Decorating Cupcakes - spiderweb question

[LaraW]

I am making some cupcakes for an event at my daughter's school tomorrow. I have them baked and was going to frost them with white frosting. I wanted to draw a spider web on them with black frosting.

It looks like, from pictures I have seen, that it is as easy as drawing a couple of concentric circles and then using a toothpick to "draw" the lines going the other direction. Is this correct? I just want to make sure before I do it.

TIA!

[rlrobb]

Yes, that will work. I would draw the toothpick through the frosting from the center to the edge of the cupcake so you're going the same direction through the "web". I bet the cupcakes will be cute! Are you making a spider to go on top too?

[LaraW]

Originally Posted by rlrobb

Are you making a spider to go on top too?

Thanks!

Whether or not I make a spider depends largely on how well the webs go. I have some Halloween themed sprinkles that i can use if I need to.

[dneilson]

Hi Lara,

Your daughter's friends will love receiving those.

One caveat:

You will achieve greater success when BOTH icings (background and contrasting color) are similar consistencies --- which is on a very creamy side. Or you won't achieve sharp defined edges. An icing that is too firm, too chilled or too much 10X sugar, will break and look "choppy" when drawing toothpick/skewer.

For the beginner, far easier doing background icing work and webbing while both icings are creamy and soft. (Don't split decorating work over two days)

If at room temperature, you feel the icing too soft or won't stand up to the packaging and transport, make icings a little "stiffer". Then warm slightly to achieve desired consistency. Icings will firm up and be hardier for transport. You need to work just a bit faster if you do this (or work in a warm kitchen). Preferable to do small batches of cupcakes at one time.

Broken webs look amateurish. Do a test run on one cupcake, sweeping off each attempt until consistency is adjusted just right (adjusting temperatures, liquid or sugar).

(Pssst: I learned the hard way)

Dolores

[vabelle35]

I always practice on my Wilton practice board before doing it on the real thing.

If you don't have one, use a cutting board or a plain color plate.

[dreamer101]

I find the black decorating gel works best for the webbing on a spiderweb cupcake. Spider on top looks pretty good too. Here's an example:

Scary Spiderweb Cupcakes

[LaraW]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. They turned out OK, not professional quality by any means, but DS knew it was a spider web

They have a PTO fundraiser once a month, called Cupcake Friday, and all the kids can buy a cupcake for a quarter. That is what these are for.

[golden1225]

I took a cookie decorating class last month and one of our cookies was a circle on which we made spider webs. We iced our cookies first, then after the black was set we came back with white icing in our pastry bag and made the concentric circles. We tried two different methods for making the web - 1) drag a toothpick from the center out all the way around the circle and 2) alternate going from the center out and the outside circle in. Both ways are pretty!