Halloween Baking Championship Season 9

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Season nine unfolds across eight episodes and sixteen bakes at the ruined Henson and Sons Carnival. Its documented briefs include tarot-misu, clown and carousel cakes, bloody doughnuts, flambeed pavlovas, alien Charlotte royales, Bloody Mary bar desserts, body-part Franken-cakes, buried-alive trifles, shrunken-head pies, melting and swallowed desserts, torta della nonna, smashable sweets, flourless desserts, and final cakescapes. One original home adaptation is based on the fire-eater pavlova challenge.

1. Episode 1 · Tarot layers and a new clown mascot

   Welcome to Henson & Sons Carnival

   Sep 11, 2023

   The carnival's fatal history appears in layered tarot-misu desserts before each baker proposes a creepy clown cake as the attraction's new mascot.

   • Opening

     Tarot-misu depicting the carnival's demise

     Layer a tiramisu-inspired tarot-misu and decorate it to predict or depict the untimely demise of Henson and Sons Carnival.

   • Main

     Creepy clown mascot cake

     Design and bake a clown cake that could serve as the carnival's new mascot, combining a readable character with unsettling details.

   Episode source

2. Episode 2 · Bloody doughnuts and a two-faced carousel

   Do-nut Ride This Carousel

   Sep 18, 2023

   Filled doughnuts commemorate a carnival accident before spinning cakes contrast the joy and doom of a creepy carousel.

   • Opening

     Bloody filled doughnuts

     Make filled doughnuts that release or display a blood-like filling in remembrance of an unfortunate carnival accident.

   • Main

     Creepy carousel cake

     Build a carousel cake that takes the judges from a joyful side of the ride to a doomed or frightening side.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Fire-eater meringues and oozing alien heads

   Fire-Breathing Pavlovas and Alien Oddities

   Sep 25, 2023

   Char and controlled flame transform pavlovas before Charlotte royale cakes become alien heads with deliberately oozing interiors.

   • Opening

     Charred and flambeed pavlova

     Create a pavlova inspired by the carnival's Australian fire eater and use charring or a controlled flambe effect in the finished dessert.

   • Main

     Oozing alien-head Charlotte royale

     Construct a Charlotte royale cake as an alien head and include an oozing element that is revealed in the presentation or slice.

   Make our home version →Episode source

4. Episode 4 · Bloody Mary reflections and fused anatomy

   The Fantastic Fondante and Funhouse Hall of Mirrors

   Oct 2, 2023

   The funhouse ghost inspires bar-style desserts based on Bloody Mary, then teams join realistic body parts into deliberately unnatural Franken-cakes.

   • Opening

     Bloody Mary bar dessert

     Create a bar dessert inspired by Bloody Mary and the carnival's hall-of-mirrors ghost.

   • Main

     Team body-part Franken-cake

     Working in teams, fuse two different realistic body parts into one cake with a seamless but monstrous transition.

   Episode source

5. Episode 5 · Buried trifles and shrunken-head pies

   Heads Will Roll

   Oct 9, 2023

   The escape artist's early grave becomes a layered trifle scene, while the carnival's gruesome wind chimes inspire sculpted head-shaped pies.

   • Opening

     Buried-alive trifle

     Layer a trifle that depicts the carnival escape artist buried alive, using the vessel and visible layers as part of the scene.

   • Main

     Shrunken-head pie

     Bake a pie and shape or decorate its crust as a shrunken human head inspired by the carnival's wind chimes.

   Episode source

6. Episode 6 · Desserts that melt and desserts that swallow

   Sword Swallow Your Pride

   Oct 16, 2023

   The Human Ice Pop prompts a deliberately melting sweet, then the sword swallower's fate becomes a nested dessert hidden inside another dessert.

   • Opening

     Dessert designed to melt

     Make a dessert inspired by the Human Ice Pop that visibly melts as an intentional part of its presentation.

   • Main

     Dessert that swallowed another dessert

     Create one complete dessert with a second, distinct dessert concealed inside it, echoing the carnival sword swallower.

   Episode source

7. Episode 7 · The carnival matriarch and the fallen strong man

   A Smashing Good Time

   Oct 23, 2023

   Torta della nonna honors the Tattooed Woman before the Strong Man's destruction inspires desserts made to be broken open at judging.

   • Opening

     Torta della nonna honoring the Tattooed Woman

     Bake a torta della nonna and decorate or flavor it as a tribute to the carnival family's tattooed matriarch.

   • Main

     Smashable Strong Man dessert

     Construct a dessert that can be smashed open in front of the judges, using the break and interior reveal to tell the Strong Man's fate.

   Episode source

8. Episode 8 · Flowers for the dead and a reopened carnival

   Step Fright Up

   Oct 30, 2023

   The finalists commemorate lost carnival souls with flourless desserts, then imagine the attraction's future in large cakescapes built around new rides.

   • Opening

     Flourless memorial dessert

     Create a flourless dessert to accompany the carnival's memorial for its lost souls.

   • Final

     New carnival attraction cakescape

     Build a large cakescape depicting a new carnival attraction for the grand reopening of Henson and Sons Carnival.

   Episode source

Inspired by the briefs

Bake it at home

These are original Baking Show Guide adaptations for a home kitchen. They are inspired by the challenge briefs, not the contestants' recipes or an official recipe from the show.

Inspired by Episode 3

Charred Plum Mini Pavlovas

Crisp-chewy cocoa meringues topped with vanilla cream, broiled plums, and a glossy red plum sauce.

Time

2 hrs 10 min

Makes

6 pavlovas

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 165 g superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 ripe but firm red plums
• 35 g light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, for the plums
• 240 ml heavy cream
• 20 g confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, for the cream

Method

1. Heat the oven to 120 C, or 105 C fan. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and mark six 9 cm circles.
2. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the superfine sugar one spoonful at a time, beating until the meringue is thick, glossy, and no longer gritty.
3. Fold in the cornstarch, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon vanilla, then lightly fold in the cocoa so a few dark streaks remain.
4. Spoon the meringue into the marked circles and make a shallow well in each center. Bake for 75 minutes, turn off the oven, and leave the pavlovas inside for 20 minutes with the door closed. Cool completely.
5. Halve and pit the plums. Cut three plums into wedges and toss with 20 g brown sugar. Arrange on a foil-lined tray and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, watching constantly, until the edges char.
6. Dice the remaining plum and simmer it with the remaining 15 g brown sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water for 8 minutes. Mash and strain for a smooth red sauce, then cool.
7. Whip the cream with the confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to soft peaks. Fill each pavlova with cream, add charred plum wedges, and spoon over the plum sauce.

This is an original Baking Show Guide home adaptation inspired by the episode brief. It is not a contestant recipe and not an official Food Network recipe.

This home version uses a broiler rather than an alcohol flambe; keep the tray close to the heat and watch it continuously.

Assemble shortly before serving so the meringue shells retain their crisp edges.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. foodnetwork.com.

Season result

The winner stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.

See every Halloween Baking Championshipwinner, season by season →

Full cast

Everyone recorded for Season 9, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org.