To begin, prepare cupcakes using your favorite chocolate cake mix or recipe in a large bowl and be sure to preheat your oven to 350 degrees (or whatever temp recommended in your recipe/box).
As soon as your chocolate cupcakes are done baking in the oven, move them to a wire rack for cooling.
As the cupcakes cool down, grab the black fondant and roll out twelve (24) 1-inch (or so) black fondant spheres and set aside.
Next, roll out 24 half-inch black fondant spheres. On one toothpick, insert one 1-inch sphere, followed by the smaller sphere. Gently squeeze the end of the larger sphere, giving it a rounded-cone shape for the spider’s hiney; it should look somewhat egg-shaped!
Repeat for all spheres with toothpicks. Trim the toothpicks so that they are no longer visible.
To make the frosting, using an electric mixer, beat together your softened butter, powdered sugar, and milk until smooth. Start with the electric mixer’s speed set to low and gradually increase to high speed.
Add the red and yellow gel food coloring into the buttercream mixture and beat until completely tinted to create the perfect shade of orange. Scoop your fully mixed orange buttercream into a piping bag with Wilton tip #12 attached. Before frosting, check to make sure your cupcakes are room temperature (so your frosting doesn’t slide off from the warmth).
Frost each cooled cupcake starting with the center and moving it around in a circle, gradually getting larger, until the top of the cupcake is completely covered with frosting.
Place one fondant spider body onto each of the frosted cupcakes.
Using Wilton tip #3 attached to the green decorating frosting, frost two small eyes onto each spider head (the smaller fondant sphere) with the green decorating frosting. Just two small green dots side by side.
Using Wilton tip #5 attached to the black decorating frosting, frost four legs onto each side of every spider with the black decorating frosting.
Serve and enjoy! Because the ready-made fondant and black decorating frosting will stay fresh, you can bake these in advance and keep them covered for any Halloween party or gathering (so the homemade frosting doesn’t dry out)!
Notes
Please share with guests when serving that there is a toothpick inside the spider bodies so they don’t accidentally chomp on them!