Cake:
2⅔ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1¼ cups sugar
⅓ cup honey
4 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour beehive pan. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and honey, scraping bowl often. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, alternating with milk, mixing just until blended. Add lemon juice, and divide batter evenly among halves of pan, spreading
batter to touch top edges of pan, so that batter is lower in center. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Invert onto cooling rack and cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting:
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
⅓ cup butter, softened
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla
In a medium bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, butter, 1 tablespoon milk and vanilla. Beat mixture until light and fluffy, adding additional milk if necessary.
Honey Icing:
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 to 3 tablespoons milk
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk confectioners’ sugar, honey, and milk together until smooth.
To assemble:
Stand half of cake upright. Using a serrated knife, level off flat side by trimming off rounded dome. Repeat with the other half of cake. Spread buttercream over cut side of cake, and gently press cake halves together to secure. Place cake on a serving plate. Spoon honey icing over cake, and decorate with Marzipan Bees.
Yield: 16 servings
MARZIPAN BEES
This recipe is from Martha Stewart and is simple.
1 ounce marzipan or almond paste, halved
Yellow and black gel-paste coloring
¼ cup blanched sliced almonds, toasted
Add yellow gel to 1 portion of marzipan and black to the other portion. Knead each to incorporate. Roll each portion into a ⅛ -inch-diameter rope. Cut each rope crosswise into ⅛-inch slices. Stack 5 slices together horizontally, alternating colors for the body. Make the heads by rolling 8 balls of yellow and adding the black marzipan for the eyes. Press a sliced almond into each side of the bee for the wings. Place bees on cake.
HONEY-LEMON MERINGUES
4 large egg whites
½ teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
¼ cup Orange Blossom Honey or regular honey
2 tablespoons sugar
8 to 10 lemon drop candies, cut into small chunks
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Whisk egg whites with lemon juice and zest in bowl of an electric mixer. When mixture becomes frothy, slowly add honey and sugar. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Pipe one (½-inch) circle and then 5 (½-inch) rounds circling around the center to form a flower. Continue piping the flowers until all of the meringue is used. Place a lemon drop candy in the center of each flower. Bake for 2 to 2½ hours or until meringues are crisp and completely dry. Let cool. Meringues can be stored in a cookie tin for 3 days.
Yield: 30-40 cookies
