These bee-utiful Snack Cake Stingers are the cutest treat you’ve ever seen! They’re simple and easy but will have anyone who sees them in tears. Be careful, they might sting!!
One of the flowering bushes that is next to our front porch has attracted large numbers of bumble bees this summer. I sat one afternoon and just watched as they worked and admired their fuzzy little features. As I studied the bumble bees, I couldn’t help but think about the first themed cuisine project I posted here…
my Bumble Bee Corn Dogs.I thought it was good to start Hungry Happenings by sharing a simple project that utilized some store bought products; something anyone could reproduce at home.
Being inspired by the bumble bees in my yard, and wanting to keep it simple this summer, I decided to try my hand at turning another store bought product into bumble bees.
Hostess Twinkies had everything I was looking for; a nice yellow color, a good oblong shape, and a kid (and adult) friendly taste. I chose to use modeling chocolate to create the eyes, wings, stripes, antennae, and stinger for each bee. The flavor of the candy clay compliments the taste of the Twinkies nicely and it is so easy to cut, bend, and twist into bee parts. Once the modeling chocolate decorations have time to dry a bit, they harden enough to hold their shape perfectly but are still soft enough to bite through.
I drew on a little smile using black food coloring.
Isn’t it cute?
I think these bees are much more adorable than the Bumble Bee Corn Dogs; don’t you?
Snack Cake Stingers
You’ll need:
Hostess Twinkies Snack Cakes
White modeling chocolate (recipe here)
black food coloring
frosting (or use Nutella, peanut butter, or corn syrup)
powdered sugar
rolling pin
pizza wheel or knife
a ruler is also helpful
small round (1/2″) and oval/egg (1″) metal cutters
#8, 9, or 10 round pastry tip
fine tip paint brush (used for food only)
clay extruder with round insert, optional, but very helpful
toothpick or skewer
Instructions:
Pinch off some white modeling chocolate, color it black using black food coloring (see instructions here.) Allow it to sit for 5 minutes, otherwise it will be too soft.
Dust work surface with powdered sugar. Roll out black and white modeling chocolate to about 1/16″ thickness. Use a knife or pastry wheel to cut 1/2″ wide by 5″-6″ long strips from the black. Use small round and oval/egg cutters to cut the eyes and wings out of the white. Curve the edges of the oval wings and allow them to dry. Pinch off small pieces of black and roll into a pointed oval for the stinger.
Use the small end of a round pastry tip to cut pupils out of the black – press the small end of the tip into the modeling chocolate, then turn it upside down and tap on counter and the circle will drop out the larger end of the tip. You can press it and cut many circles before turning the tip upside down. Then a bunch will drop out. Attach the pupil to the round white of the eye using water. If you prefer, just draw a pupil onto the white part of the eye using black food coloring.
(Bear with me this picture was from another post, so follow the directions.) Fill a clay extruder with black modeling chocolate. Attach a disk with a single round opening into the end of the extruder. Place the plunger into the tube and extrude the modeling chocolate into long pieces. Cut off about 1 1/2″ pieces and curl up one end to make antennae. If you don’t have a clay extruder, just roll the modeling chocolate into thin logs. Allow them to dry for about an hour or freeze for 10 minutes.
To decorate your bees: Brush frosting onto one side of the black modeling chocolate strips. Wrap them, frosting side down, around the snack cake, cutting off any excess. Each bee gets three black stripes set about 3/4″ apart. Use a dab of frosting to attach the wings and eyes. Use a toothpick to poke two holes in between the eyes and the first stripe. Then stick an antennae in each hole. Paint on a black food coloring smile.
Use a knife to cut a whole at the back end of each Twinkie. Add some frosting in the hole, then push in one end of a black modeling chocolate stinger.
You must store these snack cakes in an airtight container like Tupperware or Rubbermaid so that the Twinkies do not dry out. I learned this the hard way; I left them sitting out overnight and had hard cakes in the morning.
Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)
You can find McCormick’s Black food coloring at the grocery store.
Show Mother Nature how much you appreciate her by making some of these festive Earth Day Recipes.
Your site is just adorable! Thanks for sharing your awesome ideas!
Yay, Twinkies are back! And without that nasty stink of union labor in their manufacture! Thanks invisible hand of the markets.
I amd a Daisy Girl Scout Leader and they are learning all about the creatures that live in the garden. They will love this as one of their snacks. Thank you. Have you thought of doing a bee using veggies?
Hi Brackett, I had not used vegetables but did create a Bumble Bee Corn Dog (https://hungryhappenings.com/2011/01/valentines-day-bee-mine-corn-dog-bumble.html.)
You question has intrigued me, however. I think I'd use yellow pepper or a yellow tomato to make the bees body as I think most young girls would prefer that to a yellow squash. It's harder to find black vegetables, but if you can find it there are black carrots that could be peeled and cut to make the stripes and head. You could also use the skin of an eggplant. I you use a yellow tomato body, you could pipe on green pesto. I you make homemade pesto and allow it to sit at room temperature it will quickly turn black. It is still good to eat once black and it would make great stripes and taste good too. Have fun with it. I'd love to see what you come up with.
Beth! You leave me flabbergasted with your creativity! I can just imagine me serving this to my boys for a snack – they would be over the moon excited 🙂 Of course I am pinning and featuring you tonight! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
I'm so happy I flabbergast you! How fun is that? Thanks for the feature.
Love your snack cake idea – it's amazing how cute you make a simple twinkie! Can't wait to see more!
Thanks to everyone for all the sweet comments. I've got more snack cake ideas coming soon!
These are so adorable and I love the corn dogs, too, with the stick stinger. I remember when you first posted them!
I remember you where one of my first followers and you were such a help to me when I got started. Thanks so much for everything=)
Love these bees! Cute~Cute~Cute!
Too cute!! I love them! Great idea!
Too cute!!! 🙂 Great idea!
These are so adorable! You do such amazing work!
These are great! Cute, creative, clever – you get the idea. I'll never look at a Twinkie the same way again. Thanks for such an inspiring post.
These are the most lovable bees I have ever seen…
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I thought they couldn't possibly get any cuter and then I saw that little stinger tail! So cute!!
Very nice indeed!
Totally adorable!
Just pinned these- they are adorable! I wonder if a plastic syringe would work? Would love you to link this up to Gettin' Krafty With It if you'd like!
http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com/2012/07/gettin-krafty-with-it_16.html
Thanks Kathie. I never thought about using a syringe. If the hole was big enough, it just might work. If you try it let me know. Just linked up!
This is how I prefer my bees – edible! You are so creative!
These definitely the cutest I've seen in a long time
Extremely beautiful and adorable
How cute are those??? My kids will love them! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These are so cute! And the little stinger made them even cuter!
so fantastic, I'm speechless!
I found you via the Tuesday Talent Show from Chef in Training
I have linked up another attempt at meatballs. Have a good week.
this is such a cute idea. Thank you for sharing. I'm hopping over from the more the merrier. Hugs P.S. I'm following you.
Those are so adorable. I am in the midst of doing a preschool themed book club. Next month, might be bumblebee's, thanks to you!
I am your newest GFC follower from Making the World Cuter. Love for you to return the follow. Hosting Mom's Monday Mingle now. Love for you to link up 😉
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Thanks and welcome!
Hi there, I'm hosting My Sweet party and I would love you to join! Check it out at http://meandmysweets.blogspot.se/2012/07/my-sweet-party-july-my-favourite-pie.html
Cheers!
The link to modeling chocolate doesn't work. Can that be fixed? These are really cute and I'd like to try this.
Thanks so much for letting me know about the link. It is fixed!
Ha ha, SO CUTE, all the way down to his sweet little stinger! 🙂
This is so adorable 🙂
so stinkin cute!
Haha…this is so adorable.
Adorable….love them!
Adorable…love them!
These are absolutely adorable. Great work! Jodi @ http://www.menaingfulmama.com
These are just gorgeous and I love how you even remembered the sting. They are so cute. xx
Those are so darn cute! And any excuse to use a twinkie is a winner in my book!