Halloween is literally a week away now, which is scary (and cool… so excited)! It’s definitely one of our favourite times of the year plus it marks the beginning of party season! Yay! Each year we go with a theme and last year’s was ‘Too Cute to be Creepy‘. For 2018 we decided to go with a more stylish look for October 31st full of blacks, edible glitter, blush pink and rose gold accents! Say hello to the first instalment of our more grown up collection of treats and tutorials! These super creepy and realistic fondant spiders are surprisingly easy to make! They’re perfect nestled onto buttercream swirled cupcakes, crawling up dainty macarons or loaded on top of freshly iced cakes!
We’re both super generous so we have also created our first ever YouTube (click and subscribe to our channel) video tutorial of this easy step-by-step! So if you like photographic guides then read on, BUT if videos are your thing then head on over to watch via YouTube! We’re also offering up a cool IGTV version so you can grab your tools and watch on Instagram!
Realistic yet super easy fondant spider tutorial!
Materials and tools needed:
- Black fondant / sugar paste
- Small sharp knife or food scalpel / blade
- Edible black lustre dust
- Alcohol solution / dipping solution / rejuvenator spirit
- Food safe paint brush
- Edible glue
Step 01:
Firstly make the bulbous lower body of your spider. Take some black fondant / sugar paste and roll into a ball shape. Our’s is approximately the size of a large chocolate raisin. Set aside.
Step 02:
For the head roll up a ball around the size of a small pea then attach to your lower body shape with a small dab of edible glue. Don’t add too much of the glue. Less is more in this case. Too much will mean your pieces are going to slide around and be harder to manage.
Step 03:
To make the tiny pinchers or fangs of the spider roll out your black fondant. Roll this back and forth until you have a tiny ‘rope’ that tapers at one end. You can lift and set these in place on your spider’s head by using the scalpel or knife which will help stop them getting squished. Add a tiny dot of edible glue beforehand.
Step 04:
The legs look like they’d be hard to craft, but they’re pretty easy which is the best part of this fondant spider tutorial. The trickiest part is that they’re super thin and delicate so you need to work carefully and be gentle with them. Take 4 tiny balls of black fondant and roll each out into a long thin ‘rope’. Put aside for a minute or two for them to set a little.
Step 05:
Work one leg at a time. The front two on either side are the shortest ones so trim two strips down a little. Our legs were around 1 inch long. Using your knife or blade lightly press into your fondant legs at two separate even sections. Don’t cut, you just want a slight impression of a line!
Step 06:
Repeat step 05 for the other legs. The only difference is to keep in mind the length of the other legs so you can achieve a more realistic look. For the middle two on either side you shouldn’t need to trim or cut these down. The back legs, however, are slightly shorter.
Step 07:
Arrange the legs for both sides and pinch together so they fan outward. You can easily tweak these once your spider has been set in place on your chosen treat so you can get a nice creeping look.
Step 08:
Add a little edible glue underneath of your spider’s head and where it joins to the body. Then press lightly on top of your arranged legs.
Step 09:
Finally you can give your spiders a bit of subtle style with a bit of black edible lustre paint! We made our own using a small amount of edible black lustre mixed with a few drops of an alcohol solution. You can use vodka, rejuvenator spirit or dipping solution for this. Don’t worry about the alcohol as it quickly evaporates away making it perfectly safe! There’s no need for an edible paint recipe really as it all depends on the consistency you like to work with. A few drops added to a small amount (1/4 of a teaspoon) is approximately what we used!
Now to you can position your fondant spider on top of whatever sweet you like! We nestled our’s on top of blush pink macarons splattered with edible rose gold and arranged the legs a little. This fondant spider tutorial is perfect for Halloween festivities! The first spider can take a little time to make, but once you get the hang of it they get a bit quicker. That said make sure you’ve set aside enough time to make them if you’re adding them to multiple cupcakes, macarons or cookies so you don’t go too crazy! Short on time? How about pair your fondant spiders with quick white chocolate cobwebs or edible splatters?
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