Some days are for rom-com movies, and some days are reserved for binge-watching the process of creating eerie-looking Halloween-themed desserts. 

While sweet mummy treats or slimy monster cakes might not make you drool — the sinister, chilling, but oh-so intelligently made confectionery in “Halloween Baking Championship” will definitely keep you hooked. 

The TV-G-rated spooktacular baking show is a spinoff of the popular baking series including “Kids Baking Championship,” “Holiday Baking Championship,” and “Spring Baking Championship.” In this competitive baking show, bakers from different parts of the world come together to create sinister-looking treats by following Halloween-theme challenges that are hair-raising, to say the least. The goal is to woo the judges and take home a ginormous cash prize of $25,000.

As the competition proceeds, the judges eliminate contestants based on their preparations. The best contestants move through rounds, with the challenges becoming more and more complex. The champion of the “Main Heat” wins a $25,000 prize and bags the fame of winning the creepiest cooking contest. 

Where Can You Watch “Halloween Baking Championship” in 2022?

“Halloween Baking Championship,” a competition reality series, is available to stream on multiple platforms. Watch it on;

How Does “Halloween Baking Championship” Work?

In this baking competition, there are two rounds in each episode. The first round is the “Preliminary Heat” where the bakers are given a theme to create a small bakery item like cookies, popsicles, or cupcakes. It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours for this round. The contestant that wins the pre-heat round gets an added advantage, like choosing a theme or ingredient of their choice.

Then comes the “Main Heat” round. Here the contestants get additional hours to create a large confection. This time the dessert is larger, and the theme is more twisted. 

In each episode, one baker is eliminated, and the others proceed to the next episode. In the finale, three or four contestants compete against each other in the ultimate showdown round. Eventually, the winner gets $25,000 and earns a spot in the Food Network Magazine.

How Can You Enter to Be on “Halloween Baking Championship?”

Love baking exotic food items? You can apply as a baker for the “Halloween Baking Championship” too. Fill out this form. 

About the Hosts and Judges of “Halloween Baking Championship”

On the “Halloween Baking Championship,” the panel of judges has changed consistently throughout the series, unlike its sister shows. Here’s taking a look at the amazing line-up of judges. 

  • Sherry Yard: As seen in season one, Sherry Yard is an American-based cookbook author, chef, and restaurateur. She has judged other baking shows like “Cake Wars: Christmas” and “The Great American Baking Show.” 
  • Ron Ben-Israel: Part of the judge panel in season one, Ron is a pastry chef and owns the Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in New York City. He was the host of a cooking competition show called “Sweet Genius” and also appeared in “Cake Wars.” 
  • Carla Hall: Unlike other judges, Carla was part of seasons one, two, and three. She is an America-based chef, TV personality, and model. We’ve seen her as the cohort of a TV series called “The Chew,” “Crazy Delicious,” “Best Baker in America,” and more. 
  • Sandra Lee: A chef, an author, and the winner of the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Host, Sandra Lee hosted her show called “Semi-Homemade Cooking With Sandra Lee” which first aired in 2003 and has 15 seasons. 
  • Damiano Carrara: Damiano is an Italy-based chef, author, and restaurateur who has been seen in an Italian show called “Bake Off Italia – Dolci in forno.” He was seen in season two of “Halloween Baking Championship.” 
  • Zac Young: Zac is a popular pastry chef and TV personality. He has been part of several baking shows on Food Network — as well as the Cooking Channel — like “Top Chef: Just Desserts and Unique Sweets” and “Freakshow Cakes.” Zac was featured in season four of the baking show. 
  • Lorraine Pascale: Featured in season four of the show, Lorraine Pascale is a Britain-based TV cook and USA Food Network host. She’s also been a former top model and appeared in “Spring Baking Championship,” and “Worst Bakers in America,”

Past Winners of “Halloween Baking Championship” Seasons

Here are the details about the previous Halloween Baking champion from each previous season.

Season One:

Season one aired on October 5, 2015, and the judges were Sherry Yard (AKA the Good Witch), Ron Ben-Israel (AKA the Pirate), and Carla Hall (AKA the Bad Witch). In season one the contestants made Halloween costume-inspired desserts, combined red apples and green apples in a lip-smacking dessert, sculpted creepy-looking donuts inspired by autumn hayrides and farms, and baked a graveyard-inspired pumpkin dessert. In the final round, the contestants had to create a haunted house. Rudy Martinez was the ultimate winner of season one and bagged the cash prize of $25,000. 

Season Two:

Season two aired on October 3, 2016, and ended with a total of five episodes. Highlights of the seasons were edible zombies, mummy treats, creepy clown cake pops, and a dessert honoring “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead). In the final episode, the contestants had to create a haunted gingerbread house in six hours. Judges added more complexity to the round by asking them to add a ginger and chocolate treat with the house. Michelle Antonishek was the esteemed winner of season two. She’s the executive pastry chef at Los Cuernos Ranch in Cotulla, Texas.

Season Three:

Season three aired on September 5, 2017, and has a total of six episodes. Jasmin Bell was crowned as the winner of season three after she wowed the judges with her light-up jack o’ lantern cakes. Since she won the pre-heat round too, she got to choose a flavor of her own choice to jazz up the cake. She went with chocolate. Another amazing highlight of this season was when contestants had to create witchy desserts with an edible broom and gooey slime creatures. 

Season Four:

Season four aired on September 24, 2018, with a total of six episodes. Highlights of the season were creating pâte à choux body parts to create an edible monster, a wedding cake with creepy monster pairings, and eerie-looking skull desserts. Lyndsy McDonald took home the cash prize, thanks to her red velvet cake. The theme of the final challenge was a smokey nightmare (using dry ice). As per Foodsided, “Lyndsy went big for this final cake. Thinking about the entire scene, she created depth and perspective on the display. With the fallen man splattered on the shattered sugar, it looked gruesome.” 

Season Five:

Season five aired on September 23, 2019, and had a total of six episodes. John Henson hosted the show, and the judges were Zac Young, Carla Hall, and Katie Lee. Karl Fong, founder and owner of Vallejo-based Cakes by Karl, was the season five winner. 

Season Six:

Season six aired on September 14, 2020, and released a total of seven episodes. Carla Hall can be seen as the host/judge, along with Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell as co-judges in this “Halloween Baking Championship” season. The coveted Food Network title was bagged by Sinai Vespie. As per Foodsided, “Theme of the “Main Heat” of the final episode was dead spirit. Her use of passion fruit and chocolate was sublime. Although her cake was the most simple visually, her cake delivered on the big flavors.”

Season Seven:

Season seven aired on September 13, 2021, and was packed with a total of seven episodes. Zac Young and Carla Hall judged the show. In the final challenge of this season, the bakers were tasked to build a two-foot-tall cake topped with a brain. Renee Loranger won the season. Wondering what her winning item looked like? US News reported, “She stacked layers of devil’s food cake 24 inches high as required by the challenge. She coated it with hazelnut buttercream frosting and made it into a scream cake complete with a terrified woman, a brain, a hatchet with a serrated edge, dripping blood, and spooky woods to tell a scary Halloween story.” 

Will There Be a Season 8 of “Halloween Baking Championship?”

“Halloween Baking Championship” season 8 premiered on Food Network on September 12, 2022, at 9 pm Eastern. Read below for more details about the upcoming 8th season.

Halloween Baking Championship - Season 8 Contestants

Halloween Baking Championship – Season 8 Contestants | Source: Food Network

“Halloween Baking Championship” Season 8 Contestants

The new season will include 12 bakers who will compete at Hotel Henson.

The 12 contestants of season 8 include the following:

  • Marcus Brackett — Rockville, MD
  • Jill Davis — Owosso, MI
  • AJ DeDiego — Atlanta
  • Kristi Descher — Valencia, CA
  • Justin Dominguez — San Antonio
  • Lola Forbes — Mesa, AZ
  • Margarita Garcia — Miami
  • Alexey Ivanov — Brooklyn
  • Zac Mercer — Denver
  • Lauren Rogers — Olympia, WA
  • Maricsa Trejo — Richardson, TX
  • Blayre Wright — Lancaster, PA

“Halloween Baking Championship” Season 8 Episodes

The 8th season of “Halloween Baking Championship” will include seven episodes, with most episodes lasting 2 hours. The Food Network complete season schedule with initial showings can be found below.

Each new episode will show on Monday nights at 9 pm Eastern on Food Network.

  • S8E1 – Welcome to Hotel Henson (2 hours) – Sept 12, 2022
  • S8E2 – Croquem-boots (2 hours) – Sept 19, 2022
  • S8E3 – Maze Madness – Sept 26, 2022
  • S8E4 – Spoiled Rotten by Axe-ident – Oct 3, 2022
  • S8E5 – Flambakers and Open Wounds (2 hours) – Oct 10, 2022
  • S8E6 – Eyes on the Prize (2 hours) – Oct 17, 2022
  • S8E7 – We’ve Got Spirit (2 hours) – Oct 24, 2022

Learn More About Your Favorite Movies and Shows on BuddyTV

For an ardent foodie, cooking and baking shows are always a delight to watch. Wish to explore some more cooking shows like “Holiday Baking Championship?” Make sure to check out “Delicious Miss Brown” or “Kids Baking Championship.” BuddyTV is your one-stop destination for reliable news, and detailed reviews about your favorite TV shows and movies. Sign up to receive BuddyTV’s newsletter and stay caught up with all the juicy content!

Rebecca Swanson

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV