[1] and [2]: Two different stylings for a spider bundt cake. [3] Set toothpicks between the folds where you’ll pipe the legs. [4] Pipe the legs, add the face candies, and that’s it (all photos courtesy King Arthur Flour).

For working folks, today’s the last day to bake something special for Halloween.

Every year, King Arthur Flour bloggers MJ and Gwen team up to create new novelty treats for Halloween. This year, it’s a giant spider bundt cake.

Simply mix the batter from your favorite seasonal recipe or boxed mix, brew up the buttercream, and pipe your way to a creepy cake.

See the play-by-play photos here.

1. DECIDE ON THE FLAVOR(S)

You can have chocolate or vanilla bundt cake any time of the year. For Halloween, go for fall flavors:

 
For The Frosting

For the frosting, either chocolate or vanilla buttercream will work with any flavor. But you can get as creative as you like, as long as it looks like a spider (i.e., a tan/coffee color is OK, orange isn’t unless you want a psychedelic spider).

Here’s King Arthur’s recipe for easy vanilla buttercream, which will frost two cakes.

You can divide the batch in half and create two colors/flavors. For chocolate frosting, simply split the vanilla frosting in half. To the chocolate half, dd 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa plus 1/4 cup black cocoa which creates a darker color and more intense chocolate flavor. Mix well and you’ll have chocolate frosting!
 
2. DECIDE ON THE FACE(S)

Go colorful so the face doesn’t disappear into the background color. The photos show two different styling options: the face on the front of the chocolate bundt, and on top for the the vanilla bundt.

 
You’ll also need toothpicks to assemble the cake, and a piping with a wide tip, such as Wilton’s 1A tip, makes the perfect size spider legs.
 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to the temperature specified by your recipe, and bake the cake. BUT FIRST, remove 1/4 cup of the batter and bake it in a muffin pan to create a separate cupcake. You’ll see why later. As the cake bakes and cools…

2. MAKE the buttercream. When the cake and cupcake are cool, move it to a serving plate. Insert the cupcake into the center of the bundt and pipe the top of the cupcake with frosting, to make the body of the spider.

3. USING the toothpicks, lay out where you intend to pipe the spider’s legs. The recipe developers left three bunt folds free for the face, and left two folds between each leg for a total of 8 legs.

4. CREATE the legs: Remove the toothpicks one at a time before piping. Starting from the top, slowly and smoothly pipe the frosting up and down to the bottom. Tip: Twisting your arm to the side as you travel down, keeping your arm flat instead of straight up, will prevent the tip from flattening and will keep the legs nice and round. Make a blob at the bottom for the feet.

5. ADD the face. To attach candies to the front of the cake, pipe about a teaspoon of icing in-between the fold in the center (left photo, above). Angle the eye candy (pun intended) to create the expression you’d like. MJ and Gwen decided that turning the oval M&Ms slightly gave the spider a mildly sinister looky.

6. PRESS the candy into the soft icing and hold for a moment to let it set in. Repeat with the fangs and the toenails.
 
  

You probably have favorite easy-to-make party recipes that save you time and energy while treating your guests.

Today, we suggest one for dessert, from King Arthur Flour. It’s actually a torte, shorter than a layer cake. Here’s the difference between a cake and a torte.

A tart is something different entirely, with a shortbread crust made in a fluted pan with a removable bottom. Unlike a pie, the shortbread crust enables the tart to stand on its own, without a pan, for a beautiful presentation.

This fancy-looking recipe is from Becky Sue, the baker, photographer and recipe developer of Baking The Goods. Two layers of dense yellow cake are topped with meringue, cinnamon, and nuts; and filled with rich, pastry cream studded with fresh berries.

It really is easy to make; even a novice baker will have no problems. There’s no frosting involved.

Thanks to King Arthur Flour for sending us the recipe.

It makes a nice impression at parties and dinner parties. Add candles for a birthday cake.
 
RECIPE: BERRY BLITZ TORTE

Prep time is 30 minutes, bake time is 30 minutes, plus assembly (total 90 minutes). The cake makes 8 to 10 servings.

Shortcuts: Use preserves instead of fresh fruit; substitute instant vanilla pudding for the pastry cream.

Here are step by step photos from Baking The Goods.
 
Ingredients

For The Cake

 
For The Topping

 
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*Also called caster sugar and baker’s special sugar, superfine sugar is screened to the finest granulation. Popular in our home because it dissolves easily in cold drinks (iced tea, cocktails, etc.), it also dissolves easily into butter. This creates a fine crumb and a more elegant cake. YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN: Superfine sugar is simply table sugar that is ground into smaller grains. Pulse table sugar in a food processor until it’s very fine. Keep the superfine sugar in a separate sugar bowl to bring out when you’re serving iced coffee and tea or making lemonade.
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For The Filling

[1] Making the torte. [2] Close-up (photos #1 and #2 courtesy King Arthur Flour). [3] Garnished and ready for prime time (photo courtesy BakingTheGoods.com. [4] Fiori (or fior) di Sicilia—flower of Sicily—is used by bakers to provide an elegant floral-citrus flavor to cake and other foods. Here’s more about it (photo courtesy The Rose Table).

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8″ or 9″ round cake pans. If using parchment, lightly grease the pans, line with parchment rounds, and lightly grease the parchment as well.

2. BEAT the butter, sugar, salt, and egg yolks in a medium-sized mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in the vanilla/fiori, milk, baking powder and flour. Spread the mixture in the prepared pans (the batter will barely cover the bottom of the pans).

3. BEAT the egg whites until light. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the meringue is smooth, glossy, and somewhat stiff (but not stiff enough to form stand-up peaks).

4. SPREAD the meringue atop the cake batter, and sprinkle with the almonds, cinnamon and sugar. (Note: If you’re using fiori di sicilia, omit the cinnamon.) Bake the cakes for 30 minutes, until lightly browned.

5. REMOVE the cakes from the oven, allow them to cool for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges and gently turn them out onto a rack to cool completely. If some of the almonds fall off during this process, just sprinkle them back on top.
6. ASSEMBLE: Place one of the cake layers, meringue side up, on a serving plate. Spread with the pastry cream. Add a layer of fresh berries. Top with the second cake layer, meringue-side up. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving time.

 
THE DIFFERENT CAKE TYPES

Check out our beautiful Cake Glossary, featuring all types of cake.
  

What to serve with your Halloween cocktails?

Spider Deviled Eggs are a good start, perhaps with some Bloody Eyeball Deviled Eggs.

The recipe below was developed by Rachael Hutchings of La Fuji Mama, a cooking blog that brings world flavors to the family dinner table; and sent to us by the California Avocado Board.

Here’s the recipe for the second photo, Bloody Eyeball Deviled Eggs.
 
RECIPE: HALLOWEEN SPIDER DEVILED EGGS

Ingredients For 12 Pieces

 
Preparation

1. COOK the eggs and place in a bowl of cool water. When cooled, peel the eggs and cut each in half.

2. REMOVE the yolks carefully so as not to tear the whites, and mix in a food processor with the other ingredients (except garnish) until creamy.

3. FILL the whites with deviled* mixture, creating a small mound. Slice 6 olives in half lengthwise for the “body” and place on the top of the deviled mixture.

4. SLICE more olives in half lengthwise and then slice each into small slivers for the spider legs, 8 legs for each spider. Push 4 legs into each side of the mound. We used our kitchen tweezers to place, and tap in, each leg.

5. PLACE on a platter and serve. We purchased an inexpensive orange rectangular tray last year, that works great.
 
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*Deviled is a centuries-old term that refers to hot and spicy preparations. Black pepper, chiles and/or hot sauce can be used to devil a dish.
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MORE HALLOWEEN COCKTAIL PARTY FOOD

Savory Nibbles

 
Sweet Treats

[2] Bloody eyeball deviled eggs (photo © Avocados From Mexico).

[3] Creepy Crudités (recipe © Woman’s Day).

[4] Scream Cheese (recipe © Delish)

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