I have had the idea in my head for a few weeks to make bumble bee cake pops. Not sure where this idea came from but they look super cute in my head so I figured to give it a shot. I decided to start with a lemon cake for the center because I had a lemon mix on hand and because bees are yellow. I added the amount of oil called for on the box along with four eggs, a cup of sour cream, and a juice of a lemon mixed with enough milk to equal the amount of water called for on the box. I also zested the lemon to add some additional flavor. I couldn't wait to try it and see how my creation turned out. I had to sneak a bite when it came out of the oven and it was delish. Somehow my combination of ingredients ended up tasting like delicious lemony fruit loops.
Once the cake cools I crumble it up and add frosting. I did cheat here and used canned frosting (about half to three quarters of the container). Then I mixed it up until it forms a thick paste-like consistency. This is the fun part where you get to use your hands and play with your food like your mom always told you not to do growing up.
Once it's all mixed up I shaped it into balls and tapered one end a little bit since a bee isn't perfectly round. I put these cake balls onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet and put them in the fridge to cool down for a couple hours.
Once my little bees had a chance to cool off, I melted some yellow candy melts over low heat in the microwave and pulled a few bees out of the fridge for their candy coating bath. It's best to only pull out a few cake bites at a time so they don't get too warm. Once my candy was melted I started dipping. The first step is to dip a little of the stick in the candy and then placing the stick about halfway into the cake bite.
Then it's time to dunk the cake pop into the candy and make sure the entire thing gets a nice even coating on it.
Sometimes I have to take a spoon to get the whole thing coated if the dish isn't deep enough. Once it's covered I lightly tap it on the edge of the bowl while turning the stick to make sure the coating is even and to get rid of any bubbles or weird shapes in the candy coating. Once it's covered evenly I place the cake pops into a piece of foam so they can dry upright. While the coating is still wet (it dries pretty quickly) I added a flattened black gumdrop to the front for the bee's face.
Once all the bees are coated and dried it was time to add the black stripes. I initially thought I could just draw the stripes on with my black food coloring marker but that didn't work so well as the marker was too thin and it would have taken me days. Because my initial idea failed, I decided to melt some black candy melts and put them in a squeeze bottle so I could add stripes that way.
I have to admit that the stripes were more difficult than I thought they would be and for some reason my hand wouldn't stop shaking so the bees have pretty wavy stripes but oh well. After all the stripes were done it was time for these bees to get their wings. I melted some white candy and put that in another squeeze bottle and made some little heart shaped wings on some waxed paper.
When the wings dried I "glued them on with a little more candy melt and then added some eyes to the bees. They didn't turn out quite as perfect as I had envisioned but they are still pretty cute. At least I think so.
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