Spiderweb Orange and Vanilla Mini Cake
Feeling spooky? This spiderweb orange and vanilla mini cake is the perfect scary treat!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 677kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Sponges:
- ½ cups unsalted butter
- ⅔ cups caster sugar (golden or white)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cups plain / all-purpose flour (or see notes for using self-raising flour)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ tablespoon milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
Buttercream:
- ⅔ cups unsalted butter
- 2½ cups confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 2 teaspoon milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
- A few drops of orange food colouring
Decorations:
- 2-3 marshmallows (large)
- Black fondant (for spiders)
Instructions
Sponges:
- Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- For the sponge, cream together the butter and sugar, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, for several minutes until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until whisked up to foamy, then add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar and mix together until smooth.
- Stir in the vanilla extract and then sieve in the flour, folding in gently till just combined.
- Add in the milk and lightly mix until you only just have a smooth mixture.
- Divide the mixture evenly between three lined cake tins and bake for 20-25mins, until the sponges no longer wobble, are springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean. Allow the sponges to cool on the side while you make the buttercream.
Buttercream:
- Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
- Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of icing sugar.
- Once fully combined, add the orange extract, milk and orange colouring and beat until smooth.
Assembly:
- Once the sponges have cooled completely, cut off any peaks to give smooth flat tops on your layers.
- Spread a thick layer of buttercream on top of one sponge, then sandwich another sponge on top before repeating with the next layer. The top sponge layer should be upside-down to give a smooth top.
- Smooth a thick layer of buttercream on top of the cake and around the sides, smoothing and scraping with your spatula and scraper until your cake has a relatively thin and neat outside crumb coating. Refrigerate for 15mins.
- Add the remaining buttercream to the top and outside of the cake, smooth using a spatula and scraper.
Decoration:
- Microwave your marshmallows for 15-20secs and then using your fingers of both hands pick up a pinch, spreading your fingers wide to create long strands of marshmallow. Wrap this around your cake and repeat until you have covered your cake on the top and sides.
- For the spiders, pinch off a small amount of black fondant icing and roll it into a ball, lightly flatten it and then pinch off a smaller piece and roll it into a ball, brush a small amount of water onto one side and press it lightly on top of the body as the head.
- For the legs, roll out 8 very small thin sausages and bend each at a right angle roughly ¾ of the way along. Brush a small amount of water to the tip of the short end and attach it to the spider body, pressing lightly.
- Take another small pinch of icing, roll it into a small ball and flatten into an oval before brushing it with water and pressing it over the legs creating a top half og the body.
- Repeat the above spider steps for the number you’d like to top your cake and press each one lightly into the sticky marshmallow webs.
Notes
- Instead of plain flour, you can use self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder by 1tsp.
Nutrition
Calories: 677kcal | Carbohydrates: 85g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 148mg | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 46mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 1162IU | Calcium: 95mg | Iron: 1mg