When my sister and I were little, my mom used to make us a cake that she called spider leg cake. It went along with our spider house, that no matter what we did, always seemed to have daddy long leg spiders out on the porch. My mom would joke that she used some of the daddy long legs in the cake! Gross mom! Way to freak us out!

 These cupcakes are a take on the spider cake my mom used to make which get their telltale “spider leg” appearance from bananas.

Now really it is just banana cake with frosting and some black candy melts used for the spider on top, but they are just the right amount of spooky for the kids. To make your own you will need:

• 4-5 mashed ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 oil (I used coconut, but plain vegetable works too)
• 1.5 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

You will want to thoroughly mix your wet ingredients and then add all your dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Fill your cupcake tin 2/3 full and bake at 350°F until just golden on top. Then use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe to frost the top of the cupcakes.

I made sure to pipe large dollops of frosting on top so that I could decorate them with long candy melt spider legs. To do this you will need a bag of black candy melts and a piping bag and tip or squeeze bottle. Place one large unmelted candy coating piece on top of the icing and then use your melted candy melts in the squeeze bottle to pipe the long legs from the spider body all the way down the icing to the top of the cupcake wrapper.

Feel free to add some of those little candy eyeballs to the tops of the spider bodies. I wish I had but just now thought of it!

They kind of even look like daddy long legs. Now serve them up to your kids or friends and don’t forget to mention the spider legs you used in the batter! YUM!