Scary Spider Fairy Cakes

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. Grease two muffin tins or line with 16 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; stir into the batter, alternating with the milk, just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, dividing evenly.

Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the tin set over a wire rack.

When cool, remove from tin and ice with the buttercream icing. Once all cakes are iced, draw concentric circles on the tops of each using the tube of black decorating icing. The circles should be about half to 1 centimetre apart. Once all the circles have been drawn on the cakes, take a skewer and, starting in the centre of the cake, drag it across to the edge. Repeat this approximately five to eight times around the cake to form a spiderweb pattern. Repeat with remaining cakes.

To decorate, you can place a plastic spider in the centre of each cake if desired.