Spider/Mummy Cake

I'll get to the wedding cake in a minute, but this is time-sensitive.

I saw this idea on Little Cherry Cake.  Hers is specifically a spider cake, and that's what I made, but you could also make the streaks thicker, use different decorations, and call it a mummy cake.  You can also make this in any color.  Their wedding color was purple and it was a blackberry cake, but the groom is Slytherin and wanted it green.

You can see from the photo above that I didn't do the Cadbury Egg spider, which was a brilliant idea in the original video.  This was the Groom's Cake, and he didn't want any chocolate involved.  When I couldn't find any large enough Halloween sprinkles, I bought a mold with various creepy crawlies and a bag of black vanilla candy melts.  Never mind that four hours later I was making three dozen chocolate frogs for party favors...

Lemon extract can be hard to find and pricey.  The easiest substitute for thinning gel colors or hydrating powders is vodka.  You're not using much and most of it evaporates off.  I suggest getting a regular paintbrush at the hardware store instead of one at whatever craft or baking store you buy the glitter dust at.  Half the price.  You only need a brush that is either new or has only ever been used on food.

1 cake, any size or shape, any number of layers
Frosting to coat cake and gel or powder food coloring in desired color
Edible luster dust in the same or a translucent color
1-2 Tb vodka
About a dozen large marshmallows
Pan spray!!
Decorations such as themed sprinkles or molded chocolate

1.  Trim, fill, and frost cake in desired color.  I'll go into it in more detail in the next post, but I was conserving frosting by the time I got to the 5th cake and just mixed all the leftover colors for the fill and crumb coat.  I figured it would make an interesting surprise.  The next half-batch of frosting and a few drops of green turned everything the color I wanted, which was a kind of awkward forest green that was maybe one shade into the khaki range.

2.  Once the cake is frosted and thoroughly chilled, hydrate the shimmery part with the alcohol.  I used half the tiny vial for a 6" cake, and had enough for one generous coat.  Paint the slurry onto the cake.  The brush streaks disappear when the cake dries.  Chill cake until needed.

3.  Pan spray a microwaveable bowl.  Drop in the marshmallows and microwave for 45 seconds to a minute, until they are puffed.  Pan spray a scraper spatula and stir until strings start to appear.

4.  Get the cake out of the fridge.  Lightly pan spray you hands and grab a handful of marshmallow.  Start pulling it into strings and draping it over the cake until the desired effect is achieved.  Don't forget to string some over the cake board.  Make the strands thin for spider webs, or thick to be like mummy dressings.  Decorate with edible or plastic adornments and serve.  I would suggest adding the marshmallows the same day, so they don't absorb too much moisture and get drippy.

Difficulty rating :)