I like to make little surprises for my family to find when they arrive home each evening. I know -- that sounds so old-fashioned. But it's part of how I show my love for my family members. Anyway, this morning I decorated the kitchen door with the window clings that I bought at Dollar Tree 2 or 3 years ago and some artificial vines that came in a free box from a year ago, summer. It's just something simple and didn't cost a cent. So, why not, right?
I also like to bake a treat or two in October as a surprise for those same family members. Here is a batch of frosted brownies (using this scratch recipe that can be microwaved or oven-baked) that I topped with a not-so-spooky spider in its web.
To make a spider in its web with frosting for a cake, pan of brownies, cookies, or cupcakes, you'll need:
the baked good(s)
base layer frosting, buttercream (I used orange)
dark cocoa frosting, buttercream
1 snack-sized ziploc bag
scissors
toothpick
This is how I made the spider in its web.
After the batch of brownies cooled, I iced it with a scratch buttercream frosting which had been dyed bright orange.
I then made small amount of cocoa frosting, making it as dark as I could (lots of cocoa powder.)
I filled a snack-sized baggie with the cocoa frosting, sealed it shut, and snipped off the tip of a corner with a pair of scissors. This was my make-shift frosting bag.
I used this frosting bag to pipe concentric circles. As you can see, my hands are not the steadiest with this; yet that won't matter one bit for the end product.
Using a toothpick, I "drew" lines from the center to the outside edges of the pan of brownies, dividing the pan in halves, then fourths, eighths and so on.
By the time I was finished, I had something that resembled a web. I placed a "spider" at the center of the web by piping a circle of icing, which I filled with additional icing, and then added the 8 "legs."
Like I said, this is very easy and does not require any cake decorating skills whatsoever. In fact, the fact that I had shaky hands while making this didn't seem to matter.
By the way, you can use this same technique, maybe with a less-bright base color of frosting and leave off the spider, to make an absolutely beautiful cake for a celebration. I've used tan-colored frosting base-layers with dark cocoa piped icing, dragging the dark icing through with a toothpick as I've done here to make incredibly special-looking birthday cakes. No talent. No skill. But very impressive, nonetheless.
You'll find this post, and many others like it, just a click away on this page -- a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.
