This Spiderweb Cake is perfect for Halloween! A rich black cocoa cake with an orange flavoured buttercream.
Fake spiderweb could be the worst thing to work with ever. It gives an awesome effect, but holy CRAP it will get snagged on ANYthing. Heaven forbid you have any dry patches on your hands, you will have a heck of a time trying to place this stuff around and get it to stay. Want to adjust one of the little spiders? Good luck. Just get some scissors and cut the sucker out. It probably took me a good hour just to set this up so I could take pics.
Now that I have that off my chest, on to this spiderweb cake… It didn’t quite turn out how I envisioned. Wouldn’t it be nice if things just WORKED? I used to be heavily into cake decorating about 5 years ago, and had an arsenal of tips and tricks. Apparently I retained none of that information, as I made some pretty rookie mistakes here. But instead of sulking about the imperfections, I’m going to tell you what not to do if you attempt this.
This cake did double duty this weekend for an early Halloween get-together with friends as well as a birthday cake (for me). Both occasions were days early, but who’s gonna complain about having cake? Crazy people, that’s who. The cake I made for myself last year is still my favourite, but I love the Halloween theme of this one.
My inspiration for this spiderweb cake came from this one over at Sugar Hero. I loved the naked cake peeking through the spiderweb design, and it seemed simple enough. Hah. Unfortunately my piping skills are mega rusty, never mind the fact that I kinda winged it and figured it would just *work*. In hindsight, I should have used royal icing instead of buttercream so the web lines would be smoother. But royal icing dries hard, and I didn’t want it to crumble when I cut the cake, so I went with a buttercream instead. That was mistake #4, so let’s backtrack a bit…
As it turns out, you don’t need to use half a bottle of color gel to get a bright orange color. I’d forgotten that color will get darker as it sits, and adding more gel will affect the consistency of your frosting. These were both issues here. I kept adding more and more orange gel because it wasn’t looking Halloween-y enough for me. I finally got it to the right color, only to find out a couple hours later that it had darkened a ton. The excessive amount of gel also made the frosting softer than planned. That was mistake #1.
Mistake #2 is one I often make due to my lack of patience. I should have chilled the cake longer before starting to pipe the spiderweb. The piping took a decent amount of time, so everything was quite soft by the time I was done with it. This made it much harder to correct any mistakes with the web. Normally, I’d be able to scrape some of the web off with a toothpick or something if the cake underneath was cold enough. Unfortunately, when I tried to do this after the cake warmed up, the orange buttercream was way too soft and it smudged in the process.
Mistake #3 was not really having a plan going into the piping. I just started in an area and went with it, not really thinking about how the webs would meet each other. The side with the pictures is definitely the best one, so you can imagine the poor backside of this cake.
I am notoriously hard on myself, and everyone who has seen this cake doesn’t notice the issues I do (well, now you’ll notice them because I told you about them!). Overall, there are things I would do differently next time, but I am happy with how it turned out.
So if you do attempt this (and honestly it really wasn’t that bad, I’m just being dramatic), here are some tips!
Notes & tips for this Spiderweb Cake:
- Don’t overdo it with the color gel — remember that it will get darker as it sits.
- CHILL the cake! At least 2 hours, you want to make sure that buttercream is FIRM.
- Have at least some sort of a plan going into the piping.
- Use royal icing for the spiderweb. This isn’t really a necessity, but it may make for smoother lines.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my tips here.
Ok on to the good things. It tastes amAZing! That’s the most important part, right? I’ve used the cake recipe before in my Mocha Chocolate Cake (it’s incredibly moist and delicious), except that I substituted some of the regular cocoa powder for black cocoa. I love that the black color was achieved without using any black color gel. As for the buttercream, I added in some orange extract to go with the orange color. It tastes just like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange which is technically more Christmas than Halloween but still… Delicious!
Be sure to check out the Halloween themed desserts and crafts from my blogger friends after the recipe!
Spiderweb Cake
Ingredients
Black Cocoa Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup black cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee hot
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
Orange Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar depending on sweetness preference
- 1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 tsp orange extract
- 1/2 tsp Electric Orange Americolor Gel Color optional*
White Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract optional, but don't use regular vanilla or it will come out tinted brown
- 3 Tbsp water/milk
Instructions
Black Cocoa Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease three 6" round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour coffee in slowly as not to cook the eggs if very hot).
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.
- Bake until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. A total of 30-35mins. Cool in pans for 10mins, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.
Orange Buttercream:
- Whip butter until creamy in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle.
- Reduce speed to low and add in icing sugar 1 cup at a time until well blended.
- Increase speed to med and beat for 3 minutes.
- Add orange extract and cream and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute. Add in color gel and whip until combined.
- Frost cooled cake layers and chill.
White Buttercream:
- Whip shortening until creamy in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Reduce speed to low and add in icing sugar 1 cup at a time until well blended.
- Increase speed to med and beat for 3 minutes. Add water and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute.
- Using a #2 pastry tip, pipe spiderweb pattern on chilled cake.
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Jen says
Love the look of this cake!!
Could plain yogurt be used as a substitute for the coffee?
Olivia says
Hi Jen! No, but you can use hot water instead.
Thomas says
Can I leave the coffee out and just use water? How do keep the eggs from scrambling if I do use Hot water?
Olivia says
Hi Thomas! Yes, you can just use hot water. You need to pour it into the egg mixture slowly, while whisking the eggs quickly. Incorporating it that way won’t scramble the eggs :).
Tamie says
You’re insane!LOL That cake is perfect! I love the way that the outside colors look different than how the slices look. If you’re saying that the smeared gel is what gave it that affect, I like it. 🙂
Olivia says
Haha, thanks Tamie! I still don’t love the way this cake looks, but it’s grown on me 🙂
shaw says
HI, loving all your ideas..i have question can i make use black color instead of black cocoa? silly me..
But i’ll be making this for sure.
Olivia says
Hi! Yes, you can add coloring instead to get it black 🙂
Thierry says
What do you mean with three 6 round baking pans?
Thierry says
Could I leave the black cocao away? An replace it with the dutch cocoa?
Olivia says
Yes, just replace it with dutch cocoa. The cake won’t be as black though.
Olivia says
Hi Thierry, for this recipe, you need to use three 6″ round cake pans. For some reason that’s not showing up in the recipe.
Kelly says
This cake is beautiful! I would like to make it. Where can i purchase black cocoa powder?
Olivia says
Hi Kelly! You can buy it here: (affiliate) http://amzn.to/2cSOx4s
Meena says
This is stunning! Thanks for sharing.
Olivia says
Thank you!! 🙂
jacquee | i sugar coat it! says
I once piped a lace design on a cake and that was the end for me – I lack the patience and I kept wanting to do things over. I think this looks awesome! Happy Halloween!!
Olivia says
Agreed, this may be the last time ever. Happy Halloween
Lindsey | Lou Lou Biscuit says
Amazing! I definitely didn’t notice anything until I read your critiques, but honestly, it’s a gorgeous cake. Happy Birthday!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Lindsey!! 😀
Ansh says
You are just silly! It looks gorgeous! And yes you are HARD on yourself! I love how beautiful it looks and that chocolate moistness! Sigh..if only I had a witches broom to fly on to Canada. You even have a sexy looking Prime minister! Your Cake and Prime Minister watching = Life is good !
Olivia says
LOL, do you need any more reasons to come visit? And THANK you! 🙂 <3
Ashley says
This looks delicious but I was wondering can I turn it into cupcakes? If so how many do u think I would get?
Olivia says
Hi Ashley, you can totally turn this into cupcakes! As for how many… I’m not totally sure but it should make 24 no problem, depending on the size.
Amanda | The Cinnamon Scrolls says
Ick. Spiders. But HOLY MOLY this cake looks incredible! You definitely had me at “Terry’s Chocolate Orange” — I love those! Thanks for the tip on avoiding fake spider web fluff for future Halloween photos. Way to take that bullet for the rest of us. 🙂
Olivia says
Thanks Amanda!! It seriously tastes JUST like that. So yummy. xo
June @ How to Philosophize with Cake says
What a gorgeous cake! Love your photographs, so deliciously Halloween-y 😛
Olivia says
Thanks so much June! I love how these pics turned out :D.
[email protected] says
What a gorgeous cake! Love Love Love. And, I don’t see any smudgy bits. 🙂
Olivia says
Thanks so much Rakhee! 🙂
Julia (@Imagelicious) says
This looks incredible! Just absolutely stunning. I know, it’s a useless and totally not constructive comment, but I could not not comment and I have no other words!!
Happy (early) Birthday!
Olivia says
Lol, that is the opposite of a useless comment. Thank you Julia!! xo
Marg says
Simply a piece of art! both visually and taste wise! I can see how frustrating it can be while making it with all the details. I bet it’s all worth it at the end seeing this amazing masterpiece!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Margaret! 😀
Elizabeth says
What an absolute stunner of a cake! It’s a beautiful Halloween creation!
Olivia says
Thank you Elizabeth!! 😀
Kristina says
the cake sounds delicious, and is INCREDIBLE! I see NO rookie mistakes here. but yeah, those fake webs – keep me away! 😉
Olivia says
Right?? Once a year is enough for me 🙂 and thanks!!
Dani says
Such a great idea. The cake looks gorgeous. Love the playful pictures too.
Love,
Dani
Olivia says
Thanks Dani! 🙂
Christine | Mid-Life Croissant says
I absolutely love this and the fact that I’m a freak for Halloween is only a small part of why. The chocolate in combo with the orange is mouthwatering and in that pic of the slice it looks so moist. Love!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Christine! It’s a mega-moist cake for sure. One of my faves!