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1
For the almond bees: Fill a piping bag with a very small round tip with the chocolate.
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2
Pipe 2 eyes side by side on the rounder end of each almond, followed by 3 crosswise stripes starting in the middle of the almond down to the narrower end.
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3
Attach 2 sliced almonds (like wings) to the top chocolate stripe (the one closest to the eyes).
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4
Repeat to make 18 almond bees total.
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5
Allow to dry.
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6
For the sugar cookies: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
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7
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
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8
Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with a handheld electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.
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9
Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated.
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10
Slowly add the flour mixture and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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11
Divide the dough in half, pat into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
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12
Generously flour a clean work surface.
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13
Gently roll out the chilled dough to about 3/8-inch thick.
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14
Cut 24 cookies using a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cookie cutter, working quickly so that the dough stays chilled.
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15
(If the dough has become too soft, transfer to the refrigerator on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill again for 30 minutes.)
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16
Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
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17
Lightly dust off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
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18
Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes.
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19
(Excess dough can be gathered together, pressed into a disc, chilled and rerolled.)
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20
Bake the cookies until the bottoms are golden, about 10 minutes.
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21
Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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22
If not using right away, cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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23
For the decorative cookie border: To create the honeycomb shapes on your sugar cookies, roll the yellow fondant out and cut out 24 hexagon shapes with a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cutter.
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24
Place a 1 1/4-inch hexagon cutter in the center of your existing fondant hexagon shape and press.
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25
Remove the center piece.
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26
Thinly frost the cookies with some buttercream.
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27
Place a cut-out hexagon fondant border on each cookie.
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28
Mix the clear and yellow sanding sugars together, and then fill the inner space of the cookies with the mixed sugar.
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29
Flip the cookies over to shake out any excess sanding sugar.
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30
Reserve the remaining sugar mixture for the cupcakes.
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31
To assemble the cupcakes: Frost the vanilla mini cupcakes with some buttercream using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
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32
Sprinkle with some of the sanding sugar mixture.
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33
Garnish 12 of the mini cupcakes with 1 almond bee.
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34
Reserve the additional 6 bees to garnish the honeycomb cookie cupcakes.
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35
Frost the standard-size frangipane cupcakes with some buttercream using a mini offset spatula.
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36
Dip the outside edges of the frosted cupcakes into the mixed sanding sugar and place the hexagon sugar cookies on top.
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37
To build the honeycomb structure: Place 14 of the standard-size cupcakes in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern.
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38
Stack 7 more cupcakes, making a second tier in the honeycomb pattern, saving 3 cupcakes to put on the top tier.
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39
Scatter 20 mini cupcakes (including 8 with the almond bees) around the base of the honeycomb structure.
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40
Garnish the structure with the remaining 4 mini cupcakes with almond bees.
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41
Then arrange the remaining 6 bees on the tops of the hexagon cookies.
