Spooky Spider Smash Cake

Cream the butter and sugar together until just combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Then mix again.

Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder together. Then add to the mixture. Knead with your hand to form a dough.

 

Divide into 6 equal pieces. Place one piece of dough in between two sheets of baking parchment. Lightly sprinkle with flour. Roll out to an even thickness of two €1 coins stacked together. Sprinkle a little flour on the base of a 15cm round cake tin and place on top of the dough. Cut around the cake tin with a pizza cutter or knife. Then cut out the middle with a 10cm round cutter or a bowl and carefully remove the dough and keep it. Use the baking parchment and lift the cookie dough onto a baking tray and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. Then repeat this with the other pieces of dough. Roll out 2 x 110g of the left over dough and cut the middle out. There should be a total of 8 cookie rings.

 

  Gather all the remaining scraps of the excess dough, divide in half and roll out in between two sheets of baking parchment and cut out with 15cm round cake tin for the top and bottom of the cake.

 

  Preheat the oven to 170˚C/150˚C fan/gas mark 3. Bake the cookies in batches for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

  Put the bag of milk chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips into a jug of hot water, leave until completely melted. Remove the bag of  melted dark chocolate and dry it. Cut the corner and squeeze 25g into a small bowl, keep for later. Place one whole cookie onto a plate. Then pipe a layer of dark chocolate around the edge. Place a ring cookie on top. Pipe around the edge of this and stack another ring cookie on top. Repeat this with all the remaining cookie rings.

 

  Fill sweets and sprinkles inside the cookie cake. Pipe dark chocolate around the top of the ring cookie then place the remaining cookie piece on top.

 Colour 50g icing with black gel and 50g with orange food colouring and wrap in cling film.

Cut the corner off the bag of melted jumbo chocolate chips and squeeze on top of the cake. Smooth the chocolate all over the top and sides of the cake.

Sprinkle a little icing sugar on a work surface and roll out the remaining white icing large enough to cover the cake. Then carefully place the icing over the cake smooth the sides and trim any excess icing.

 

To decorate the cake, pipe a spider’s web using the reserved dark chocolate. Stir in a few drops of black food colouring to the melted chocolate. If the chocolate has set, melt again in the microwave on medium heat in 10 seconds bursts until the chocolate is completely melted. Pour the chocolate into a small piping bag. Pipe 8 lines on top of the cake and then u-shaped semi circles to make the web.

 

  Make spiders with a small amount of black icing about the size of €1 coin. Roll a tiny piece of  white icing for the eyes, dap the back with water to help them stick. Pipe dark chocolate in the middle to make the eyes. Pipe 4 v- shapes either side of the spider's body to form the leg with the dark chocolate.

 

Roll out the remaining black icing and orange icing into a 40cm rope shape. Twist together, then brush water around the bottom of the cake and wrap the icing around bottom on the cake.

 

 Now smash open the cookie cake to reveal the sweet surprise.