Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spider Cake

Cookies and Cups had the cutest little spider cake you've ever seen, so for Halloween I decided to replicate her design on a full size cake.  I brought it to a Halloween/birthday party and my friend Chris was super excited to have gotten a spider cake for his birthday.  Apparently he had gotten one once before and an old roommate would ask him every year if he had gotten a spider cake.  The answer was always no...until this year!  Clearly that's why I made it.

I'm not sure what happened to the pictures I took of it... so I had to steal this one off of facebook. And this is why I will never be a professional food blogger :)

 Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spider Cake


For the cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups Pumpkin
1/2 cup Evaporated Milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


1. Combine flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat for 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin, evaporated milk, water and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spread evenly into two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans.


2. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


For the filling:
1 pkg.(8 oz.)Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar 
1/2 c pumpkin
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 
1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip, thawed 


Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin, and spice; mix well.  Gently fold in Cool whip.
For the frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese
7½ tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted


Once cake is cooled, split each layer in half horizontally.  Fill with filling. Frost with frosting.  Easy peasy. 


Use some black food coloring to color some remaining frosting.  Pipe a spider web on the top of the cake, with some strands coming down on the sides of the cake.  Make a cute little spider out of mini oreos, using icing for the eyes and legs.   I also made a couple spiders on the top of the cake in the same manner, only using regular sized oreos.


Credits:
Spider decoration: Cookies and Cups
Cake: Very Best Baking
Filling: Kraft recipes