April 10, 2005

You Will Need:

10 Cups of Red Crusting Buttercream. Leave white if using an airbrush.
2-3 Cups of Black Crusting Buttercream
1/2 Cup of White Crusting Buttercream for Inner Eyes
Parchment, Waxed or Plain Paper
Wooden Dowel (One End Sharpened)
Styrofoam Wig Head
2 10" Round Cakes
1 8" Round Cake Quartered
13x19" Cake Board Doubled and Covered
Viva Paper Towels for Smoothing
Tip #3 for Webbing
Tip #7 or 8 for Eyes/Spider



Step 1


I baked these cakes using 3" pans.



Step 2


Layer 10" cakes. Cut 8" cake in half
and layer halves together. Cut this
in half to make shoulders. Arrange
cake as shown using buttercream to
glue pieces together. Insert
sharpened dowel into wig head.
Insert wig head into the center
of 10" cake.



Step 3


Trim off any sharp edges.



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.



Step 5 (Optional)


If using an airbrush, now is the time
to airbrush him red. Use several light
coats until the desired shade of red
is achieved.



Step 6


Time to give Spidey his webs using
tip #3 and medium-thin consistency
buttercream. Begin at the "nose"
by making a small circle. Working
outward, pipe on the webs as shown.
I made this image B&W so the webs
would be easier to see.



Step 6 Continued


Back



Step 7


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".



Step 8


Gently rub the eye templates to
leave an imprint in your crusted
buttercream. Carefully remove the
templates. Using tip #7 or 8 and
black buttercream, pipe around
the imprint. Fill in with white
buttercream. Let crust. Gently
smooth eyes with Viva paper
towel.



Finish


Pipe spider onto chest or use a
plastic one from the party supply
store. Serves about 50.


65 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a great cake! I'll have to keep that as an idea. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic cake! I am making a Power Ranger for my son for Mon. Feb 20th. If you see this comment in time, can you tell me if there is a need to support the wig head with a board or dowels?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The wig head is so light but the dowel that goes through the head should reach all the way to the bottom of the board.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks! I can't take credit for the idea. It's been around for a long time. I just posted the instructions:)

    Yes I stored the cake covered loosely with plastic wrap in a cool place.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I got to your link from CC.
    Great tutorial. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMay 30, 2006

    wonderful! Thanks for posting instuctions! I will be attempting this next week!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for posting this. You did a wonderful job.
    I am going to attemp to make it but I had a couple of questions.
    #1 Not including baking time, how long would you say this might take to do?
    #2 How are you keeping the frosting and the airbrushing off of your base?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you so much for posting this. You did a wonderful job.
    I am going to attemp to make it but I had a couple of questions.
    #1 Not including baking time, how long would you say this might take to do?
    #2 How are you keeping the frosting and the airbrushing off of your base?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks! How long depends on your level of experience but decorating time for me was about 3 hours. I think it could be done faster by someone with more experience. Frosting and airbrush color did get on the base. I just wiped off the excess after each step. Best of luck with your cake.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I made this cake for my grandson, it was a big hit. Thanks for the posting...

    ReplyDelete
  11. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I have looked and looked and you are the only one who gives clear instructions on how to do this. The cake is beautiful by the way. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for putting the instructions out there. The cake is beautiful and I will be making this for my son's 5th birthday. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousJuly 04, 2007

    Hey thanks for the idea! Check out our take:

    Cakes by Mona Sculpted Cakes

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a wonderful cake. I am going to attempt to make this cake for my friend's son. I am going to try to make one side black spiderman and the other the red spiderman. I have not airbrushed, is that going to be a problem? If you have any tips that would be great. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  15. wow! What an imagination! I never thought to use a wig head for this project. I was struggling with trying to shape actual cake and it collapsing. That you for a great shortcut and showing us dumbheads that it does not have to be complicated.

    ReplyDelete
  16. great cake!! im attempting it this week:) what recipe did you use for the icing??

    ReplyDelete
  17. you did a great job! thaks for the directions:) I will be attempting this cake this week. u was wondering what icing recipie you used? thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  18. My little girl wants a 3D Supergirl cake for her 6th birthday. I'm going to use your idea here and just change the colors, color the face appropriately and add a red fondant cape! Thanks for the idea.

    ReplyDelete
  19. thanks so much for this...it was an HUGE help in making my son's birthday cake. he loved it! all of the kids wanted to eat spidermans head..haha

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm doing a 3d bust cake, a batman instead of spiderman cake next weekend. How much fondant do you think I would need to cover this up?

    Thanks,
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  21. That's really great.I will use the instructions and try it as soon as possible.Thank you for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi, I just had a question. I have the wig head and I was wondering how to get the face smoothed? The one I have has the nose, mouth, eyes, everything. Do you just carve the face off, or fill it in with frosting?? I am going to attempt to make this for my sons 5th b-day.

    Thanks,
    Erin

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for all the comments!

    Erin, I used a smooth-faced wig head so I would try to carve the front smooth. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks Lisa. Where did you get the faceless head?...That sounds funny... I got mine at Sallys, it was all they had.

    Thanks
    Erin

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sandra, I was wondering how batman turned out. I made this spiderman cake a couple of years ago (a HUGE hit!)and was going to try batman this year. I was also thinking of sculpting the mask/cowl and cape out of fondant, and was wondering how you covered the face and left just the chin open. Any tips (or a good hard drying fondant recipe) would be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  26. WOW! Thank you so much for posting this. I'm going to try this over the weekend and see how it turns out. If I do ok with it I'm gonna do this for a client! THANKS!

    ReplyDelete
  27. how do you service the cake? Do you have to take of the head first?

    ReplyDelete
  28. AnonymousJuly 27, 2009

    Made this cake this past weekend for my girlfriend's son. The cake urned out great and really wowed everyone at the party! Thanks so much for sharing this great cake.

    ReplyDelete
  29. It is certainly interesting for me to read this post. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I would like to read more on that blog soon.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great job! This will go in my to do cakes. Looks very easy and the insructions were straight to the point.! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  31. Thank you Lisa, I saw your link on Cake Central, if you don't mind I'd like to give you credit when someone asks me where I got instructions and list your link.
    Thanks. patscakes210

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks Patricia! I posted my instructions to share with others who were looking to make similiar cakes.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Do you think it will be very hard to make a batman cake and use fondant to cover it???
    soccergurl_02@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Not at all. I've had readers make Batman, Venom, Iron-Man, and even famous people using these instructions. One quick tip is to use a plastic Batman Halloween Mask for the face. Best of luck with your cake!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Thank Lisa......
    I have just had a request for a £D spider man cake and I can see how the body is formed but OMG what about the head?

    You have saved the day, thanks a million xx

    ReplyDelete
  36. It's a styrofoam wig head. Good luck with your cake!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi Lisa. As a novice to cake making i have a few questions. If i dont have anairbrush would that be a problem? Any suggestions? Also when i come to server the cake do i take the kitchen towel off before i serve them a slice? sorry if this is a very silly question?

    ReplyDelete
  38. If you don't have an airbrush, there is red cake deco spray, or you could use red icing.

    I think you mean the dowel. When you serve, you'd remove the head and the dowel will come with it.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Thanks Lisa. Regarding serving the cake to guests, do i need to remove the Viva kitchen towel layer from the cake when i come to serve this? Any help much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  40. The viva paper towels are only used to smooth the icing. After icing the cake, you lay one gently on the surface and smooth with your hand. As soon as you have a smooth surface, you discard the paper towels. You can skip this step altogether if a smooth surface isn't important.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Thanks Lisa, you must think i am so silly :-) you cleared that up for me. Will commence making this tomorrow see how it turns out. Your instructions are the best i have seen! Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Can you please provide the instructions to make buttercream crusting?

    ReplyDelete
  43. http://cakecentral.com/recipes/1948/butter-cream-with-real-butter-for-decorators

    Good luck with your cake!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for sharing these instructions. I'm dying to try this cake, one quick question, in your instructions, when you say 2 10" do you mean 2 layers (like a reg, cake) or do you mean literally 2 10" cakes (making 4 layers)? I guess the same would go for the 8" do you mean 1 layer or 1 cake (2 layers?

    ReplyDelete
  45. It would be two cakes baked in 3" pans. Then those would be layered to make two layers, not four. Good luck with your cake!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Just wanted to say thankyou thank you THANK YOU! You are such a kind soul and I cant imagine how many kids/adults/spidey fans you have made so so happy ... we make the cake but the thanks first of all go to you. Thank you.

    love and best wishes Maryum

    ReplyDelete
  47. AnonymousJune 22, 2012

    I would like to know how to make it with and eatable head. Any one knows??

    ReplyDelete
  48. I have 12 in, 9 and 8 inch pans, no 10 inch. Do you think 9 would be okay?

    ReplyDelete
  49. It would be okay. His chest will be more narrow.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Hi Lisa,

    Awesome Cake!!! I have a few questions:
    1. Where do you buy faceless wig heads?
    2. Where do you buy Viva paper towel from?
    3. What kind of air brush set do you have, are they expensive, and where did you buy it?

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hi Lisa,

    I was just wondering where you buy a faceless head from? Thank You

    ReplyDelete
  52. Great cake and great instructions and pics. I will be making one next week for son's 5th Birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  53. can you make the head out of cake sphere / 3d circle??

    ReplyDelete
  54. Hi I think this cake looks amazing and you're an awesome person for providing instructions on making this. I would like to know how much cake mix you used for this cake. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  55. AnonymousJune 06, 2013

    Great job!!!!!..THANK YOU very much for providing pictures and instructions on making this..I love to bake so I can easily follow with the info you provided..yours is the first one I've seen with the shortcut like this..can't wait to make one..

    ReplyDelete
  56. AnonymousJune 13, 2013

    Hi Lisa, im having trouble getting hold of viva paper towel to do the smoothing out.....can you recommend another way to get the buttercream smooth please?

    ReplyDelete
  57. I was wondering from where did you buy Styrofoam faceless Wig Head, Did you buy it online or from a shop?

    ReplyDelete
  58. Hi Lisa

    I was wondering from where did you buy Styrofoam faceless Wig Head? Did you buy it online or you bought it from a shop?

    Regards,
    Suresh

    ReplyDelete
  59. AnonymousJuly 21, 2013

    @ Suresh Patel .For the Styrofoam head, you can go to a beauty supply store that sells wigs.

    ReplyDelete
  60. AnonymousJuly 21, 2013

    @anonymous, Viva paper towel can be bought at your local supermarket....

    ReplyDelete
  61. These are great instructions. Thank you so much. I am going to make one for my nephew who loves Spiderman.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Would a head made out of rice krispy treats work?

    ReplyDelete
  63. i have been a baker for many yrs, i have to say love this cake , awesome , i have someting to ask , i never did a bust cake before no one has ever asked for one , well i have one coming up this weekend i wanted to ask do you all thing that fondant or gumpaste will stick to the foam head for a day or 2 with it being dirty iced ? i dont have the time or want to shape a head out of rice treats lol

    ReplyDelete
  64. What a great tutorial. Thank you very much for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete