Halloween bake-off

What it is

A decorating competition for families. The baking is done ahead, so the party is all about turning cupcakes, cookies and cakes into monsters, mummies and graveyards. Every team wins a silly prize.

Plan ahead

• The day before: bake cupcakes (6 per team), sugar cookies (in ghost, bat and pumpkin shapes) and a chocolate traybake per team. Make buttercream in orange, green, purple and black.
• On the day: put out decorating bowls: edible eyes, sprinkles, sweets, chocolate fingers and crushed biscuits.

Rounds

1. Monster cupcakes: green buttercream hair, lots of eyes, sweet teeth.
2. Spooky cookies: white icing ghosts, mummies (zig-zag icing lines with two eyes), orange pumpkins.
3. Graveyard cake: chocolate traybake with crushed biscuit “soil”, biscuit gravestones with icing names, gummy worms and marshmallow ghosts.

Judging

Prizes for “scariest”, “silliest”, “most eyes”, “best mummy” and “most edible”.

Food and drink

• Savoury food to balance: pizza, sausage rolls
• Witch’s brew punch
• Everyone eats their bakes

Tips

• Cover tables with plastic - black icing stains.
• Have a nut-free selection of decorations.