William:

Making a cake in the shape of a beetle could be relatively simple and fun. Here are a few tips.

Bake your cake in a large-size oven-proof and freezer-proof bowl. The bottom of the bowl will ultimately be your beetle's back. Look for that shape when picking a bowl. Sponge cake bakes well in bowls. Be sure to spray your bowl with non-stick cooking spray before pouring in the cake batter.

Pick out a smaller bowl about the size of your beetles head. Spray it, fill it with batter, and bake this too. Obviously the smaller bowl will need to come out of the oven before the large bowl.

After both cakes are baked and cooled, place both cakes in the freezer (still inside the bowls.)

Have your frosting prepared ahead before removing the bowls from the freezer. I would recommend using a deep chocolate for the head, and a lighter chocolate for the body. You could also add some red food coloring to the lighter chocolate to give it the beetle color.

After the frosting is ready to use, remove the frozen cakes from the freezer. Gently remove the frozen cakes from the bowl, using a flexible knife to loosen the edges if needed. If your cake rose higher in the middle than the edges, level off the cake using a long kitchen knife.

Use your hand to brush off any loose crumbs from the cakes. Place the body of the cake on your plate or board as desired. You might even want to buy a piece of new astro-turf to place under your cake as if the bug is on grass.

Now "crumb frost" the outside of the cake. Take some of your already-prepared frosting and thin it with water. It will look almost-curdled. Thin it to the consistancy of think mayonnaise. Now "frost" the outside of the body and the head with this crumb frosting. This will "seal" in the crumbs on your cake to make it easier to on your final layer of frosting.

Let your cake set for a while while this crumb frosting hardens slightly. If you have room in your refrigerator, put the cake in the refrig to speed this process (about 1/2 hour).

Now you are ready to play!!! Frost the head and the body of the cake with your chosen frostings. Don't worry too much about smoothing the frosting exactly that is our next step. Frosting is much easier to apply if using a flexible knife or scraper.

After you frost the beetle, rinse your flexible knife in very hot water to clean the blade. Fill a tall glass with hot water, or a spray bottle with hot water. You will smooth the frosting on the beetle by getting the frosting lightly wet and smoothing it with your flexible knife. If using the tall glass of water, dip your knife in the hot water each time you lightly drag it across the frosting. Wipe off the knife each time. If using the spray bottle, spray an area of the cake and lightly drag it across the frosting. Again, wipe the knife each time.

When thru smoothing/glazing the icing, let the cake set again for the outer shell of the beetle to "harden."

You can use your dark chocolate icing to apply the spots on your beetle. Licorise pieces, chocolate covered peanuts, or chocolates would work well too.

Use licorish stips for the beetle's legs. And, cut some strips for the antennas.

To accent the eyes, I suggest you look in a larger grocery store in the cake decorating area for tubes of clear "gel" or "piping gel." With a little practice you can made dimentional eyes on your cake. (put the tip of the gel barely touching the cake. Squeese the gel tube so the gel forms a rounded bubble of gel around the tip. When your eye is the desired size, stop squeezing the gel tube and slowly remove the tip from the eye. This gel will "firm up" and can be gently shaped later with your finger tip if needed.

Have fun with this! I do hope this helps.

And, no matter what cake you do, please let us know. Future cake decorators will appreciate your feedback.