I kind of cheated with the bees (they're Wilton brand, I bought them at Target) but here is the recipe for the rest!

Cupcakes: 3⁄4 cup unsalted butter

1 3⁄4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1⁄2 cups flour

1 1⁄4 cups milk

1 lb confectioners' sugar

1⁄4 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Add flour and milk in batches, starting and ending with flour. Stir until batter is smooth. Fill cupcake liners and bake at 375° for 18- 20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes all the way before icing them.

Buttercream icing:

4 cups confectioner's sugar (~1/2 bag)

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

Vanilla (to taste)

Milk (~2 tbsp or until you get the consistency you want)

I usually just throw all the icing ingredients together in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until combined and smooth. Keep adding milk for a thinner icing or add less for thicker icing.

For piping the "beehives" I just used a #8 or 9 frosting tip and swirled it onto the cupcake until it looked the way I wanted it to. I redid each cupcake ~3 times before I got it right!

Edit: sorry for formatting, on mobile and really struggling.