1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2-9″ round baking pans with cooking spray and parchment round for bottom of pan.  Lightly spray the top side of parchment once in the pan.  Set aside.
2. In mixing bowl of large stand mixer fitted with paddle, add cake mix, egg whites, honey, water and vegetable oil.  Beat for 2 minutes.
3. Divide 2 cups of batter between prepared cake pans. Recipe makes 4 cups of batter.
4. Bake 18-20 minutes or until center of cake is done with toothpick test.*
5. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes in pan, then release cakes on cooling rack to finish cooling.
6. Wrap each cake with plastic wrap and foil, freeze until firm. When ready to frost, remove from freezer.  Slice each cake in half horizontally creating 4 thin slices. Return to freezer until ready to crumb coat.

Make buttercream frosting for crumb coat and bees.  Mix all frosting ingredients together in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment. Beat for 5 minutes until thick and very creamy.  Divide frosting into 3 small bowls with 1/2 cup frosting each.  Tint one yellow, one black and leave one bowl of frosting white.  Yellow for bee body, black for head and stripes, white for the wings.   Place each color in a disposable piping bag.  Start easy with one drop of color then increase for the intensity you desire. 

For Yellow- Bee body fit piping bag with tip#5 . 

For Black- Bee Stripes fit with tip #2 small round or clip end of piping bag with scissors.

For White- Bee Wings fit with tip # 104 rose tip. 

Decorate bees after frosting and chilling cake with whipped cream frosting.

Use a 8″ round cake board to stack your cakes. With left over buttercream, spread thin layer of frosting on cake board and then between 3 cake layers, stacking the cakes together.  Add top cake and remaining frosting. Spread over sides and top of cake thinly to create a crumb coat.  Chill cake to firm frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting– heavy whipping cream in large grease free mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment.  Add 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, and flavoring.  Remove from mixing bowl and place in smaller bowl to blend in cream cheese.  Without removing whisk, whip cream cheese then add to beaten whipped cream. Beat again until semi firm peaks form.  Frost sides and top of cake with whipped cream with off-set flat spatula, smoothing sides and top of cake* as possible. Chill cake before decorating.

Cake needs to be refrigerated!

Decorating the BEE cake- Pipe yellow bee body on top and sides of cake in random pattern, Pipe a tear drop with the point of the drop being the tail.  Pipe a round small head at the opposite end of tear drop.  Pipe two strips with black frosting across the back of the bee body.  Last, pipe flying wings, to do this, with rose tip wide end facing you, pipe a small horseshoe shape, the frosting will ruffle a bit but that’s ok.  Practice before adding to cake if you can. 

If you don’ t want to pipe your own bees, check out these 1″ sugar bees that you can use.  

Place your finished cake on a cake stand, decorate the rim of cake with fresh or faux forsythia blooms and leaves.