Spider Cake

For this spider cake, preheat the oven to 170 °C and line a 22-24 cm cake tin with baking paper.

Sift plain flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and vanilla sugar into a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs with granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the oil and milk, mixing gently.

Fold in the dry ingredients and finally pour in the water. Mix until a smooth batter forms.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Let the sponge cool in the tin, then carefully remove it.

For the cream, melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and let it cool slightly.

In a bowl, beat mascarpone with icing sugar and whipping cream until firm.

Stir in the cooled but still pourable chocolate and briefly whisk the cream.

Slice the cooled sponge horizontally into two layers and spread half of the chocolate cream on the bottom layer.

Place the top layer on, coat the top and sides with the remaining cream and smooth the surface.

For the decoration, melt dark chocolate and use a spoon or a piping bag with a fine tip to draw spider legs, bodies and a web on the cake.

Also melt white chocolate and use it to highlight the web or spider details.

To make the web, pipe a spiral of white chocolate and drag a skewer from the centre outward to create a web effect.

Use chocolate candies as eyes for the spiders or scatter them over the cake for extra effect.

Chill the cake in the fridge for at least an hour to set, then serve as an original Halloween treat.