Spider Web Cookie Cake

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Looking for a spooky treat to serve at your Halloween party? Make this delicious and adorable Spider Web Cookie Cake! This cookie cake is easy to make and sure to impress your ghouls and guests!

Overhead of a Spider Web Cookie Cake decorated with a white web, small colorful scattered flowers on a black wire trivet on a stone background.

Imagine this colorful and delicious Spider Web Cookie Cake at your next Halloween party or spooky occasion. Everyone will love the classic taste of cookie cake with the festive frosting design of the spider web. It will impress all the guests and ghouls in your life! Best part? It's super easy to make!

If you're looking for more cute or creepy treats for Halloween, you have to check out my Halloween Caprese Skewers, Halloween Pasta Salad and Ghost Rice Krispie Treats.

Overhead cut off Spider Web Cookie Cake decorated with a white web, small colorful scattered flowers on a black wire trivet on a stone background.

Why You'll Love this Recipe

Glam and Ghoulish! - We've taken the spider web design and made is glam and ghoulish. I've used a bright halloween color palate of vibrant red, orange, lime green and violet.

Creepin' It Delicious - The cookie cake is delicious and makes your kitchen smell amazing! Don't be scared if you're temped to eat it in one sitting!! No one can resist a giant, soft and chewy cookie loaded with chocolate chips and a sweet vanilla frosting!

Perfect for All Ages - Kids will love the playful designs and adults can appreciate the nostalgia. But, everyone will love the sweet and classic taste of cookie cake.

Ingredient Notes

Cookie cake ingredients on a stone background. Each ingredient is labeled with a white rectangle box with text in black colored font and all capitalized.

Shorting - room temperature, makes the cookie cake super tender and thick.

Unsalted Butter - room temperature, helps crisp up edges and gives the cookie cake a buttery taste. I use unsalted butter to control the salt levels in the recipe.

Granulated Sugar + Brown Sugar - to give our cookie cake that classic cookie taste. I like dark brown sugar for a more rich caramel flavor.

Egg - One egg for the richest, softest and chewiest cookie cake ever.

Vanilla Extract - for extra flavor. I recommend a pure vanilla extract for best flavor.

Baking Soda + Baking Powder - Leavening agents for an extra thick cookie cake.

Salt -A pinch of salt will keep your cookie cake moist and flavorful.

Milk - keeps the dough moist and adds color to cookie cake.

Chocolate Chips - I used normal sized semi-sweet chocolate chips but you could use milk or dark chocolate chips. Or, even chunks!

Buttercream Frosting Ingredient Notes

You can use store bought frosting BUT I love the taste of homemade.

Butter - I used unsalted butter. Should be room temperature!

Powdered Sugar - also known as confectioners sugar.

Vanilla Extract - extra flavor! Real pure vanilla extract for best flavor.

Heavy Whipping Cream - helps create a light and fluffy whipped texture

Food Coloring - I recommend this Americolor Bundle of Gel Paste Colors. They are super saturated and only require a tiny amount to get great color.

Equipment

Stand mixer or electric handmixer

9-inch spring form pan

Cake carrier with locking lid - I use to store cookie cake! It is quite large but the locking lid keeps it airtight!

Piping Bags

Piping Tips - For this recipe, I use a bunch of smaller sized tips. I have this Ateco 783-55 Piece Cake Decorating Set. But the specific ones I used are ateco 4, 30, 8, 199, 5 and 2.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Side by photos.On the left it shows butter and shortening beaten in a large red stand mixer with a beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '1' in the center. On the right it shows Sugar creamed together with the shortening and butter in a large red stand mixer with beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '2' in the center.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a 9-inch round springform pan and set aside. Start the base: Cream together butter and shortening together with a stand mixer for roughly 1 minute.
Add in sugar and beat again for another 2-3 minutes. Scrap bowl the bowl as need.

Side by side. On the left is a wet cookie cake batter beating beaten in a large red stand mixer with beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '3' in the center. One the right is Dry ingredients added to the cookie cake dough in a large red stand mixer with beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '4' in the center.

Add in egg to the stand mixer. Beat it together until everything is combined for about 1-2 minutes. Scrap bowl the bowl as need. Then, add in vanilla and milk and beat again for another 1-2 minutes.
Add in all the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and mix until just combined (it's okay if there's are a couple of streaks of flour).

Side by side photos. On the left is a photo with a large stand mixer bowl removed with chocolate chips being hand mixed in with a grey silicone spatula on a cement background. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '5' in the center. On the right is a baked cookie cake in a red spring form pan on a cement background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '6' in the center.

Set aside 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate chips and add the rest of the chocolate chips to the dough. Gently fold into the cookie cake dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
Press the dough into the prepared 9-inch springform pan. Gently press extra chocolate chips onto the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the pre-heated oven, until the edges turn a golden brown. Cool: in the pan on a cooling rack until completely cooled. Carefully remove the cookie cake from a spring form pan.

Frosting Instructions

Butter being beaten in a large red stand mixer with beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '1' in the center.

Start by beating butter with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a handheld mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes until creamed.

Vanilla buttercream beaten in a large red stand mixer with beater attachment. A cookie cake with white rosettes and drop flowers on top. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '2' in the center.

Then, add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds, increase to medium speed for 30 seconds and then increase to medium-high speed and beat for another 2 minutes.

6 white bowls of different sizes sit on a cement background. Each is filled with a different frosting color - white in a circle bowl, violet in a mini square bowl, orange red in a mini square bowl, orange in a small low bowl, lime green in a small low bowl and black in a small oval bowl. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '3' in the center.

Divide and color frosting. I am estimating how much frosting I used. The most you would need is about 1.25 cups of frosting. The only colors you NEED are the white and black for the spider and the spider web. But, I used 4 different neon/bright colors for the accent flowers and design.
- White - I use a tiny amount of violet to offset the 'yellow' tint in the vanilla buttercream and to create a 'brighter' white. ¼-1/3 cup using an acteo 4 round piping tip.
- Orange - 2-3 tablespoons using an acteo 30 closed star piping tip.
- Red Orange - 2-3 tablespoons using an ateco 8 round piping tip.
- Lime green - I use both yellow and green to get a lime green color. 2-3 tablespoons using an ateco 199 drop flower piping tip.
- Violet - I use a tiny bit of blue and violet. 2-3 tablespoons using an ateco 5 star piping tip.
- Black - 1-2 tablespoons using an ateco 2 round pipping tip. If you want multiple spiders, you will need to increase the amount of black frosting.

Decorating Instructions

Side by side photos. On the left, is a cookie cake with white thin lines that match to a point off center. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '1' in the center.
On the right is a photo of the cookie cake with white spider webs piped on. The cookie cake sits on a black wire trivet. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '2' in the center.

Pick a somewhere in the middle-ish of the cookie cake to be the center of your web. Pipe straight lines from that center to outer edges. It can be in the middle OR off center (like pictured)
Connect lines by piping curved lines in between, creating a web pattern.

Side by side photos. On the left, is a cookie cake with frosted white webs and frosted orange flowers. The cookie cake is on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '3' in the center.

On the right, is a cookie cake with frosted white webs and frosted orange flowers and purple rosettes. The cookie cake is on a black wire trivet on a stone background.
In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '4' in the center.

Pipe orange drop flowers sporadicly on cookie cake. Create a drop flower by piping a star shape and pulling straight up as you release pressure. I did groups of three and bunches of three slightly spread out.
Pipe mini purple rosettes by squeeze the piping bag slightly to form a single dab, or star, of buttercream and then pipe around the star in a circular motion, almost like writing a lowercase letter “e.”

Side by side photos. On the left, is a cookie cake with frosted white webs and frosted orange flowers, purple rosettes and lime green flowers. The cookie cake is on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '5' in the center. On the right, is a cookie cake with frosted white webs and frosted orange flowers, purple rosettes, lime green flowers and red dots. The cookie cake is on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '6' in the center.

Pipe drop green flowers sporadicly on cookie cake. Pipe a drop flower by piping a star shape and pulling straight up as you release pressure.
Pipe red-orange drops by piping an egg/oval shape and pulling straight up as you release pressure.

Side by side photos. On the left, is an overhead of a Spider Web Cookie Cake decorate with a white web, small colorful scattered flowers in the middle area and a small black spider on the cookie cake on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '8' in the center. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '7' in the center.

On the right, is an overhead of a Spider Web Cookie Cake decorate with a white web, small colorful scattered flowers all over the cookie cake on a black wire trivet on a stone background. In the upper left corner is a dark red square with a white '8' in the center.

Pipe a large black circle roughly the size of a fingernail on the spider web. This is the body of the spider. Pipe a much smaller circle next to the body. This is the head of the spider. Then pipe 8 thin lines, 4 on each side of the body to act as the spider legs. Making sure to keep all the legs the same size and length.
Using leftover frosting, pipe randomly and sporadically until you have reached your desired design. I decided I wanted to spread the flowers more out among the entire cookie cake with some reaching the edge and creating a more organic flow to the cookie cake.

Expert Tips

Cool it completely! - Make sure to let the cookie cake cool completely before you frost it. It takes about 90 minutes - 2 hours roughly for my cookie cake to completely cool. But you can make this cookie cake the night before serving, let it cool completely overnight, and frost it the next day.

Properly Measure Flour - If you just dip your measuring cup into a bag of flour, chances are you have way too much flour due to packing. I keep a small digital scale to accurately measure flour BUT you can also use the spoon and level method too if you don't have a scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour within your flour bag or container. Then use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and finally use the straight edge of a knife to level the flour across the measuring cup.

Room Temp Ingredients are Key - a room temperature egg and butter form an emulsion and traps air and blend/combine together very easily since they are warmer creating a seamless dough. Cold ingredients don't incorporate together easily and can result in dense puffy baked good and also seize up the dough.

Warning! Weird Taste From Cooking Spray - I found that olive oil cookie sprays, can sometimes create a bitter taste in the cookie cake. I recommend using original pam or a neutral cooking stray.

Frosting Tips! - Gel color can be incredibly concentrated. You only need just a little bit to get your desired color. Also, color develops after waiting some time so you can make and color the frosting as the cookie cake cools and that should be enough time to allow the colors to fully develop. Note, if you use TOO MUCH food coloring that can negatively effect the texture.

Angled close up of Spider Web Cookie Cake decorate with a white web, small colorful scattered flowers on a stone background.

Recipe FAQ

Why does this recipe use both shortening and butter? Can I use just one?

I like to use both shorting and butter in my cookie cake. Shortening is made up of 100% hydrogenated vegetable oil and contains no water while butter contains 80% butterfat and 20% water. Shortening traps more air bubbles and produces a soft interior texture along with holding its shape during baking.

Technically, yes you can use just one if you have it on hand BUT for best results I do recommend both shortening and butter.

What do I do if I don't have a springform pan?

You could use a pizza pan or a 9x13 pan in a pinch you will just need to adjust your baking time.

Storage

If your cookie cake is unfrosted, keep it in an airtight container at room temperature with a slice of bread for 2-3 days.

If your cookie cake is frosted and the frosting contains heavy cream, keep it in an airtight container in the fridge with a slice of bread for up to 2-3 days.

White bread is recommended as it has no additional flavor BUT I have done this with wheat bread, etc. in a pinch. It's a great way to use the heels of your bread. The cookie cake will absorb the moisture from the bread and keep it softer longer. If you feel the bread has become dry and hard after a day or so, replace it with a new piece of bread.

I use a cake carrier for storing my whole unsliced cookie cakes. They are quite large BUT the locking feature acts like an airtight seal.

PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page? I always appreciate feedback. You can also follow me on Pinteres t, Facebook or Instagram.