This Halloween marshmallow spider web layer cake is a real eye-catcher. Fun to make and a joy to eat. It is made with fluffy colourful cake layers and filled with a combination of french buttercream and strawberry jam. The real spooky effect is created through the marshmallow spider web and some cute marzipan spiders.
Again a birthday was coming up. It wasn’t a normal birthday, but a Halloween birthday. That’s a great excuse for a cake. Woohoo. Time for new experiments in the kitchen. I decided on this Halloween marshmallow spider web layer cake.
This cake is gorgeous, fun to make and delicious. I’ve put the whole steps on paper, in order to be really prepared. Since you’ll be going through a lot of steps, it is better to be well organized and prepared.
For the base, I made the sponge cake, because I’ve tried that before. I just wanted to make it more Halloween style. In fact, I picked yellow, red and brown colours for the cake base and yellow-orange and purple for the outside.
More, I decided on a lovely pattern, with the brown in the middle and the red and yellow below and above it, with a mirror effect. To make this Halloween cake even more delicious I decided on making buttercream and adding a fruit component, too.
Buttercream, in this case, French buttercream (I used 400 g butter), gives the creamy part to the cake. Besides the creaminess, it also makes it look good and gives nice stability to the cake. Making a marble pattern is so simple. This design allows randomness and it doesn’t follow any particular pattern. You always have a unique irregular pattern. That makes it perfect for Halloween, too.
As a fruit component, I picked strawberries. When in season, use fresh ones. But since it’s Halloween, I bought frozen ones. You can’t notice a big difference in flavour after cooking them into a jam. But it can be any fruit jam. You can check this raspberry jam as well. However, I thought red has more of a Halloween feel. Wink.
If you are planning your Halloween already a month before, check these Halloween treat recipes: spider web roll cake, crunchy finger cookies, spooky zombie guts, gross cigarettes, colourful monster jelly doughnuts or these cute mummies.
Additionally, this cake has spiders and a web, made with marzipan and marshmallows. I wrote some quick tips on how to easily work with them. When using either marzipan or fondant, in order to prevent it from drying, it is always good to keep it wrapped in some foil. And, I suggest making your marzipan or fondant figures one or two days ahead, so that it has the time to dry properly.
Making the marshmallow web can be messy. I’ve tried stretching it with chopsticks, but it works better if you use your hands. That’s why it is also important that you let the melted marshmallows cool before using them. I found out the colder the marshmallows get the easier it is to make thinner strands.
Ingredients for the marzipan spiders:
- around 30-40 g marzipan
- purple gel food colour
- 4 quinoa pops
- 20 g sugar
- 10 ml water
Ingredients for the Halloween marshmallow spider web layer cake:
- 3x 100 g marzipan
- 9 eggs (divided into three parts, separated)
- 3x 75 g sugar
- 2x 75 g flour and 1x 45g flour
- tonka bean paste (a couple of drops for each batter)
- lemon zest (half a spoon for each batter)
- salt
- 30 g cocoa powder
- yellow gel food colour (Wilton)
- red and pink gel food colour (Wilton)
- purple and cyan gel food colour (Wilton)
- French buttercream (made with 400 g butter)
- 20 small marshmallows
- 2 Tbsp of water
Ingredients for strawberry jam:
- 400 g frozen or fresh strawberries
- 30 g sugar
- 50 ml water
- 2 gelatine sheets (soaked in cold water)
- 2-3 Tbsp of chia seeds
To begin, create the small spiders. Take the marzipan and add the purple colour (tip of a toothpick) to it. Then, knead it until well incorporated. Wrap it in some foil while preparing the sugar “glue”.
In a small pot boil the water. Then, reduce the heat, add the sugar and stir until dissolved and thickened. Transfer into a small glass and let it cool.
Next, take a small piece of marzipan and roll it into a ball shape about 1 cm large (keeping the remaining marzipan always wrapped in foil). Set it aside and make the spiders head. To make the head, roll up an even smaller ball (pea size) and attach it to the lower body part, by applying a very small amount of the sugar “glue”.
Then, for the spider legs, form four tiny balls and roll them out into long thin “ropes”. Place them parallel to each other and slightly pinch them together in the middle, so that you have four legs going left and four going right.
Last but not least, apply a small amount of glue on the spot where you pinched the legs together and, with light pressure, lay the body part on it. Using a cake modelling knife (small ball or sharper) make two small holes for the eyes and press one quinoa pop in each. Let the spider dry overnight.
Quick strawberry jam
Furthermore, prepare the strawberry jam. In a small saucepan, add the strawberries, water and sugar. Cook until soft enough to be smashed. In the meantime, soak the gelatine leaves in some cold water. Then, using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and stir it with the strawberries and chia seeds. Transfer onto a plate or into a glass and allow to cool and set.
Fluffy cake layers
Next, prepare the sponge cake base. I made and baked each batter separately. Preheat the oven to 180º C.
Firstly, make the yellow base. In order to do that, whisk the marzipan with a couple of drops of water, lemon zest, a pinch of salt and tonka bean paste until fluffy and soft. Separate the eggs, keep the egg yolks in a small cup and whip the egg whites. Slowly add the sugar until stiff peaks.
Then, slowly, one at a time, mix the egg yolks into the marzipan batter. Once puffy, fold in the sieved flour and whipped egg whites by alternating them. Gently fold from the bottom up until the flour is well incorporated and still puffy. At this point, add the yellow colour, a little at a time, by dipping the tip of a toothpick in the batter. Using a silicone spatula fold until satisfied with the colour.
Pour the batter onto a baking sheet (40×30 cm) lined with parchment paper and spread it evenly onto the sheet. Put to bake for 10-11 minutes. When baked, remove it from the oven, cover with another parchment paper and flip it over. Peel off the baking paper and let the cake base cool.
Secondly, make the red cake base by simply following the same steps as for the yellow one. Instead of adding the yellow colour, stir in the red and pink colours. Again, add a bit at a time until you like it. Spread onto a lined baking sheet and put to bake for 10-11 minutes. After baking, flip it over, peel off the paper and let it cool.
Thirdly, prepare the cocoa cake base. This part differs only in swapping 30 g flour with cocoa powder. Follow the steps you made for the first and second cake base. Once baked, remove from oven, flip it over, peel off the paper and leave to cool.
Marble French buttercream
For the marbled buttercream, prepare two small cups and put one spoon of buttercream in each. To one add a tiny bit of yellow gel. Stir until well combined and reached the desired colour. Do the same with the second one by adding the purple and cyan colour.
Cut the desired form (circle or square) out of the cake base, (two yellow, two red and one brown). I was using an adjustable cake ring (I love it), which you can adjust to any size you like. You can place the ring already on your cake stand and make sure it fits your fridge, too.
Fill one piping bag with the basic buttercream and one with the strawberry jam (whisk it with a fork before). Simply cut the tip of both piping bags off. Then, place the first yellow base into your cake ring. and pipe in an even layer of buttercream, half as thick as the cake base. Now, pipe a thin layer of strawberry jam and top with the next, first red, cake layer.
More, continue building the cake, by alternating buttercream, strawberry jam and cake base (starting with yellow, red, brown, red and finishing with yellow). However, you can decide your own colour order. Once you place the last cake layer, gently press the cake down and place it in the fridge for at least one hour.
Icing the cake
When ready, take the cake out of the fridge and carefully remove the cake ring. In addition, when icing the cake, having a turntable is a big advantage. Using an offset spatula, fill in the gaps with the cream. With a spatula, apply the basic buttercream on the cake sides and top. Then, smooth the sides with a cake scraper and the top with the offset spatula.
At this point, randomly apply the two coloured buttercreams (without mixing them) on the sides and top of the cake. In order to get the marble pattern, again, smooth it with the cake scraper on the sides and with the offset spatula on top (from the edge towards the centre). Place the cake into the fridge to set.
Meanwhile, melt the marshmallows. In order to melt the marshmallows, put them in a heatproof bowl together with a splash of water. Place the bowl over a water bath and melt them while stirring.
Once melted, remove the bowl from the pot and keep stirring until the marshmallows are cold enough to touch. At this point, take the cake out of the fridge and take a small amount of marshmallow mixture between your fingers. Start by stretching it into a long and thin strand.
More, keep stretching the marshmallows and placing the strands over the cake. There is no rule on how to place them. Just wrap them all around the cake, from up or down, left or right; it really doesn’t matter.
After the cake is covered in a spider web, carefully add the marzipan spiders to it. Perfect! The Halloween marshmallow spider web layer cake is ready to be cut and served. It pairs great either with a glass of milk, fruit juice or wine.
Have fun and enjoy!
