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Arts & Entertainment

A Spooky Spider Cake

An easy to make Halloween treat!

Let me say this right up front….I don’t like spiders! I don’t really know many people who do. I’ve been known to suck them up in the vacuum cleaner only to set it outside until my husband gets home and can dispose of it! That being said, my attitude towards these creepy crawly eight-legged creatures has changed recently. Keep an open mind and read on….

For approximately three weeks, I’ve been watching “Charlotte”. Of course I’ve named her after E.B. White’s famous character from the all-time classic book Charlotte’s Web. Nothing more than a barnyard decoration, you say? Think again. My Charlotte spins her daily web to measure about two and a half feet long and a foot and a half wide. She does this every day and every day I try to catch her creating this masterpiece to no avail. Light on? Light off? What does she prefer? She never spins while I’m watching. Earlier this week, the wind blew several leaves into her sticky prison. They left large gaping holes in the web but the next evening the entire thing was re-spun and I must say, quite beautiful. The innate ability to create something like this amazes me.

According to www.bugguide.net, this legged lady is an Orb Weaver of the family Araneidae. Her common name is Garden Spider, which makes total sense, as that’s exactly where she’s located. She’s very docile, non-aggressive and quite beneficial! She masterfully catches and eats pest type insects. Unfortunately (I can’t really believe I’m saying this), she’ll die at the first frost, but much like E.B. White’s famous friend, her eggs will survive the winter and I’ll have hundreds of her tiny children to carry on the legacy!

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So even though my son looks at me with a curious tilt of the head when I flip on the outside light and say “Is my girl out tonight?”, she has inspired a seasonal dessert that your kids will adore. Now, if only she would write Bon Appetite in her web….

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Spider Cake Instructions

I used a devil’s food cake mix and ready-made white frosting. Bake from scratch if you’d like and yes, you can change up the color of the frosting and the web.

After frosting the entire cake, use decorating gel or colored frosting to create circles on the cake. At several points around the circles, draw a knife through them, thus creating the “web”. That’s it! Decorate with plastic spiders (remove before serving of course) and delight the entire family. They will think it’s bootiful!

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