Name: Honey & Orange Cupcakes
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 120 g Golden marzipan; 6 squares Dark chocolate; 50 g Flaked almonds; 150 g Butter or baking spread; 50 g Honey; 100 g Caster sugar; 2 Eggs (large); 1 Orange; 1 tsp Orange extract; 150 g Self raising flour; 150 g Butter or baking spread; 50 g Honey; 400 g Icing sugar; 1 tsp Orange extract

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When I attended a WI meeting we had an outing to visit some nearby bees. I had no idea that there are beehives on the roofs of many of the city's buildings. After a talk from a local beekeeper we headed up to the roof of The Printworks where they have chickens, a vegetable garden and two beehives. It was dark when we visited, but I found the below photo online which gives a much clearer view!

Image Source

The bees are looked after by someone from the Hard Rock Cafe, vegetables from the garden are used to make soup for the homeless, and the wild flower section of the garden was donated by Bez from the Happy Mondays. Who knew all this was going on right above our heads! Bees are such fascinating creatures and so essential to our environment.

How to make Honey & Orange Cupcakes...

So in honour of our bee themed meeting I decided to make some Honey & Orange Cupcakes with cute little bees on top! To make the bees I started by rolling chunks of golden marzipan to make the bees bodies. I laid them onto baking paper.

I melted a few blocks of dark chocolate in the microwave and painted the bees stripes and eyes onto the marzipan bodies using a brand new paint brush. You could probably also do this with a cocktail stick.

I pushed flaked almonds into the bees to make the wings.

Soon I had a swarm of marzipan bees! I made 30+ cupcakes for my WI meeting, but I'll give you the recipe for 12 cupcakes, then you can double and triple it as you need.

To make the cupcakes I started by creaming butter, honey and caster sugar together.

I added eggs, the zest of one orange, orange juice and orange extract.

Finally I mixed in self raising flour.

I baked the cupcakes on for 15 minutes until golden brown. I got a new oven recently and it bakes things super fast so you may need to leave them in for 20 minutes depending on your oven.

Next I made some buttercream by mixing butter, honey, icing sugar and orange extract. I piped it onto the cupcakes when they were fully cool.

Finally I added the super cute marzipan bees! I loved the final effect, the little 'bees' looked so adorable. I got some really lovely comments when I presented the Honey & Orange Cupcakes at the meeting and was pleased to see them all fly off the table!

Recommended equipment & ingredients*

Cupcake tin	Electric hand mixer	Piping bags
Orange extract	Yellow cupcake cases	Wilton 2D Piping nozzle
Zester	Wilton 1M Piping nozzle	Jem 1E Piping nozzle

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