Black bottom cupcakes have been around forever. They truly are oldies but goodies. The best of two worlds … cake and cheesecake all rolled into one … yum!

I usually don’t make colored filling for these cupcakes … but it is Halloween after all! And the spider webs could be used on any cupcake or by themselves.

I will give you the recipe and directions for making the spider webs. So let’s get started …

Make the filling. Mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth …

Stir in the chocolate chips …

Stir in the orange food coloring (I use Americolor about 3 drops) …

Now make the chocolate cake. Whisk together the dry ingredients … flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda …

Add the wet ingredients … water, oil, vinegar and vanilla … stir until smooth …

Fill lined cupcake pans (1/3 full) …

Add the filling … (you could sprinkle some chopped nuts on top at this point) and bake …

While the cupcakes are baking, we can make the spider webs. You will need …

Melted white chocolate or candy melts (about 8 ounces for 24 webs) in a squeeze bottle or pastry bag
Chocolate chips (24)
Black edible marker
Wax paper
A toothpick

I have a tendency to lose control over the size of things … so I drew 2-1/2″ circles on a sheet of paper as a guideline for the size of my spider webs …

I placed the paper on a cookie sheet and covered it with wax paper …

On top of the wax paper, make a small puddle (about the size of your thumbnail) of melted white chocolate and work the spiral out …

Using the toothpick, drag the white chocolate from the center to the outside rim …

Add a chocolate chip (spider body) to the center of the web …

Pop the webs into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up. Then use the marker to give the spider some legs and lay the webs on to of the cooled cupcakes …