Frightfully good

With the right offer there’ll be no witch-ful thinking when it comes to sales success

Halloween is one of the most lucrative occasions of the year and one to get your teeth into as the last key event before Christmas.

When it comes to getting into the spirit with food and drink, it doesn’t take much effort to have an effect. A few simple themed specials and ghoulish drinks and you’re all set. Try pizza decorated with strips of red pepper and cheese circles and olive ‘eyeballs’, ‘brains’ spaghetti in tomato sauce, ‘witch’s finger’ hot dogs, banana ghosts and ‘blood-red’ cranberry juice with edible fangs.

Boxes of cakes and treats to takeaway for parties at home and grazing boxes for spooky lunches are quick and easy to put together. Why not make up biscuit or doughnut decorating kits too with all little ones need inside for spooktacular creations? »

Top tip

STOCK UP ON INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED BAGS AND PACKS OF TREATS FOR TRICK OR TREATERS

Top tip

FOR QUICK AND EASY SERVES THAT’LL HAVE CUSTOMERS COMING BACK FOR MORE, BAKE FAIRY CAKES, BISCUITS AND CAKE POPS AND DECORATE ON A SPOOKY THEME – GO SPIDERS, GHOSTS, SKELETONS, PUMPKINS, BATS AND EYEBALLS

MINI PUMPKIN & FETA PIES

Serves 6

»PREP: 40 MINS

»COOK: 1 HR 10 MINS

INGREDIENTS

450g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks; 2 garlic cloves; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 125g cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing; 2 egg yolks; 1 egg, beaten; grating of nutmeg; ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional); 200g feta, crumbled

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter 6 holes of a muffin tin and line each with a strip of baking parchment that overhangs the top.

2 Tip pumpkin and unpeeled garlic into a roasting tin, drizzle with 1 tbsp of the oil, season and toss to coat. Roast for 30 mins, stirring halfway through, until soft. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

3 Meanwhile, cook onion in a frying pan with remaining 1 tbsp oil for 8-10 mins until soft and slightly golden. Leave to cool.

4 Tip the flour, turmeric and a pinch of salt into a food processor. Add butter and whizz until mixture resembles fine crumbs. 5Add egg yolks and 2 tsp cold water and blitz again until mixture starts to clump together. Squeeze it between your fingers – if it sticks together, tip mixture on to a work surface, if it’s too dry, add more water, 1 tsp at a time. Knead pastry a few times to bring it together, but don’t overwork it. Shape into 2 circles, one slightly smaller than the other, then wrap in baking parchment and chill for at least 20 mins.

6 Squeeze garlic from skins into roasted pumpkin and mash together. Add fried onion, grate over some nutmeg, tip in chilli flakes, if using, and feta and mix.

7 Roll the larger circle of pastry out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a 10cm cutter to stamp out 6 circles (re-roll pastry as necessary). Press pastry circles into prepared muffin tin. Spoon in squash filling.

8 Roll remaining pastry circle out using an 8cm cutter to cut out 6 lids.

9 Cut spooky pumpkin faces into lids using a small, sharp knife. Press lids over pies in tin and brush with beaten egg. Bake for 40 mins until golden brown, then leave to cool for 10 mins in tin before lifting out. Eat hot or leave to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container in fridge for up to 2 days or the freezer for up to 2 months. Can be reheated in a low oven for 10 mins.

HALLOWEEN OMBRE CAKE

Serves 8-10

»PREP: 1 HR 10 MINS

»COOK: 30 MINS

INGREDIENTS

For the cake: 225g softened butter; 225g golden caster sugar; 4 large eggs; ½ lemon, zested; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 225g self-raising flour; splash of milk

For the icing: 600g icing sugar, sifted; 300g unsalted or salted butter, softened; orange and green food colouring; chocolate

Top tip

DOUBLE UP THE QUANTITIES TO MAKE A FOUR-LAYER CAKE

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line base of two 20cm spring-form cake tins with baking parchment.

2 Beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Crack eggs in one at a time and whisk well, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Add lemon zest, vanilla, flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk until just combined, then divide mixture between the two tins.

3 Bake in centre of oven for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into middle of each cake comes out clean. After 10 mins remove cakes from tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

4 To make icing, beat sifted icing sugar and butter together, add 2-3 tbsp of boiling water to loosen and beat until smooth. Use a little to sandwich cakes together.

5 Using roughly a third of the icing, cover cake with a thin layer using a palette knife – this first coat is to fill any gaps between the sponges and catch any crumbs. Once covered, chill for 30 mins.

6 Split remaining icing between two bowls. Use a little food colouring to dye one batch orange and the other green. Remove cake from fridge.

7 Dollop orange icing on top of cake and, using a palette knife, spread icing over top, then tease it down sides, stopping roughly halfway down. Use green icing to cover bottom half of cake.

8 You should now have a stripe of green at the bottom and orange on top half of cake. Clean palette knife and gently swipe icing upwards, through green into orange, blending colours together. Continue to do this around cake, wiping palette knife between each swipe. Once you’ve gone all the way around, run palette knife all way around edges to smooth surface.

9 Top with melted chocolate and Halloween-themed decorations, such as fondant icing pumpkins, chocolate bats, marshmallow ghosts and sprinkles. You can add in a third colour of icing; just add a stripe inbetween the green and orange and then smooth and blend all three together.