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Bee-have…

By the way, if you are interested in seeing and hearing about my kitchen, then catch my tour over at Jen’s blog, Use Real Butter (it’s up now). Be sure to check out all of the kitchens she has been featuring, it’s been fun to look at all the different styles of kitchens.
So I’m weird. I think that has been established. I am needle and dentist phobic. Also, been established.
My third phobia is spiders. However, I understand that they play a valuable roll in the food chain by eating other bugs. BUT I don’t like them in my house.
So once a month I stand in what I think is the middle of my house and verbally warn any spiders in my house that they are welcome to stay but can not come and out and be seen. If seen, I will send the husband to kill you (one of my main reasons for getting married, full time bug killer 😉 ). I do this for bees as well. But I yell at them outside. They don’t listen as well as the spiders. I see them all the time. And I never kill them because I am usually running from them. Because of course, I have a bee allergy. But like spiders, bees play an important role and so I tolerate them. They do at least make honey, which is more than what I can say about the spiders.
Last week,  Jessie over at Cakespy had a post about these yummy cupcakes from one of our local shops, Cupcake Royale. They were Honey Peanut Brittle Cupcakes. I soooo wanted one. But that would be a 45 minute drive and involve me spending large amounts of money. So I figured, why not make my own.
You don’t have to use the peanut butter crunch topping. I found it at the store when looking for peanut brittle (which this time a year is hard to find and I am too busy to make my own). It’s like a Butterfinger with no chocolate, though they make a chocolate covered kind as well. I think that it adds a little depth to the cupcake.
I will say that if you are a honey lover, these are super yummy. I could not get enough of them. I ate them all day long, finally throwing out (the horror, I know) the rest to save me from going up a pant size.

Bee Hive Honey Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Frosting topped with Peanut Butter Crunch

Honey Cupcakes

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup creamed honey
¾ cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups self rising flour
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and honey. Beat for about  3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg, scrape down sides after blended. Add in vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds.
Starting with the flour first, alternate between flour and milk, ending with flour. So 1/3 of flour, ½ of milk, 1/3 of flour, ½ milk, 1/3 flour.
Blend until fully combined.
Fill cupcake pan (you can use liners, I just don’t like to) 2/3 of the way full with batter. Fill until all batter is used.
Bake for 20-22 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in pan. Then remove from pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling. Cool completely before frosting.

Honey Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey plus 2 TBSP
4-5 cups powdered sugar
milk as  needed for thinning out frosting

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the honey for 2 minutes.  Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar .
Start on low speed on the mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.
Use milk to thin out frosting to reach desired consistency.

To assemble cupcakes:

Take cooled cupcake. Place frosting in a piping bag. Starting at one end pipe in a circle, continuing around and around until you form a beehive shape.
Dip top of cupcake into crushed Peanut Butter Crunch Candy. I used Fairhaven Crumblz Original Peanut. If you can’t find it, crushed up Butterfinger or crushed up peanut brittle would work nicely as well.

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Comments

  1. I love honey. Bees are also very important to growing most fruit and tree nuts because of their pollen. We have them buzzing all over our citrus trees!

    Reply

  5. oh i like these! I’m the same way with spiders… you should have seen the big ones living in my apartment this summer… unfortunately, i dont have a husband so I would tend to paralyze with hairspray and then smash with a shoe…not exactly humane but it was scary… haha!!!

    Reply

  6. I hate bees and spiders, too! They scare me so much! Imagine if we ever ran into a spider together. What a screaming match that would be! Although these little insects scare me, I do love some honey. So, I can’t wait to make these awesome looking cupcakes. They sound delicious!! I completely understand you having to throw the rest away–a true testament to how good these must be!

    Reply

  11. I love her blog and seeing other’s kitchens, so I’ll check Jen’s site… Great!

    These cupcakes look heavenly!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply

  15. I don’t like any bugs, spiders included. My sister is very protective of spiders because they’re good for the ecosystem and she traps them under a glass and releases them outside. eek!
    Honey bees, on the other hand, are great and those cupcakes look divine.

    Reply

  17. Looks delicious! I think this would be a great entry to this contest:

    http://www.pollinator.org/recipe_contest.htm

    And I’d just like to say bees aren’t bad, you should actually thank bees (and other pollinators) for more than just honey. A lot of the food we eat, estimated at around 80% of the world’s crops, need pollinators :o)

    Reply

  19. There’s a Cupcake Royale very close by our son’s house that we go often to for coffee but so far I’ve managed to pass on all the cupcakes. I can only hope that by the next visit I will have forgotten about these Honey Peanut Brittle Cupcakes of yours. Ummm. . . . that seems very unlikely as I often dream about your bakings.
    Your kitchen interview was great fun, just like you.

    Reply

  22. Well. I knew you were going to be posting these, but even having a heads up they’re better than I could have imagined! I love the idea of the peanut butter crunchy crumble–a nice flavor AND texture addition. I think I might have to go to CR today now that I have read this–if I made yours, I would probably eat them all! 🙂

    Reply

  25. Love your kitchen! I really have been enjoying all the kitchens on use real butter. Such a great idea. Your kitchen looks so spacious. You are lucky!!!

    Reply

  26. My husband routinely goes “spider hunting” in our house (one of the reasons I love him).

    These cupcakes sound soooo good! Seriously, I really want one (and by the way I’me willing to move next door to you so you don’t have to throw any baked goods away)

    Reply

  29. i love honey too (and am terriefied of spiders and needles…but i tolerate the dentist, somnehow) i would have to throw these out to save my waist too…in fact, i just told the boyfriend to slap me in the face if i ate one more piece of pound cake (though i know he won’t do it, he’s afraid, hehe).

    i read your kitchen tour before coming over here…nice island lady! i envy your cabinet/counter space. and way to keep it real!

    Reply

  32. ıt ıs perfect like every time, l love your page so much your picture and recipes perfect, can you add my page yor link? thanks

    Reply

  33. I know what it’s like to want to throw out the rest to keep yourself from going back. That’s when I have my friends over… instant garbage disposal (except they say thank you). 🙂

    Reply

  35. Love the cupcakes, love the pictures, and I like the tour of your kitchen! I had not even come close to picturing what you looked like. 🙂

    Reply

  42. Peabody! Thanks so much for participating in the tours, especially with all that you have going on. You’re a total trooper and kickass chick. And looking at that recipe, I’m inspired to try a few things with honey. Keep bakin’ lady! xxoo

    Reply

  43. I so enjoyed touring your kitchen Peabody! Loved taking a peek into your cooking life 🙂

    Hey…we have something in common…marriage as bug-protection! Hahaha! 🙂

    Reply

  44. Pea, I checked your kitchen and I’m green of envy – so much space! 😀

    These cupcakes look so good – I’m terrified of bees. I can fight a spider, but I’ll run 10 miles from a bee!

    Reply

  46. These look AMAZING! I’m so excited to try them (and with your permission, write about them on my own blog?). I’m a huge honey fan, especially when it comes to baking. I also have to try the Cupcake Royale version!
    Thanks for posting.

    Reply

  48. Thank you so much for this post! I’m throwing a honey bee baby shower this summer and have been looking for a good honey cake and honey butter cream frosting. This will be perfect!!! Thanks so much!
    Rachel

    Reply

  49. Made the cake and buttercream for the honey bee shower referenced (see previous comment) and it was perfect! Thank you again for posting this recipe. I’ve made the cupcakes since and gotten rave reviews and multiple recipe requests. I’m passing it along, paired with your website address. Thanks again!

    Rachel

    Reply

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