spider cakes
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.
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.
Comment by Laura GF — October 26, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
Thanks Laura!
Comment by megan — October 26, 2007 @ 12:46 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!
Comment by jird — October 26, 2007 @ 12:48 pm
These look fantastic! How did you make the spider head? And what exactly is Pocky?
Comment by Lori — October 26, 2007 @ 12:48 pm
Lori - I piped the spider head, and see this article at Wikipedia for more about Pocky.
Comment by megan — October 26, 2007 @ 12:57 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!
Comment by TACE — October 26, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Eeek! I love them all!!
Comment by Amy — October 26, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
These are WONDERFUL. I love how you experimented with several variation. I'm a big fan of the sugar eyes, too.
Comment by Emma — October 26, 2007 @ 8:33 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.
Comment by Michelle — October 26, 2007 @ 9:19 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. [...]
Pingback by Aimee’s Blog » Blog Archive » Saturday Surfing- Halloween Edition — October 26, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
awesome!!!!
Comment by tammi — October 27, 2007 @ 4:35 am
Terrific! I love these!
Comment by Margie — October 27, 2007 @ 6:30 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.
Comment by amber — October 27, 2007 @ 8:47 am
LOVE these -- the frosting legs/dome cake is my favorite. It looks so real.
Comment by L. — October 27, 2007 @ 11:00 am
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!!!
Comment by pattiewack — October 27, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
These are so cute!!!
Comment by Tanya — October 28, 2007 @ 6:23 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.
Comment by Karin — October 28, 2007 @ 8:55 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.
Comment by megan — October 28, 2007 @ 9:37 am
i HATE spiders but these are so cute!! nice job!!
Comment by emily — October 28, 2007 @ 1:47 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
Comment by McAuliflower — October 28, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
I love your sense of humour!
Comment by Cupcake Queen — October 28, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
I hate cooking but even I'm inspired!
Comment by Jenny — October 28, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
My compliments! Wow-- even better than last year's!
Comment by Windell — October 29, 2007 @ 11:18 am
I made some variations on these cupcakes last year. See them here.
http://aestheticonion.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/halloween-treats/
Comment by the aesthetic onion — October 30, 2007 @ 7:13 am
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!
Comment by Whitney — October 30, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
They are so creepy that they're cute!
Thank you!
Now I really wish we'd celebrate Halloween here, too.
Comment by Evelin — October 31, 2007 @ 8:59 am
[...] Spider Cakes - yum! Category: Linkage, Random [...]
Pingback by flux imagery » Blog Archive » Holy Crap — October 31, 2007 @ 8:59 am
Wow, what innovative ideas! Those eyes are to die for. We love your work over at The Storque! Looks so delicious!
Comment by Alison from The Storque — October 31, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Ok, I'm terrified of spiders but I'm loving these!
Amazing job...
Comment by Stephanie — November 1, 2007 @ 12:51 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.
Comment by Diane at Carbon Tiptoes — November 30, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Fabulous!!!
Comment by VegeYum — December 15, 2007 @ 4:59 am
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
www.only-cookware.com
Comment by Wanda — December 15, 2007 @ 2:56 pm