Cake of the Day: Beehive Cake
Queen bee of baking, Zoë François, bakes a banana cake frosted in a honey walnut buttercream. (Photo: Zoë François)
Today’s cake is the bee’s knees — literally! Layers of brown-butter banana cake in the shape of a beehive are frosted in a walnut-honey buttercream with buzzing marzipan bees. Author and baker Zoë François’ made this buzzy creation (she also brought us this chocolate marble cake earlier in our series.) Having been raised by her beekeeper father, she always had a fondness for bees and their sweet nectar.
“Growing up we ate the precious honey he collected on everything from homemade granola to freshly baked bread,” she writes. “This cake is a tribute to both the elegance and ingenuity of honeybees, which are in terrifying danger of disappearing.“
For a nutty flavor she browns butter in small saucepan and adds it to the batter along with banana puree and the star ingredient — honey! François’ inspiration for the shape comes from how beehives were made centuries ago; the coiled baskets are called a skep. To get the dome-shape of the cake, she literally bakes the batter in a mixing bowl, in addition to a traditional 8-inch cake pan. She then slices and fills each layer with a yellow walnut buttercream and applies a crumb coat on the outside. Taking a spatula and a rotating cake stand she slowly spirals down the cake to create the hive’s rings. For the bees hovering on top she paints black stripes on marzipan and attaches sliced almonds for wings. Find out what the buzz is all about and head to Zoë Bakes for the recipe.
Get the step-by-step tutorial: Beehive Cake
Marzipan bees with almond wings buzz around the top of the hive. (Photo: Zoë François)
More cakes that are the bee’s knees:
Blackberry Jam Cake from ‘At Home with Magnolia’
