Bee Sting Buns

Yield: 8 bee sting buns // Total Time: 3 hr. 10 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.

Light and fluffy brioche buns with a honey almond crunchy topping and a honey vanilla cream filling.

bee sting buns | honey almond brioche buns

Today I’m turning my absolute favorite recipe (my bee sting cake) into little buns. They’re so light and fluffy and are basically a more delicious version of pecan sticky buns because not only do they have a sticky crunchy nut topping, but they are also filled with the most rich, delicious honey vanilla cream! These have been in the works for a *while*, so if you’re interested, here’s what my testing looked like:

1. Test 1: I made these like regular brioche buns and dipped them into the hot honey mixture, then straight into almonds. These resulted in not as much honey almond topping getting used and a lot falling off of the buns while they baked.
2. Test 2: I made these in a cake pan, then poured the honey almond topping over them right before baking – the same method as regular bee sting cake. However, this also ended up in a lot of the topping falling off.
3. Test 3: This is where we are today. I adopted the same method that’s used with pecan sticky buns and baked the buns on top of the honey almond topping. This makes sure that alllll of the honey almond topping gets used up!

There’s a *lot* of information in this post that I hope doesn’t deter you from making them, I just wanted to be sure I give you all of the helpful hints and tips you need to successfully make brioche and these buns. Happy baking! 🙂

what are bee sting buns?

Bee sting cake (Bienenstich in German) is a German dessert that features soft and fluffy yeast bread, a crunchy honey almond topping, and a sweet vanilla bavarian cream. Now I know what you’re probably thinking – why is it called bee sting cake? The exact reasoning behind the name is unknown but the most common theory is that the baker who first made this cake was stung by a bee that was attracted to the honey topping! I wanted to turn my bee sting cake into bee sting buns, which is exactly what you’re seeing here today 🙂

expert baking tips

weigh your ingredients

Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. This one is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out!

the dough will take a while to knead

Kneading this dough will take a longer time than you are probably used to. This dough is enriched with eggs and butter which makes it take longer for the proper amount of gluten to develop. Kneading in the mixer can take me anywhere from 10-20 minutes. The dough is ready to be used when it passes the windowpane test and has pulled away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. If you are weighing your ingredients, just trust the process! If you are using cup measurements and the dough just is not coming together after 15 minutes, try adding in 1 tbsp. of flour at a time.

use room temperature ingredients

It is important for the ingredients to be at room temperature so that they properly incorporate with each other. Take out the egg and butter about an hour before starting the dough.

be careful heating the milk

Heating the milk is important for bringing the yeast to an optimal temperature for rising. The milk should be heated to ~100°F / 38°C but it does not have to be exact. As long as the milk is between 95°F – 110°F, it is good to be used. If the temperature exceeds 110°F, wait for it to cool down before using so that you do not kill the yeast!

how to tell your dough is done kneading: the windowpane test

The windowpane test is (in my opinion) the best way to tell that your dough has been properly kneaded. Once the dough starts to pull away from the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl, it is most likely ready. However, just to be sure that it’s good to go I check if it passes the windowpane test. To do that, take some of the dough in your hands and start to slowly stretch it out. If it can get thin enough to where light passes through it before tearing, then it’s good to go! If not, keep kneading until it does!

bee sting buns ingredients

For the brioche:

All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness. Please be sure that you are using a high-quality flour that has a high protein %, such as King Arthur (11.7%) so that your gluten will develop. If you’re using a low protein flour, the gluten will not develop enough and you will have to add a lot more flour to the brioche cake, which will alter the dough!

Active dry yeast: for making the dough rise. You can easily substitute in instant yeast if that is what you have on hand. You will just skip the step of combining the warm milk, sugar, and yeast!

Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the brioche. Salt also “controls” the yeast to make sure that it does not overly expand.

Granulated sugar: for sweetening the brioche and for helping the yeast with rising. We will use a little bit of sugar in the brioche as well as in the hazelnut sugar.

Eggs: for binding and adding moisture.

Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the brioche rolls and giving them a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth feel. I would not recommend substituting in salted butter since salt is important to controlling yeast growth and the amount of salt in salted butter is quite variable.

Whole milk: for tenderizing and hydrating the dough. Whole milk will provide the softest rolls because the extra fat helps tenderize the dough. You can however swap in 1%, 2% or your favorite non dairy milk alternative! Just note that the dough may be a little less soft and fluffy due to the varying fat content.

For the honey almond topping:

Honey: sweetens, gives that delicious honey flavor, and creates that solid layer of honey almonds on top of the brioche cake.

Granulated sugar: sweetens the topping.

Unsalted butter: for flavor and texture. You can use salted butter here, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the topping.

Salt: balances and brings out the sweetness and flavor of the topping.

Ground cinnamon: optional, but I like adding it in for a little extra flavor. It pairs perfectly with the almond and honey.

Sliced almonds: the star of the show!

For the cream filling:

Vanilla pudding mix: a fast an easy way to make a very fake ‘bavarian’ cream. No cooking of eggs required! I know it’s not conventional, but trust me – it’s delicious and kind of like a “secret ingredient”.

Heavy cream: thickens up the pudding so that it is a more pipeable consistency.

Whole milk: used to dissolve the pudding mix. 1% or 2% will work great here as well.

Ground cinnamon: for flavor! I highly recommend using a touch of cinnamon here but feel free to omit it if you would like.

Honey: I add a touch of honey to the filling to help bring all of the flavors together.

how to make honey almond brioche buns

Here’s just a little overview of making these buns. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post!

• Make the dough, then let it rise in a warm environment until it has doubled in size. Punch it down, then shape it into 8 equally sized balls.
• Make the honey almond topping. In a small saucepan, heat together the honey, sugar, cinnamon, butter and salt and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

• Set the almonds into an even layer in your parchment lined baking pan.
• Pour the hot honey mixture evenly over the almonds, working quickly to carefully spread the honey mixture over them.

• Place the buns on top of the honey almond mixture, let them rise in a warm environment until doubled in size, then bake.
• Make the honey cinnamon cream for the filling. Once the buns have cooled, slice, fill with the cream, and enjoy!

bee sting buns q&a

how to store bee sting buns

Is there anything better than fresh brioche? These will taste their best on the day that they are baked. Because the filling contains lots of heavy cream, it does need to be refrigerated. I highly recommend only filling the slices that you plan on eating so that you can keep the buns out at room temperature, and the filling in the fridge.

can I double this recipe?

Definitely – simply double the ingredients and bake it in two cake pans. I even more strongly recommend using a kitchen scale if you are scaling up the recipe, for the best results.

can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast?

Definitely – instead of mixing the heated milk, sugar, and yeast together, just pop all of the dough ingredients into your mixing bowl to start kneading. I do highly recommend refrigerating the dough overnight to make it easier to work with and more flavorful. However, if you are making the recipe all in one day, and using instant yeast, simply let the dough rest for just 10 minutes as the first rise (or whatever the instructions are on your packet of yeast), then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

can I make the dough ahead of time?

Yes, and I highly recommend it! Brioche dough is a very enriched dough that can be hard to work with when warm. Simply knead the dough together, cover it, and leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. When ready to make the honey almond brioche cake simply take it out of the fridge and proceed with the recipe.

my yeast mixture isn’t foaming, what should I do?

The mixture should start foaming around 5 minutes in. If it has not foamed after 10 minutes, the yeast is likely dead. You want to make sure that the milk temperature does not exceed 110°F / 43°C or it will kill the yeast. If you try it again and it still does not foam, the yeast you are using may be expired and you will want to purchase some more before proceeding.

a note on oven temperature.

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you. I use this one.

tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here