
Apple Beehive Cakes with Meringue Bees are the perfect finish to your Rosh Hashanah or Fall meal. Light, lemony sponge cakes are topped with homemade apple pie filling and meringue beehives. They’re a fabulously delicious, fun and elegant dessert that will have everyone making a beeline for seconds!
Apple Beehive Cakes
Apple Beehive Cakes are rich golden sponge cakes, topped with flavorful homemade fresh apple pie filling and blow torched meringue beehives! SO FUN! They’re the perfect Rosh Hashanah and fall dessert. Not only are they beautiful but you get to use your blow torch to brown the meringue beehives which makes these cakes completely worth the effort!!!
Making Apple Beehive Cakes
I love making desserts that look like they took hours to make but really don’t. Apple Beehive Cakes are one of those desserts.
The Apple Beehive Cakes base
The base is a light sponge cake that I made in muffin sized tins. I used silicone ones, but you could use any metalic pan. A non-stick pan that makes straight cakes (rather than slanted traditional cupcake pans) works really well.They key to making the best cake is to whip room temperature eggs until they’re super thick and pale yellow. Underwhipping the yolks will cause the cake to not bake properly.

Whipped egg yolks end up being thick and pale yellow. Beating them for less time will effect the quality of the cakes.
I also recommend using a propellant free spray for non-stick pans. Using a traditional spray will cause your pans to gunk up.
The Apple Pie Topping for Apple Beehive Cakes
There were a few tools that I used that made making the Apple Pie Topping a little easier.
Peeling and Coring the Apples
First I used my Progressive Core and Peel tool. It does a great job coring apples and there’s a peeler attached, making the apple prep fairly simple and quick.
The “Hindy Chopper”
The second tool is my “Hindy Chopper” a.k.a the Vidalia Onion Chopper. It really does make the task of evenly chopping a lot of produce speedy quick. After prepping the apples, I sliced them and then ran them through the “Hindy Chopper” to get super evenly diced apples. I recommend it any time you have a lot of dicing to do and want the cubes to be completely even.When I first started using the chopper back in 2011, it was a novel tool. Now every culinary brand has a version. My recommendation still remains the same: Don’t loose the little cleaning tool that comes with the chopper!
The HexClad Wok
I basically use my HexClad wok for just about everything. I’m so fantastically in love with it that any time I have a chance to use it I will. I find it easier to cook and clean than traditional skillets, so using it to sauté the apples for the Apple Pie Topping was just perfect.
Making the Meringue Beehives for the Apple Beehive Cakes
It works out well that four yolks are used for the sponge cakes because the Meringue Beehives use four whites.One thing I do, which is leftover from my days as a Personal Pastry Chef, is that I pasteurize my egg whites before whipping them. Here’s why:It turns out that in rare cases, uncooked eggs can contain the salmonella bacteria which can make people really sick. As a Personal Pastry Chef it was my personal goal not to kill any of my customers.
So…the while you could always purchase pasteurized eggs from the store, I make my own pasteurized egg whites by cooking the whites with some sugar over a pot of simmering water, whisking constantly, until the whites are hot and the sugar is completely melted. This ensures that all the bacteria has been destroyed.
And now the best part of the whole recipe!
USING A BLOWTORCH!

Using a kitchen blow torch is the best way to get that gorgeous lightly browned effect on the Meringue Beehives. Plus it’s totally fun for a pyromaniac like me!

Once torched, the meringues on top of the cakes look like beehives!
I even added little meringue bees – which of course I torched to brown!

Apple Beehive Cakes with Meringue Bees. The wings are sliced almonds.
Here’s the recipe for Apple Beehive Cakes with Meringue Bees
While I thought that the time it took to make the Apple Beehive Cakes was fairly reasonable, here are a few shortcuts you can take if you’re really pressed for time.
- Many local grocery stores sell ready made Dessert Shells which are indented pound cakes. While they will definitely taste more commercial than making your own, you can save the step of making the cakes by using these.
- You can use a can of ready made apple pie filling, but once again, it will definitely not be as good or as fresh tasting as making it from scratch.
- To avoid pasteurizing the egg whites, you can purchase pre-pasteurized eggs and separate them as you would traditional eggs. I would not recommend using refrigerated liquid egg whites as they don’t always whip properly. There is something called “whipping whites” that can sometimes be found in your local grocery store. Those come pre-pasteurized as well.
- Don’t want to make your own meringue bees? You can buy them ready made.

Apple Beehive Cakes
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 80 minutes
- Yield: 12 Apple Beehive Cakes 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Gluten Free
- Diet: Kosher
Description
Apple Beehive Cakes with Meringue Bees are the perfect finish to your Rosh Hashanah or Fall meal. Light, lemony sponge cakes are topped with homemade apple pie filling and meringue beehives. It’s a fabulously delicious, fun and elegant dessert that will have everyone making a beeline for seconds!
Ingredients
For the Sponge Cake Bases
- nonstick spray, propellant free
- 1 cup gluten free 1:1 flour (I use blue bag Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/3 cup water
For the Apple Pie Filling
- 3 large apples (Fuji or Gala), peeled, cored and diced (around 1.5-pounds, yield 4 cups diced)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/4 cup cold water
For the Beehive Meringues & Bees
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 24 sliced almonds
To Finish
- honey for drizzling
- mint leaves and pomegranate arils for garnish
Instructions
For the Sponge Cake Bases
- Preheat oven to 350°F or 325°F convection.
- Spray a 12-muffin straight muffin tin with non-stick (propellant free) spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer using a whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks until thick and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and beat on high speed for another 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, lemon extract and water and mix until blended.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and mix until just blended. Increase the mixer speed and mix for an additional two minutes until the batter is smooth.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are lightly browned and bounce back when touched.
- Cool completely.
For the Apple Pie Filling
- Place the apples in a large pot, skillet or wok. Cook over medium-high heat until the apples are soft and liquidy, around 7 minutes.
- In a one-cup measuring cup, whisk together the corn starch and water. Add all at once to the apple mixture, stirring constantly, until the apples thicken to a pie filling consistency.
- Cool completely.
To Assemble the Cakes and Apple Pie Filling
- Turn the cakes onto a large baking sheet, cutting board or silicone mat top side down.
- Spoon the Apple Pie Filling over the tops of the cakes. There will be extra filling. Set it aside.
For the Beehive Meringues & Bees
- To pasteurize the egg whites: Combine the sugar and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisking constantly, stir until the egg whites are hot and no longer feel gritty.
- Using high speed, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a large pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. You can also snip a hole in a gallon zipper bag.
- Pipe a beehive over the apple filling by going in concentric circles, a smaller circle each revolution.
- Using a kitchen blow torch, brown the beehive being careful not to make the beehives to dark.
- Repeat with the remaining cakes.
- To make the bees: Pipe a small strip of meringe over the top of a hive. Place a two slices of almond into the sides of the strip as wings. Use the kitchen blow torch to lightly brown the bee. Repeat with the remaining cakes.
To Finish
- Drizzle honey over a plate. Place an Apple Beehive Cake over the honey and surround the cake with additional Apple Pie Filling.
- Garnish with fresh mint leaves and pomegranate arils.
- Can be made 1 day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
Equipment

Oasis Supply Sugar Decorations, Bumble Bee, 24 Count
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Prepworks by Progressive Dice and Slice Chopper, 3 Interchangeable Blades
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CHEFMADE Straight Side Muffin Cake Pan
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Prep Solutions by Progressive Core & Peel Apple Tool
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McCormick Lemon Extract, 8 fl oz
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Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
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- Many local grocery stores sell ready made Dessert Shells which are indented pound cakes. While they will definitely taste more commercial than making your own, you can save the step of making the cakes by using these.
- You can use a can of ready made apple pie filling, but once again, it will definitely not be as good or as fresh tasting as making it from scratch.
- To avoid pasteurizing the egg whites, you can purchase pre-pasteurized eggs and separate them as you would traditional eggs. I would not recommend using refrigerated liquid egg whites as they don’t always whip properly. There is something called “whipping whites” that can sometimes be found in your local grocery store. Those come pre-pasteurized as well.
- Don’t want to make your own meringue bees? You can buy them ready made.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 31.5 g
- Sodium: 64.1 mg
- Fat: 1.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 44.4 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 62 mg

The inside of an Apple Beehive Cake
More Devastatingly Delicious Desserts for Rosh Hashanah
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