N. M. Cedeño lives near Austin, Texas, where she writes mystery short stories and novels, including the paranormal mystery series Bad Vibes Removal Services. Learn more about her and her books at her website.
Halloween Spider Cake
Do you need a quick, inexpensive Halloween cake for an office party or kids’ party? This spider cake is simple to throw together and makes an eye-catching contribution to any party.
What you Need to Make the Cake:
To make the cake, you will need your favorite cake recipe divided into a Bundt pan and a four-inch dome pan or bowl. I used a dark chocolate pound cake recipe, but any kind of cake will work. A single recipe for a 12-cup Bundt cake is enough to make both cakes. Fill the dome pan first with about 1/2 cup batter and put the rest of the batter in the Bundt pan. If you don’t have a 4-inch dome pan handy, a small, oven-safe mixing bowl works perfectly as a pan.
To frost the cakes, you will need 3 to 4 cups of buttercream frosting. I used a basic chocolate buttercream, but you could use a ganache frosting if you prefer. Brown or black frostings are best for spider coloring, which is why I recommend chocolate.
The decorating is very quick and allows room for variations, so you can use what you have on hand. I used eight full-size Twix bars to make the spider legs, eight red M&M’s for eyes, and a small tube of orange decorating gel icing for the final touches. As an alternative, you can use eight black licorice twists or eight chocolate dipped pretzel rods for the legs. Any small round candy will work for eyes. I recommend red, orange, or black gel icings for the details, but playing with the colors is allowed.
Put it Together:
To assemble your spider, first bake the Bundt and dome cakes. Allow them to cool completely and place them side by side, touching each other, on a cake board, serving tray, or platter. The Bundt cake is the spider’s body. The dome cake is the head. Frost both cakes with chocolate frosting.
Place the eight Twix bars, pretzel rods, or licorice symmetrically around the Bundt cake to create the spider’s legs. Set the eight M&M’s, skittles, or other round candies on one side of the dome cake as eyes. Using the gel icing, draw pincers or fangs at the base of dome cake beneath the eyes to create the spider’s mouth. Add a single dot of gel icing to each candy eye to make reflective eyespots.
For parties, the hole in the Bundt cake can be filled with candy. For example, if you place a red plastic cup in the hole and fill it with red M&M’s, red Skittles, or red-hots, you can call it a “Black Widow Spider Cake.” Individually wrapped candies or strawberries are also a great touch. With a minimum of effort you can create an amusing party centerpiece!
The Walls Can Talk
The Hanovers inherited an ancient Irish castle . . . that’s been moved to central Texas. When things are moved in the night, is the explanation treasure hunting teenagers or something more malicious? With a terrifying ghostly presence haunting their days and break-ins threatening their nights, the Hanovers reach out to a private detective, Montgomery of Montgomery Investigations and his employees at Bad Vibes Removal Service for help.
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And this cake tastes great, too!
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