Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes

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Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes are beautiful, delicious, and easy to make.  Honey flavored cake topped with a swirl of chocolate and honey frosting gets topped with a piece of homemade honeycomb.  This recipe is a unique flavor combination that you are sure to love.

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate (or other affiliate program) from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I use and trust. 

This recipe was originally published on April 9, 2020.  It was republished on July 13, 2023 with updates.

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Proud Wife Moment

I made these Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes for the first time back in March 2020. The very beginning of March 2020… They were for my husband’s promotion ceremony.  I’m always so proud of my husband, and I was thrilled to be able to bake a sweet treat for my guy.  

It’s really funny to look back on this recipe. It was the last thing I made before Covid shut everything down. We went from celebrating a milestone with our entire family to lockdown in just a few days. Weird times.

Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes

For these chocolate and honey cupcakes, we need to make three different elements. There’s the buttercream, the honeycomb, and the cupcakes. Luckily, each item is pretty easy to pull off!

Even though these cupcakes are easy to make, making your own honeycomb and piping a two tone swirl may be new to you. Watch the video tutorial to learn how to accomplish each step of this recipe.

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Hybrid Buttercream

I was super excited to make this hybrid buttercream that I’ve been dreaming up for the past few weeks. It’s basically a mix of a mock Swiss meringue buttercream and a classic American buttercream, but all made in one bowl.

It starts off like the Easy Buttercream from Sugar Geek Show, but I added more butter and finished off with some powdered sugar. The egg whites mean it won’t crust, plus it’s very creamy, but not as buttery as a normal meringue based buttercream. For me, it’s the perfect balance.

Chocolate & Honey Frosting

Once you’ve got the hybrid buttercream finished, divide it in half. One half will get a hit of honey and color, while the other half gets a hit of cocoa powder. I decided to make my honey portion a bit bigger than the chocolate. Feel free to play around with the quantities.

I also decided to add a tiny bit of Autumn Gold powdered color to the frosting. It helped create a lovely toned down yellow that looked just like honey! I did add a little bit of yellow gel to brighten it up just a bit.

Related Reading: Lemon & Lavender Cupcakes

Honey Cupcakes

For these honey cupcakes, I took inspiration from my salted caramel cake recipe. I swapped out some of the granulated sugar for honey. The honey flavor is not very bold, but it does end up being wonderfully moist!

You can check out my step by step recipe video to see how I made these chocolate and honey cupcakes. The video covers the buttercream, cupcakes, and honeycomb. 

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Top Tips for Cupcakes

• Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.  This will help everything blend nicely and give your cupcakes a nice texture.
• Scrape down your bowl often.  Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl.  Make sure everything gets blended!
• Do NOT over mix.  Once you add the wet and dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.  
• Place some dried rice (½ – 1 teaspoon) in the bottom of each cupcake cavity before adding your paper cases.
• Use a large cookie scoop to perfectly portion your cupcake batter.
• Use the Ateco 888 piping tip for the perfect swirl and frosting to cupcake ratio.

Homemade Honeycomb

Honeycomb is pretty easy to make, as long as you have a candy thermometer. It is essential that you bring your ingredients up to 290℉ – 300℉. If you don’t get that high, the candy will not set up properly. And if you go past that, your honeycomb will burn.

I highly recommend not trying to film as you make honeycomb. I ended up just about burning my candy, but it was still edible. It just had a bit of a smokey flavor. The honeycomb brings a strong honey flavor and a fun texture to these chocolate and honey cupcakes.

One note though. Honeycomb does not last long around humidity. Keep the chunks in an airtight container and only place on the cupcakes when you are ready to serve them. 

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Piping A Two Tone Swirl

I lined a piece of cling wrap with two thicc rows of my chocolate and honey buttercream. Then I rolled that up into a log, snipped the end, and loaded it into my piping bag fitted with an Ateco 888 tip. 

Another way to get that two tone swirl is to line one side of the piping bag with a thick layer of the honey frosting.  A small offset spatula really helps. Now add a thick layer of chocolate frosting to the other side of the bag. Press the two sides together (to prevent air bubbles), then push the frosting down to begin piping.

Enjoy!

You probably won’t use all of your frosting.  But don’t you dare think about tossing that glorious stuff!  Pop each frosting into its own air tight container (freezer Ziploc bags work great!) and place in the freezer.  The frosting will keep for at least 3 months. 

Rich chocolate and light honey somehow just work in these Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes.  The crushed honeycomb adds flavor and style to a simple dessert that is sure to please!  If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, you should subscribe to Bakes & Blunders. You’ll never miss a recipe and you’ll get access to my resource library.

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Chocolate and Honey Cupcakes

Chocolate and honey come together in one delicious swirl of frosting on top of a honey cupcake. Top with honeycomb for an extra burst of flavor and texture.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Birthday, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Frosting

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 16 Cupcakes

Calories 369kcal

Author Colleen

Ingredients

Honey Cupcakes

• 4 oz all purpose flour
• 1.5 oz cake flour
• 2 Tbsps dried buttermilk
• 1 ¼ tsps baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 6 oz sugar
• 3 oz unsalted butter softened
• 1 Tbsp cake enhancer optional
• 2 Tbsps honey
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 4 fl oz water
• 2 tbsps canola oil

Chocolate & Honey Hybrid Buttercream

• 3 oz pasteurized egg whites
• 16 oz powdered sugar, divided sifted
• 12 oz unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsps honey
• 1/32 tsp Autumn Gold Sugar Art Master Elite powder color
• 1/2 tsp water
• 4 drops yellow gel color
• 2 Tbsps cocoa powder sifted

Honeycomb

• 3.5 oz sugar
• 3 oz light corn syrup
• 2 Tbsps honey
• 2 Tbsps water
• 1 tsp baking soda

Instructions

Honey Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350℉. Add a pinch of dried rice to the cupcake cavities, line the pans with paper cases and set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flours, dried buttermilk, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
• Using a stand mixer, cream together the sugar, butter, and cake enhancer (if using) until light and fluffy, about 5- 8 minutes. Scrape the bowl down once or twice during this process.
• Add the honey and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix together until well combined. Scrape the bowl down. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Scrape the bowl down again.
• Combine the water and oil in a measuring glass. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and beat on low until just combined. Drizzle in half of the wet ingredients. Scrape the bowl down and repeat adding a third of the dry, then the remaining wet ingredients. Scrape the bowl down and add the last portion of dry ingredients. Mix on low until almost combined. Finish folding the batter by hand until just combined.
• Use a scoop to divide the batter among the cupcake pans. Bake for 20- 22 minutes, or until the tops spring back when poked and a skewer comes out clean.
• Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting and assembly.

Chocolate & Honey Hybrid Buttercream

• Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the pasteurized egg whites and 10 ounces of the sifted powdered sugar and whip for 4- 5 minutes. If powdered sugar gets stuck above the egg whites, scrape it back down.
• With the mixer on a medium speed, whip in the butter one tablespoon at a time. It will look a bit curdled. Once all of the butter has been combined, whip on a medium- high speed for 2- 4 minutes.
• Switch to a paddle attachment and scrape the bowl down. Beat the mixture on a medium speed for about 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl down and add half of the remaining powdered sugar. Beat on low to combine, then on a medium- low speed for 1- 2 minutes.
• Scrape the bowl down and add the remaining powdered sugar and the vanilla. Beat on low to combine, then on a medium- low speed for 1- 2 minutes. Divide the buttercream into two portions.
• Add the honey to one portion of the buttercream. Combine the Autumn Gold powder with a 1/2 tsp of water and stir until hydrated and there is no powder left. Add this a bit at a time to the honey buttercream. I used about half of the color mixture, but that's up to you. Beat until combined. Add yellow gel color a drop at a time until you have the desired color. Taste and adjust flavors as necessary.
• To the remaining portion of buttercream, add the cocoa powder and any remaining Autumn Gold color (color is optional, but waste not...). Beat until combined. Taste and adjust flavor as needed.

Honeycomb

• Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. It helps to spritz the pan with baking spray to help the paper stay put.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar, corn syrup, honey, and water on medium until it reaches 290°F- 300°F on a candy thermometer. Do NOT go past 300℉ or your honeycomb can burn.
• Immediately remove from the heat and whisk in the baking soda. It will foam up quite a bit. Quickly and carefully pour the mixture into your prepared pan.
• Set aside to firm up for about 30- 60 minutes. Break the honeycomb up into chunks and store in an air tight container.

Assembly

• Line a piece of cling wrap with two thick rows of the chocolate and honey buttercream. Roll it up into a log, snipped the end, and load it into a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 888 tip. Or you can just line a piping bag with one frosting on each side of the bag, press together and pipe.
• Pipe a swirl slowly onto the cupcake. Top with honeycomb, either crushed or in large chunks.

Notes

• The calorie count does not include the honeycomb.
• Honeycomb is very sensitive to humidity and moisture. Place on the cupcakes shortly before serving.

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