This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
Make this Spider Cake the centerpiece of your next Halloween buffet. This spice cake with a rich cream cheese frosting spider adds a touch of whimsy to any spooky holiday event.
Featured with this recipe
This adorable and playful Spider Cake is an easy and delightful dessert to serve at your next Halloween party. Moist bundt spice cake is covered with a rich cream cheese icing, and a giant frosting spider adds a touch of playfulness to this delicious dessert. This is easy to decorate, too! If you want to try your hand at a fun and playful centerpiece for a Halloween party, this is a perfect dessert to try.
Ingredients in Spider Cake
Take a little help from the grocery store with this cake and use a box mix. We dress it up with some extra ingredients to make it the moistest, most delicious spice cake you’ll ever try! Here’s what you need for the cake:
- Spice cake mix – one box of your favorite brand. This takes care of all your dry ingredients in one box. No need to mess with measuring flour salt, soda, etc.
- Pumpkin spice instant pudding mix – One 3.4 ounce box. You can always find this flavor in the fall season at most grocery stores, or grab it on Amazon.
- Sour cream – one cup rich sour cream gives this cake extra moisture and texture. You can also opt for a cup of regular greek yogurt in place of sour cream.
- Eggs – four large eggs. Most cake mixes call for three, but an extra egg really gives the cake a moister, more tender texture.
- Water – half a cup
- Oil – We like using regular canola or vegetable oil
- Mini chocolate chips – one and a half cups. Whisk them in to the cake batter just before baking.
Frosting Ingredients
Now comes the fun part: the frosting and decorating! This rich cream cheese frosting complements the moist spice cake, and is just so cute too! Here’s what you need for the icing and decorations:
- Cream cheese – two 8-ounce packages of regular cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- Butter – one cube, or half a cup, also softened. A good rule of thumb is to take the cream cheese and butter out of the refrigerator about an hour before you’re ready to mix the icing. That way it’s at perfect room temperature but not too melted.
- Dark cocoa – one third cup. We like to use special dark cocoa for help with color and for a super rich chocolate flavor for that cute spider.
- Powdered sugar – three to four cups, depending on how thick you like your frosting.
- Vanilla extract – two teaspoons rich vanilla extract balances out the flavor of the dark cocoa powder.
- Black food coloring – for your spider body and legs.
- 2 red hots – for your spider’s spooky eyes.
How to Decorate a Spider Cake
This cake is not only super yummy, it’s really easy to decorate! Even if you feel like a novice, you can feel like a pro making this whimsical spider come to life (figuratively, of course!) over this cake.
- First, divide the bowl of white cream cheese frosting in half. Use half to cover the entire cake with frosting and save a little bit for the spider’s fangs.
- Next, add the dark cocoa powder and black food coloring to the other half of the frosting and mix until the frosting turns black. If it seems too grey, add a few more drops of black food coloring until you reach your desired color.
- To get those cute spider legs, put the black frosting in a gallon Ziplock bag, snip off a corner end and pipe 8 spider legs going from the center to the edges (see photo below).
- Time for the spider body! Use the piping bag to fill in the middle to make the spider “body” and a little dollop for the head.
- Next, use a smaller Ziplock bag to pipe little fangs on the spider’s head.
- Finally, place two red hot candies above the fangs for its spooky eyes.
Decorating Options
- For additional ideas to decorate this cake you could sprinkle black or colored sugar around the white frosting to create a web-like effect.
- Make mini-bundt cakes and decorate little spiders in the same manner you do on a big bundt cake. These would be darling for school parties or a birthday party.
- You can omit the white cream cheese frosting and dust the cake with powdered sugar before decorating with the black frosting spider.
- Add chocolate sprinkles to the top of the spider for added texture.
Optional Cake Flavors
Not a fan of spice cake? No problem. You can use absolutely any cake mix for this Spider Cake recipe. Try chocolate, red velvet, vanilla, etc. Just about any cake flavor will work great. Try any of these delicious bundt cake recipes:
- Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Lemon Bundt Cake
- Carrot Bundt Cake
- White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake
Halloween Dinner Ideas
Turn your Spider Cake into a dessert for an entire Halloween themed spooky supper! Get creative by serving spaghetti with eyeballs (olives and cheese) mummy garlic cheese bread, or soup in a pumpkin. See our 25+Halloween Dinner Ideas for some spooky and scrumptious recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
A bundt cake recipe is usually more dense and moist than other dripper cakes, so the hole in the middle of the pan actually makes the cake bake more evenly than it does in a traditional cake pan.
Yes! That’s why I love this recipe. You can make a perfect spider with thick, black cream cheese frosting. It tastes much better than fondant and less messy than using chocolate.
After serving, make sure to cover cake with plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to three days. You can freeze slices of cake for later, too. They’ll keep in the freezer for up to three weeks.
READ NEXT: 100+ Snack Ideas for Kids
More Halloween Recipes
When it comes to whimsical, creative Halloween treats, the possibilities are endless! And these are all simple enough for anyone to make. Try some of our favorites.
How to Make a Spider Cake
Spider Cake
Video
Equipment
- Bundt Cake Pan
- Electric Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 spice cake mix
- 3.4 ounces pumpkin spice instant pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup oil canola or vegetable
- 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
Frosting and decorations
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup dark cocoa
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- black food coloring
- 2 red hots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, water and oil. Mix until combined.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips and pour into a well-greased bundt pan.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool for 20 minutes. Remove from pan, cover with plastic wrap and let refrigerate for 1-2 hours, or overnight.
For the Frosting
- In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla.
- Gradually add in powdered sugar while stirring. If it looks too thin (stiff peaks do not form), add more powdered sugar. If it looks too thick add 2 tablespoons of milk.
- Divide the frosting in half. Use half of the frosting to lightly frost the whole cake. Save about a tablespoon of white frosting for the fangs.
- To the other half, add ⅓ cup dark cocoa powder and black food coloring and mix until the frosting turns black.
- Then, put the black frosting and in a gallon Ziplock bag, snip off the end and pipe 8 spider “legs” going from the center to the edges.
- Fill in the middle to make the spider “body” and a little dollop for the head.
- Use the extra of the white frosting to pipe little fangs.
- Finally, place 2 Red Hots above the fangs for the eyes.
The absolute cutest cake for halloween! My kids loved this so much!
I have a son who is obsessed with spiders so I made this cake for his birthday and he absolutely loved it! Boys!!!
Everyone is in awe with this adorable spider cake! It taste sooo good and delightful.