Easy Spiderweb Brownies

Amethyst · October 7, 2025, 12:55am

Easy Spiderweb Brownies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Decorating Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 20 Brownies

Ingredients:

Brownies:

1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup dark cocoa powder*
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Cheese layer:

8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
¼ cup white sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
Red and Orange food gel coloring

Spiderweb:

1 Cup White Frosting
1 fake plastic spider

Directions:

Brownies:

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a microwave-safe dish, melt the butter. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until the butter is completely melted.

Stir cocoa powder into melted butter, making sure there are no clumps. Set aside.

While the butter mixture is cooling, in a separate small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, mix together the butter mixture (it’s okay if it’s still warm), sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla. Then add the eggs one at a time, letting each egg become fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next.

By hand, with a large rubber spatula or mixing spoon, fold in the flour mixture. Folding in the flour will help the brownie batter keep the air in it.

Reserve 1 cup of batter, then pour the remaining batter into the prepared baking dish.

Cream Cheese Layer:

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Best done with a stand or hand-held mixer.

Divide the mixture in half, mixing in red food gel to one half and the orange to the other, and stir until fully mixed.

Add dollops of cream cheese over batter, alternating between the red and orange, then gently swirl together- just enough to swirl but not so much to mix the colors together or with the batter below.

Then add spoonfuls of the remaining brownie batter on top and next to the cream cheese. You can leave the pattern blocky or gently spread the batter over the cream cheese a bit.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Spiderweb:

Once cool, using a can of store-bought white frosting (vanilla or cream cheese) or using some homemade buttercream frosting, pipe on the spiderweb.

To make the spiderweb, place a small circle of frosting on top of the brownies- this will be the center of the web. You can place this off to one side of the brownies or directly in the middle.

Draw circles around this center about 1” apart, moving out from the center. After all the circles are drawn, pipe a line of frosting perpendicular to the circles starting from the center of the web out, repeat every 1-2’’ to fill in the web.

Add a little plastic spider and then enjoy!

Notes:

Tips and Tricks:

How to Soften Cream Cheese?

Forget to let your cream cheese come to room temperature? No problem. Unwrap cream cheese and place it on a microwave-safe dish. Heat cream cheese for 15-30 second intervals with the microwave power set to 50%, repeat until cream cheese is soft enough to mix!

Leftovers:

Store any leftovers for 4-5 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze for longer- just store in a freezer-safe container.

Short on Time?

Fast Version: You can easily make brownies using a store-bought box mix, incorporating the cream cheese portion into the batter by following the instructions below. Homemade just tastes WAY better, but store-bought is so easy. Your choice!

Extra Fast Version: Skip the cream cheese mixture, bake the brownies plain, then pipe the spiderweb on. Easy peasy!

Nutritional Facts:

Recipe courtesy of A Table Full of Joy.com