Spooky Spider Web Cake

• First step in creating your spider web cake is to preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Start by greasing three 8-inch cake tins and line each tin with a circle of parchment paper and set to one side.
  
• Add the unsalted butter at room temperature into the food mixer and using a K paddle attachment start creaming the butter. Creaming the butter should take 4-5 minutes.
  168 g Unsalted butter
• When the butter looks lighter in color add in the caster sugar, sunflower oil, vanilla extract and give your cake mix another good mix.
  310 g Caster sugar, 3 Tablespoons Sunflower oil, 1 ½ Tablespoons Vanilla extract
• When your mixture is creamy light and fluffy add in your eggs, one at a time making sure the egg is combined between each egg.
  3 Medium Eggs
• Grab your self another bowl and add in your sifted plain flour, baking powder and salt, give it a little stir to combine the dry ingredients. Now add in half of your bowl of dry ingredients to the cake batter and mix until its combined.
  325 g Plain flour, 2 ½ Teaspoon Baking powder, ½ Teaspoon Sea salt
• Add in your whole milk slowly and keep mixing. Your cake batter will look a little curdled at this point but don’t worry it’s supposed to look like this.
  300 milliliters Whole milk
• Next add in the rest of your dry ingredients and mix until its creamy and smooth. Scrap down the sides of your bowl and give it another mix just to make sure that your cake batter is fully incorporated.
• Into three separate bowls divide the cake batter evenly between them and add a few drops of food coloring in each and mix well.
  3 Tablespoons Food coloring
• Grab your three cake tins and fill each one up with your different colored cake batters.
• Pop your cake tins into the middle of your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. To test if your cake layers are cooked just prick them with a skewer or fork. If it comes out clean your colored cake layers are ready. If there is a small amount of batter on the skewer pop the cake back in the oven for a couple more minutes.
• When your cakes are baked remove them from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes in their tins. After a few minutes remove your cakes from the tins and carefully place them on a cooling rack.

To make the chocolate buttercream

• While your spider cake layers are cooling, grab a large bowl and add your unsalted butter. Using a K paddle attachment (not whisk) cream the butter, this will take a few minutes.
  300 g Unsalted butter
• While the butter is mixing sift your icing sugar and cocoa powder into a separate bowl.
  500 g Icing sugar, 100 g Cocoa powder
• Once the butter is completely smooth slowly add in half your icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix until combined.
• Add in your salt and vanilla extract and mix.
  1 Tablespoons Vanilla extract, ¼ Teaspoon Sea salt
• Then add in the other half a bowl of icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix until completely smooth. You may need to scrape the bowl down a couple of times to make sure that all the ingredients are well combined.

Putting the Spider Web cake together

• Normally when I bake these cakes, they come out with a flat top but if yours has a slight dome. Grab a large serrated knife (a long bread knife will do) or a layer cutter wire and remove the domes so they have a flat top.
• Place the first cake layer onto a round cake board or cake stand.
• Spread a good amount of buttercream evenly onto the first layer making sure that it has an even thickness all over (if you want to make each layer perfect I would suggest using a pipping bag with a large round nozzle attachment and start from the center of the cake, swirling round the icing working your way to the edge then smooth with a pallet knife)
• Add the second cake layer and do the same again, making sure that the icing is evenly spread, you don’t want a wonky cake, so take your time.
• Add the last cake layer and ice the outside of the cake. Smoothing it with a pallet knife. (If you don’t have a pallet knife you could use the blunt end of a long knife, I used to do this before I bought the proper equipment, but please be careful we don’t want anyone to get hurt).

To make the black glaze icing

• Sieve the icing sugar into a mixing bowl, then add in the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of water and a few drops of black food coloring give it a good mix, you may need 1 to 2 more tablespoons of water. Mix together until it’s a consistency that can be drizzled.
  126 g Icing sugar, ½ Teaspoon Vanilla extract, 2-4 tablespoons Water, Food coloring
• Now that your black icing is made, drizzle over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides slowly.
• Let the cake glaze set before continuing with the next step.

To make the spider web decorations

• In a small saucepan melt 1 tablespoon of butter over a medium heat, then add in the mini marshmallows and stir continuously, once its melted remove from the heat and let cool slightly. The marshmallows should be sticky and stringy. Using the tips of your fingers take a pinch of marshmallow and stretch the sticky web like strings around the cake. Continue to do this until you are happy with the spider web effect.
  50 g Mini marshmallows, 1 Teaspoon Unsalted butter
• Last but not least add a few gummy Spiders to finish the decoration. Now you have the perfect creepy spider web Halloween cake.
  Spider jelly sweets candy