Last year I had a lot of fun making the creepy crawly cakes so I decided to try a few again this year. This time I pulled out my Betty Crocker mini bake and fill pans and bought a box of chocolate cake mix and some Pocky. I made whipped cream (vanilla pudding would work too) and raspberry coulis (I left the seeds in) for spider guts. I also made some cupcakes to fill, tested one using a bakery bought cupcake and did a frosting variation, the Pocky legs can take an awfully long time. Pocky leg instruction can be found mid-page here.
the dome cakes:
I found the filling stayed in fine without any icing glue, but I do think this would have looked great with a chocolate glaze poured over it.
I love love love the many sugar eyes.
the filled cupcakes:
the bakery cupcakes:
This is a Triple Chocolate from Trophy Cupcakes here in Seattle. If you don't have time to bake but think Pocky legs are doable, I think this turned out fantastic.
the non-pocky dome cake:
I used a milk chocolate fudge icing from a can - I figured the fudge icing would be a little stiffer. I like this effect a lot. Again I would have loved to have glazed these with chocolate, a shiny spider body would be so dramatic here.
Last year I tried pretty hard to make molten chocolate spider cakes but didn't figure out quite how to pull it off. So, if you can imagine cutting through the side of this one and having the warm center come oozing out, that would be my ideal chocolate spider cake dessert.
the non-pocky cupcake:
I did this will a full sized cupcake and one I cut in half doing the Seinfeld muffin top thing. I like the way the short cupcake looks but it would make for a rather skimpy dessert. I would use a smaller dome pan or egg-shaped pan next time.
I linked to this last year but it's worth a second time - Hannah made a giant spider cake using the large Bake and Fill pan and Peppridge Farm Pirouette cookies to make the legs. I totally adore it.
p.s. Oh lookit! My crawly cakes from last year were featured on DrRuth.com yesterday.
64 responses so far ↓
1 Laura GF // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Oh my gosh, these are amazing. So amazing they made me click over from a feed reader and delurk! Megan, you always have such great ideas.
2 megan // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Thanks Laura!
3 jird // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I looked all over the place for candy eyes for some Halloween cupcakes -- apparently I'll have to move to get them!
The spiders look terrific!
4 Lori // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:48 pm
These look fantastic! How did you make the spider head? And what exactly is Pocky?
5 megan // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Lori - I piped the spider head, and see this article at Wikipedia for more about Pocky.
6 TACE // Oct 26, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Ohhh Ohhh These are awesome! I love how they actually look yummy to eat as well! Chocolate mmmmmm I especially love the black widow looking one, the spider with the giant body and little head. If you had a clear plate you could have put the red hour glass under neath the body, right on the plate and then set the body on top. Ohhhh could cut up a piece of fruity roll up thing for the hour glass shape. Ohhh I might try these. Thanks for sharing. I love your blog and read here often!
7 Amy // Oct 26, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Eeek! I love them all!!
8 Emma // Oct 26, 2007 at 8:33 pm
These are WONDERFUL. I love how you experimented with several variation. I'm a big fan of the sugar eyes, too.
9 Michelle // Oct 26, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Oh, the raspberry coulis is genius! I made some spider cakes last year with my older daughter (you linked to it, I think), and it really was so fun. We used Ding Dongs and Pocky legs... maybe every year we'll have to try a new version, it's such a great idea.
10 Aimee’s Blog » Blog Archive » Saturday Surfing- Halloween Edition // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:46 pm
[...] Not Martha has some awesome spider cakes just in time for Halloween. She even used Pocky for the legs (I love strawberry Pocky!). So cute, and they look so delicious. [...]
11 tammi // Oct 27, 2007 at 4:35 am
awesome!!!!
12 Margie // Oct 27, 2007 at 6:30 am
Terrific! I love these!
13 amber // Oct 27, 2007 at 8:47 am
Oh my god, you're a creative GENIUS! I have huge, all-consuming envy for women who can bake and actually possess the Martha-Stewartish gene. Because I don't have it. Those spider cakes look totally awesome. I'm wishing I could just pluck one off the page and eat it. Right now.
14 L. // Oct 27, 2007 at 11:00 am
LOVE these -- the frosting legs/dome cake is my favorite. It looks so real.
15 pattiewack // Oct 27, 2007 at 10:03 pm
good grief! I'm drooooooling here. jeeez, I've got a huge craving for chocolate now, thank you very much. as if, I need a reason to each chocolate. Those look soooo good. You are AMAZING!!!
16 Tanya // Oct 28, 2007 at 6:23 am
These are so cute!!!
17 Karin // Oct 28, 2007 at 8:55 am
Mmm, those look fabulous. And Trophy Cupcakes sound amazing! Have you tried Cupcake Royale? Those are pretty good, too, though I think Trophy has more flavors.
18 megan // Oct 28, 2007 at 9:37 am
Karin - Trophy and Cupcake Royale are very different from one another, I like them both but the chocolate cupcake from Trophy made a better spider.
19 emily // Oct 28, 2007 at 1:47 pm
i HATE spiders but these are so cute!! nice job!!
20 McAuliflower // Oct 28, 2007 at 4:05 pm
these are so creepy good- esp the big behinded ones! (Which I kind of want to explode with smaller spiders).
Dr Ruth.com?! I had no idea she was all about cupcakes on her site. Hmmmm
21 Cupcake Queen // Oct 28, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I love your sense of humour!
22 Jenny // Oct 28, 2007 at 7:45 pm
I hate cooking but even I'm inspired!
23 Windell // Oct 29, 2007 at 11:18 am
My compliments! Wow-- even better than last year's!
24 the aesthetic onion // Oct 30, 2007 at 7:13 am
I made some variations on these cupcakes last year. See them here.
http://aestheticonion.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/halloween-treats/
25 Whitney // Oct 30, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I made these for our pumpkin carving party and my nephews (and whole family) loved them. I used intentionally flat cupcakes turned upside down with just jam for the guts, and frosted them and added a maltball head. Creepily cute and yummy!
26 Evelin // Oct 31, 2007 at 8:59 am
They are so creepy that they're cute!
Thank you!
Now I really wish we'd celebrate Halloween here, too.
27 flux imagery » Blog Archive » Holy Crap // Oct 31, 2007 at 8:59 am
[...] Spider Cakes - yum! Category: Linkage, Random [...]
28 Alison from The Storque // Oct 31, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Wow, what innovative ideas! Those eyes are to die for. We love your work over at The Storque! Looks so delicious!
29 Stephanie // Nov 1, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Ok, I'm terrified of spiders but I'm loving these!
Amazing job...
30 Diane at Carbon Tiptoes // Nov 30, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Oh wow! They're amazing! I am so going to make some of those! I adore chocolate cake and I don't completely dislike spiders. I suspect they will be excellent for next halloween too!
You've really inspired me to get out the mixing bowl tomorrow and make some mini cakes.
31 VegeYum // Dec 15, 2007 at 4:59 am
Fabulous!!!
32 Wanda // Dec 15, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Fantastic idea. They look great. I'm a chocolate cake fan so I will definately be giving these a go.
Yours look really awesome.
Wanda
http://www.only-cookware.com
33 Sabine // Aug 15, 2008 at 8:53 am
Hello,just so GREAT,I really love them.I have a Halloween Blog(at the moment down -hardware problem),could I use 1 or pictures to show them with a backlink to your site?Would be fantastic!
Thanks
Sabine
34 megan // Aug 15, 2008 at 9:29 am
Sabine - As long as there is a link back to this page or my site I'm happy to have you talk about them, thank you.
35 datenhamster.org // Oct 13, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Pocky Spinnen-Kuchen...
Für alle Pocky-Fans habe ich einen schönen Spinnen-Kuchen aufgetrieben, der mit Pockys hergestellt wird.
not martha stellt auf ihrem Blog verschiedene Anleitungen zur Verfügung, bei denen teilweise Pocky verwendet werden.
Viel Spaß beim n...
36 delikatissen // Oct 15, 2008 at 2:10 pm
delicious!
37 Lolipop // Oct 30, 2008 at 2:49 am
WOW! Amazing but look quite hard to make........ I'm torn!
38 ilse // Nov 5, 2008 at 6:59 pm
hi!
i was inspired by your creepy crawlies of this year and last year-- and made a whole slew of them, and a spider web cake too. you can see some of my process shots as well, when you flip through my flickr!
thanks for the inspiration! my students loved them. :)
39 Signe // Nov 27, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Aww! I don't like cakes, but I do love spiders! They're so cute!
40 LAYLY // Apr 4, 2009 at 5:49 pm
i'am lovely spidersssssssss!!!
41 cookware // Jun 3, 2009 at 12:42 pm
My brother's wife builds these. I just love seeing what she comes up with next and don't get me wrong they taste awesome too!
42 Liza // Aug 11, 2009 at 9:08 am
These are WONDERFUL. I love how you experimented with several variation. I'm a big fan of the sugar eyes, too.
43 Creepy Treats: Spiders // Sep 9, 2009 at 2:06 pm
[...] Tutorial: Spider Cakes [...]
44 rebeccasubbiah // Sep 19, 2009 at 3:01 pm
wow amazing be proud of yourself, !
45 vikkii // Oct 7, 2009 at 3:52 am
Cant wait to try these such a fantastic idea. Thank you for sharing!!
46 natali // Oct 16, 2009 at 10:11 am
Adorei pois é muito criativo.
47 Forkable // Oct 25, 2009 at 7:53 pm
[...] Black Widow Spider Cakes! I particularly like the idea of stuffing them full of bloody oozing [...]
48 Laura // Oct 28, 2009 at 11:10 am
thats amaizing!Oh! There is oter way to make the legs?
Just please live me a sugestion.
Thanks for your atention. :D ;)
49 Laura // Oct 28, 2009 at 11:11 am
hey natali tenta falar inglês! ;D
50 megan // Oct 28, 2009 at 11:22 am
Laura - Basically you need something that will hold itself up, hard candy sticks, thin crackers, something that will also be light weight enough to hold together with the chocolate as glue. Best of luck to you.
51 TheTrevon // Oct 29, 2009 at 11:14 am
100% Amazingness
52 Creepy Halloween Cakes! « Echostains Blog // Oct 29, 2009 at 6:03 pm
[...] resist these cakes, they are so cute and just the thing for Halloween! Please check out this site HERE for instructions about how to make [...]
53 Leckeres für Halloween « BLICKWERFER.de // Oct 30, 2009 at 7:52 am
[...] Bilderquelle und mehr auf: NotMartha [...]
54 kris // Oct 30, 2009 at 4:55 pm
wow, great! Compliments!
55 Comidinhas para a Halloween party « // Oct 30, 2009 at 7:47 pm
[...] Facinho esse né? Só pegar um brigadeiro e espetar palitinhos de chocolate. Passo-a-passo e outras ideias aqui. [...]
56 Vegetarian Halloween Party Food « Almost Vegan in Paradise // Oct 31, 2009 at 5:05 am
[...] I got the idea for the spider cakes from this website called “Not Martha.” [...]
57 alina // Oct 31, 2009 at 5:08 am
Thanks for posting these! I made a version of them tonight at my vegetarian dinner party, and they were a huge hit.
We used piped melted chocolate for legs, a commercial truffle for a head, and I baked vegan chocolate cake in custard cups and inverted them for the bodies.
You can see details at my blog:
http://almostveganinparadise.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/vegetarian-halloween-party-food/
Thanks again. They turned out great and were fun to make and adorable.
Aloha,
Alina
Alina's Pencil, Whimsical Words and Pictures
http://zazzle.com/alinaspencil*
58 Costumes at work – the seasonal quandary | HRAce // Nov 13, 2009 at 12:59 pm
[...] Have a Halloween pot-luck lunch with themed food [...]
59 HRAce.in » Costumes at work – the seasonal quandary // Nov 18, 2009 at 4:21 am
[...] Have a Halloween pot-luck lunch with themed food [...]
60 Sam from EvedayFaucets // Jan 21, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I can't wait to have a party and try these on our kids and some of their friends. I know they will love them. These are greaaaaate!
61 Tonje // Mar 22, 2010 at 7:32 am
I just wonder,
where exactly is the instruction?
I tried to find the instruction to those screaming cookies too,
but when I clicked on it the hole thing turned white.
Is it just something wrong with my PC?
By the way; I like your blog!<3
62 Richard // Apr 3, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Can't wait to try these at the next adult party we have. Kids can't have all the fun!
63 Halloween-Party – Rezepte, Cocktails und Ideen zur Dekoration | Kostenlose-Schnittmuster.de // Jul 13, 2010 at 6:19 am
[...] Muffins-Spinnen [...]
64 » Creepy Crawly Cakes. // Sep 4, 2010 at 7:25 pm
[...] Creepy Crawly Cakes from Megan at notmartha are to die for. They’re chocolate cake filled with vanilla cream and [...]
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