brush and small dish with water
- Roller to make parallel lines or a long knife
- Icing tip 5
#7) Prep your bee parts. Roll out your black fondant to about 1/16"-1/8" thickness. Using the smaller hole of your icing tip, punch out two small circles for each cake pop you prepared. You may need to use a toothpick to pop the circles out from the icing tip if they get stuck. Next cut the remainder of the fondant into strips about 4" long (or whatever length will wrap around the cake pop that you created). Again you will need two strips for each cake pop. You might want to do this step in batches as well since your fondant will start to dry out and get brittle if it sits out for too long.
#8) Stripes and eyes. Next, dip your decorating brush in your water and brush one side of a stripe.
Then pick up the fondant strip and place it around the cake pop, removing any excess length. Repeat this step to adhere the small circles in the place of the eyes as well.
#9) Wings. Next roll out the white fondant to about 1/8" thickness. Using the larger opening of the icing tip, punch circles out of the white fondant (two per cake pop). You can then use a fondant shaper or your finger to make a small indent in the center of the circle. Squeeze each circle slightly on one end so that it has a slight point on one side. Brush the bottom side (side without the indent) of two of the white circles with water and place them side by side on top of the cake pop in the wing position. This completes your bee pop!
Finally here is the original video tutorial by Mayen. She does an amazing job showing you how to execute all the steps.
I actually used some fondant bees on wires (created by Fenella Higgins) to decorate my topiaries!
As an alternative to fondant, you could also pipe on the stripes,eyes and even a cute little smiley face using royal icing.
