Sinful Saturdays: How to Make a 3D Spider-Man Bust Cake

Those of you who have read my blog in the past know that I made a big "emotional Mommy" deal out of my son turning 3 years old this past December. With his birthday being less than a week from Christmas and my financial situation at the time, I couldn't afford the gifts I wished I could buy (but they could careless). So I decided to go "over the top" with a cool Spider-Man cake. Again, if you have read my post in the past than you would know that back in the day I couldn't boil water! How was I going draw a Spidey on a cake? Well of course I just had to ask my best friend, Google! Yep...I googled "How to make a Spider-Man cake" and I was amazed at all the different and cool homemade Spider-Man cakes I found! I did not know which one to try, and then it called my name...an awesome pic of a 3D Spider-Man bust cake! As my friend so eloquently put it "That's not a Spider-Man cake, that IS a Spider-Man". First thought: "My Spider-Man loving son would go....well, spidey behind this cake!". 2nd thought: "I would be insane to even attempt this cake!". Well,  call me insane, because that is exactly what I did! Awesome cakes like this one can cost around $500. It only cost me $15.00 and 6 hours of my time to make.... and best of all, it was SUPER easy!**It only took me six hours because I spent 30 mins between each step visualizing my next move. Yea, I Visualize, A LOT!**

Here is what you need:
10 Cups of Crusting Buttercream (I purchased regular buttercream by mistake)
Wooden Dowel (One End Sharpened) (I used Skewers)
Styrofoam Wig Head
2  10" Round Pans
1  8" Round Cake Quartered (I just reused a 10'' and trimmed it down to the needed size)
13x19" Cake Board Doubled and Covered
Viva Paper Towels for Smoothing  (will not work if you use regular buttercream like I did)
1 can of Red Color Mist Spray (I used two)
1 large cardboard box to block spray 
3 boxes of cake mix (of any flavor)
parchment, waxed or plain paper


Non required Items:
Betty Crocker food color gels (I recommend using a Vanilla mix or Yellow if using this item)

Brown frosting
Black Food Coloring



Step 1: Bake your cakes as directed. I decided, since I was making a spidey cake, to color the cake blue and red using Betty Crocker food color gels.

**Red will look pink at first, don't worry it looks red when the cake is complete**

Step 2:  Flash freeze cakes in the freezer for at least 30 mins (This will keep them from crumbling). Even cakes with a knife.  

**Don't forget to enjoy the scraps as you complete Spidey**

 Step 3: Layer 10" cakes. Cut 8" cake in half and layer halves together. Cut this in half to make shoulders. Arrange cake as shown below using buttercream to glue pieces together. Insert sharpened dowel (you can also use skewers) into wig head.Insert wig head into the center of 10" cake.

 

Step 4: Frost everything with buttercream including the wig head. Let icing crust and then smooth with Viva paper towels by gently laying one on the surface and smoothing with your hand. (I purchased regular buttercream icing, not realizing there was a difference. There is...one will crust and one won't. The Viva paper towel method will not work with regular buttercream, This is why my Spidey didn't turn out so smooth)

**How it should look.**

Click here to view the original instructions.

Step 5: Place the large cardboard behind your Spidey. This will prevent you from giving your kitchen an unwanted makeover. Use several light coats of  Red Color Mist Spray until the desired shade of red is achieved.

Step 6: Using parchment, waxed or plain paper, cut out two eyes (use reverse of image to make other eye). You might have to resize them depending on the size of your wig head. Place the templates onto the head where you would like them to be. I placed them on either side of the "nose".

 **The print out was too large no matter what I did, so eventually I traced this image on plain white paper**

Step 7: Gently rub the eye templates to leave an imprint in your crusted buttercream. Carefully remove the
templates. Using black buttercream (or in my case Wilton Black Icing Tube), pipe around
the imprint.

 Step 8: Time to give Spidey his stripes. Begin at the "nose" by making a small circle or pentagon shape (for a more web-like design). Working outward, pipe on the webs as shown. Fill in the eyes with white buttercream (or again Wilton White Icing Tube). Let crust. Gently smooth eyes with Viva paper towel (again, smoothing will NOT work unless you use crusting buttercream).

 Step 9: Pipe spider onto chest or use a plastic one from the party supply store. 

Step 10: Don't forget to be creative!! I decided to give Spidey the appearance of turning into Venom! I used Wilton Black Color Mist spray. Because I did not use the crusting buttercream it did not turn out as I had hoped. Here is a better solution. Use Chocolate Icing and color it black with normal food coloring. Spread that anywhere you choose on Spidey. I used this solution for the bottom of the cake and then simply piped "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRE!". Make Venom instead! Make half spidey and half venom!! Let me see what cha got!