Creepy Crawling Cake

Before I did the Spider Cupcakes I had the pleasure of hosting my Bunco group for a night of fun and feasting. Since it was so close to Halloween and I wanted to test out making spider webs with chocolate I decided to make a Spider Themed cake. I started out by melting Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and then piping a BIG spider web onto the cake plate.


After that I piped out a few different types of spider webs to see what might look most Spidery - and to get a feel for the flow of the chocolate - I learned a smaller cupcake would benefit from webs piped with a smaller tip - these webs were bigger then I wished simply because a lot of chocolate came out quickly. I also learned that letting the chocolate sit and cool a bit is smart too - makes the flow of the chocolate come out slower.

In addition to making the webs I also made a few Spider Legs..............you will see why.

Sorry - skipped a few pictures - or rather FORGOT to take a few pictures. So I had a two layer cake - iced with Vanilla Buttercream - then I piped the chocolate over the top in a spider web. The body of the spider is a cupcake cut off short and turned upside down - covered in the chocolate. Then I piped some chocolate for a head and let it all sit to set a bit.

After waiting a short time I added on the legs of the spider. I attached them by adding a small amount of chocolate at the body and at the cake. They didn't wobble at all.

Popped on two small candy pearls for the eyes and Voila! a spider was born..........er created.

Then I dropped a few webs down the side and added a couple small spiders I made after taking the earlier picture of the webs......and a few spider webs........and it was done!!

The cake was Pumpkin Spice and the Icing was a Cinnamon Buttercream......yum!!

Spider Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!! Or since this year Halloween seems to be a 3 day event - Happy Halloweekend!! Today is the day for Class parties and parades - usually I sign up for the classroom main treat and bring something fun, but I was beat to the sign up sheet. So while I was wandering the halls one day I heard on the wind that there was a class without parent helpers and I immediately offered up my cupcake baking abilities........and it was agreed - I could provide the main treat - yea!!


So I started with a cupcake - topped it with some Chocolate Buttercream and created small spider webs for each one. The spider webs are made of melted White Chocolate Chips - then piped onto parchment paper in the shape of a web. I just used my imagination. After about 5 of them they started to look more like snowflakes and I freaked a bit - but no, they are spider webs - however a Christmas idea was born...........

After creating a home for a spider I tinted some of the Chocolate Buttercream black - and made a spider for each cake. Easily done - quick - and complimented the "idea" very nicely. Creeped my 4 year old out enough that he thought for a moment they were real..........and then realizing they weren't asked for one!!

This cake was Chocolate Chocolate Chip with a Chocolate Buttercream icing - White Chocolate was used for the spider webs.

Hope you have a Super Fun Halloweekend!!

Kid's in the Act

In the previous post I talked about how excited Andersen was to play with the fondant for her birthday cupcakes. Ben and Dawson wanted in on the act too. Originally Ben was going to help make some bugs for the cupcakes, but siblings will be siblings - or perhaps Andersen was channeling my "I was asked to make this" speach and saw her cupcakes as a reflection of her own artwork. Whatever it was.......Ben was left without a cake to decorate.

This wasn't a problem that took long to solve. We had fondant, we had willing hands and I had a friend who is always doing sweet things for me and LOVE LOVE LOVES cakes wrapped in fondant. Add that all together and you have a cake for Julie in the making.


Since this little cake was certain to be eaten quickly and it was single layers stacked - I skipped the need for a cake board in between or any dowel rods. We simply iced the cakes - wrapped them with fondant - and then stacked them.

Ben created some Bumble Bees and Flowers. This was his first time - I can tell he made a Bumble Bee - and honestly.......there are many cake decorators that I have noticed can't replicate a figure to save their lives and STILL sell the cake. To me that means that Ben is on his way to being an A #1 decorator.


The cake was simple and not incredibly perfect. Still it ended up being cute. Julie loved it - it was a surprise. Ben and I both got some fondant practice in. Win Win all around.

The cake was Julie's favorite - Chocolate - with a butter cream icing to attach the fondant - and a Vanilla Fondant.

Bugs All Over

Not that my kids have ever had realistic ideas about what theme of cake they could have for their birthday...........I mean you did see the one where Ben said "I want a pop tart cake"......and there is that whole pesky parental fall back saying Dave and I use with the kids that goes "you can do anything you set your mind to". We use it we have to live up to it. At some point it began to be applied to cakes. Which can be a challenge, but always fun. This year for Andersen's birthday she asked for cupcakes. And she wanted to put cute little bugs on them. And she wanted to do them herself.

I spend so much time saying, "I wish you could help, but this is for someones special day and they asked me to do it so I need to be the one doing it." that it is fun to say, "It is your cake jump in and help."


And that is just exactly what Andersen did. I made some quick fondant - here is the recipe we used for this:

Fondant
1/2 cp Glucose
1 Tbs Glycerine
1 pkg Gelatin
1/4 cp cold Water
2 Tbs Shortening
1 tsp Vanilla
8 cps Sifted Powdered Sugar

Step 1 - Combine gelatin with water - let sit until thick. Place in top of a double boiler & heat until dissolved. Add Glucose, Glycerin and mix well. Stir in Shortening and just before completely melted remove from heat and add Vanilla. Set aside to cool until lukewarm.

Step 2 - Place 4 cps of Sugar in large bowl - measure out remaining 4 cps. Make a well in sugar in bowl and pour gelatin mixture in. Stir - continue to add more sugar a little at a time. Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands any longer. If too soft add in more sugar. If too stiff add water (a drop at a time).

Use immediately or store in airtight container. I prefer to wrap mine in plastic wrap and then place in airtight container.


The bugs were pretty simple to make. But for new hands I think it got somewhat frustrating. Rolling out tiny balls and tiny strips of black for Bumble Bee stripes can be hard when you haven't practiced it a ton. We did not yet have all the wonderful tools like a lovely fondant roll mat. Still - Andersen did a great job. Her friends were all excited about what she made and the cupcakes were a hit at her party.

These cupcakes were a Chocolate Cake and a Vanilla Butter cream icing.