All recipes written by Gordon Ramsay
This year, we wanted to bring you lots of new spooky ideas for your Halloween party and, being goodtoknow, they all had to be quick, cheap and easy!
A long day in the kitchen with lots of food colouring and as many Halloween decorations as we could get our hands on, our Halloween shoot should give you a few new treats to try this year.
You will need: Biscuits (ready made or shop-bought), ice cream cones, chocolate and coloured fondant.
How? See our easy step-by-step guide
You will need: Chocolate, apples and food colouring/writing icing.
How? Melt chocolate over boiling water or in the microwave and allow to cool slightly. Pierce an apple with a wooden skewer and dip into the chocolate. Spoon over the white chocolate, over the bowl, to ensure the apple is fully covered. Leave to dry in the fridge, on a piece of greaseproof paper. Once set, draw faces with writing icing.
Twist: Colour white chocolate with food colouring.
You will need: Ready made shortcrust pastry, sausage meat, an egg and a pepper.
How? Cut long strips of pastry and place a thin line of sausage meat down the middle. Glaze one edge of the pastry with beaten egg and roll the other one over the meat, pressing the edges of the pastry together. Curve into a snake-like shape and glaze with the remaining beaten egg. Bake in the oven (200C/400F/Fan 180C/Gas Mark 6) for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Make eyes and a tongue from chunks of the pepper.
Twist: Add tomato puree to the pastry before adding the sausage meat so the snakes ooze ‘blood’
You will need: Packet of jelly, oranges, mini marshmallows and red food colouring.
How? See our easy step-by-step guide
Twist: Use green jelly to make ‘monster teeth’
You will need: Chocolate mini rolls, black and white fondant, icing sugar
How? Draw a bat wing stencil on a piece of paper, place it over black fondant and cut out several black wings. Make a ‘glue’ from a little icing sugar and water and stick the wings around the mini rolls. Make eyes by placing small black balls of fondant onto larger white balls, ‘glue’ these onto the rolls.
Twist: Give your bats different outfits (like our smart bow-tied chap above!)
You will need: A pumpkin, a sharp knife and some dips
How? Cut a large mouth towards the bottom of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Carve eyes and a nose with a sharp knife. Place the pumpkin on the egde of a plate, spoon the dip into the mouth and spread onto the plate.
Twist: This can be used as a decoration if you replace the dip with the scooped out pumpkin seeds.
How? See our easy terrifying trifles recipe
You will need: Gingerbread men, writing icing, fondant
How? Easy! Make a batch of gingerbread men and rough them up a bit! Decorate with red, white and black icing and make eyes out of white and black fondant.
Twist: Make animals shaped biscuits to create zombie animals.
You will need: Mini carrots, courgette or cucumber and a selection of dips.
How? Arrange the carrots in a pumpkin shape, cut the courgette for the mouth and add bowls of dips for the eyes.
Twist: Use salsa for the eyes and mouth for a ‘bloody’ twist.
You will need: Toffee apple ingredients and red food colouring
How? Make toffee apples as usual, adding red food colouring in at the last stage of making the toffee.
Twist: Make spiders’ webs with the remaining toffee to decorate the plate.
You will need: A thick straw and a packet of jelly
How? See our easy step-by-step guide.
Twist: Use different coloured jellies and serve the worms in one big slimy bowl.
You will need: Eggs, food colouring and black olives
How? Hard boil the eggs and leave to cool. Peel off the shell and slice in half. Scoop out the yolk and mash with food colouring. Spoon the mixture back into the egg white and top with ‘eyes’ made from a slice of egg white and black olive ends.
Twist: Add bloodshot streaks with a little red food colouring.
You will need: Large and mini marshmallows, wooden skewers, food writing icing and fondant
How? Thread three large marshmallows onto a skewer, add a couple of mini marshmallows at the top for the neck, then add the ‘head’. Stick two smaller skewers out of the top ‘body’ marshmallow and thread mini marshmallows on for the ‘arms’ and large marshmallows for the ‘hands’ – repeat for the legs. Add fondant eyes and decorate with writing icing.
Twist: Give him an evil expression to turn him into a scary zombie.
You will need: Ready made shortcrust pastry, lime curd, green food colouring
How? Grease a muffin tin and add circles of pastry. Colour the lime curd with green food colouring and spoon into the pastry. Bake in the oven (200°C/400°F/Fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6) for 15-20 mins until the pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool before decorating with sweets and fondant eyes.
Twist: Use classic jam tarts and label them ‘blood baths’
You will need: English muffins, tomato puree and cheese slices
How? Cut the muffins in half and spread with a thin layer of tomato puree. Take the cheese slices and carve out scary faces. Place onto the muffin and grill.
Twist: Top a pizza with mini carved cheese faces.
You will need: Biscuits (homemade or shop-bought), buttercream icing, fondant, piping bag
How? Fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe mini ghosts onto a biscuit and decorate with fondant eyes.
Twist: Place a dollop of jam on the biscuit before piping to make the ghosts ‘bloody’
You will need: Coconuts, red food colouring, black marker pen
How? Cut a lid into the coconut and decorate with the food colouring and marker pen. Drink the coconut milk or serve your spooky cocktails in them.
Twist: Paint vampire faces onto the coconuts and wrap in a black cloak.
You will need: Ready made shortcrust pastry, sausages, an egg, black food colouring
How? See our easy step-by-step recipe
Twist: Make mini baby ‘mummies’ to create a whole family
You will need: Oranges, a packet of jelly
How? Slice the top off an orange and scoop out the orange inside, making sure not to make any incisions in the skin. Place the orange onto a plate, make up a batch of jelly and pour into the orange and leave to set in the fridge. Once set, gently carve the eyes into the skin.
Twist: Make an array of scary faces and arrange them in a Halloween scene on your table.
You will need: White chocolate, strawberries, bananas and black writing icing
How? Melt the white chocolate, allow to cool slightly, then dip whole strawberries and sliced bananas into it. Allow to set in the fridge on a piece of greaseproof paper. Once set, draw spooky faces onto the fruit with the writing icing.
Twist: A little red food colouring will make these faces even more scary!
You will need: Peppers, rice/couscous (a filling of you choice)
How? Make up a batch of filling and slice the top off the peppers, scooping out the seeds. Spoon the filling into the peppers and bake in the oven until slightly roasted. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then gently carve faces into one side of the peppers.
Twist: Colour the filling with red food colouring for a gory twist.
You will need: Dark chocolate, marshmallows, biscuits – any sweet treats really!
How? Shape tin foil around a large hand, gathering between the fingers to make a mould. Make up some rocky road and pour into the hand mould, press in marshmallows for the ‘claws’ and allow to set in the fridge.
Twist: Dip the marshmallows in red food colouring before adding to the rocky road.
You will need: Pears, white and black fondant
How? Slice the tip of the pear to a flat surface. Drape over the white fondant and stick on black eyes with a dab of water.
Twist: Pierce the pears with a skewer and place them in a large, tall glass for table decoration.
You will need: Ready made shortcrust pastry, cocktail sausages (uncooked), an egg, black olives
How? Cut a square of pastry around a cocktail sausage and wrap around, pressing the edges firmly together. Draw a wings template on a piece of paper, carve wings out of the pastry and press into the pastry on the sausage roll. Glaze with a little beaten egg and bake in the oven (200°C/400°F/Fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6) for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Place black olives onto the bats for spooky eyes.
Twist: Make your own pastry and add a little food colouring to make completely black bats.
Planning a party? Download our Halloween party planner app
See more Halloween recipes
Our best Halloween cupcakes
Decorations from
Asda
Hobbycraft
Lakeland
The Co-op
Waitrose
Morrisons
Dr Oetker
Mustard Gifts
Sainsbury’s
Welcome to goodtoknow’s collection of amazing cake recipes. We’re here to help you decide which cake to make – there are so many options!
When making a cake, there are 4 things you need to ask yourself to find the perfect cake recipe.
Why am I making a cake?
Wedding, party, special occasion – or just fancy doing some baking?
If you’re baking for a party or a gathering you need to take into account everyone’s different tastes and dietary needs so sometimes a classic cake such as lemon drizzle or Victoria sponge is a safe bet. It’s also a good idea to check if you will need to make egg-free, dairy-free or gluten-free cakes – it can be done!
If you’re just baking for you and the family, you can have a little fun – why not try that tricky recipe you’ve always wanted to? No one needs to know if it doesn’t go right!
What type of cake do I want to make?
A classic two-tier sponge, loaf cake, tray bake, cupcake, there are many different types of cake you can make.
If you’re new to baking, a one-tier cake, loaf cake or tray bake are the easiest to try as you simply pour all the ingredients into one tray.
A two-tier cake will require a little assembly but is relatively easy and cupcakes are a fun way to make a cake and are easy to serve up to guests.
If you want a challenge, try a triple-layer cake or a Battenburg cake.
What flavour cake do I want?
Ahh flavour, the most important part of any cake recipe. The classics are popular for a reason so if you’re unsure – vanilla, lemon and chocolate are a safe bet.
Adding different fruits and vegetables (yes vegetables!) to the mix can bring interesting flavours – banana, apple and carrot are the most obvious but you can put pretty much any fruit into a cake and more vegetables than you might think – have you ever tried courgette cake?
You can also buy flavourings from the supermarket which can add a nice dimension of flavour. Rose water and elderflower are some examples and you can also get fruit flavourings for a stronger burst of flavour.
How do I want to decorate my cake?
Not all cakes need any decoration or icing but if you want to add a little topping to your cake, there are more decisions to make.
A simple icing is sometimes all you need to finish off your cake. Royal icing, buttercream, cream cheese frosting can be spread onto a sponge to add a layer of flavour.
If you want to try a bit of cake decorating, it’s time to break out the fondant. Ready made fondant and modelling paste can be bought from most supermarkets, in a variety of colours, and can be shaped into any designs you can think of (with a little practise!)
So whatever cake you have decided to make, we’ll have the recipe for you. Search your desired cake recipe in the search bar above or scroll through our hundreds of easy cake recipes to get a little more inspiration.
Happy baking!
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