Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Tahini Glaze
What better fall-inspired dessert to make than this tahini-glazed pumpkin bundt cake. A medley of fragrant, ground spices enhance the rich sweetness of this incredibly moist bundt cake. Topped with a toasty, perfectly bittersweet tahini glaze, this easy to make and comforting fall dessert is the perfect centerpiece for your next dinner party, Halloween gathering, or special occasion.
Black Sesame Cupcakes
There's nothing artificial about these dramatically hued treats. Supermoist (and whole-grain) chocolate cupcakes get their blackout color from black sesame seeds and antioxidant-rich dark cocoa powder. These desserts are delicious and better for you, with every bit of fun, festive flair you crave.
Witch's Hat Cake
For a spooky spin on a Halloween-inspired sheet cake, look no further than this festive witch's hat cake. We opted for boxed cake mix for simplicity, but if there's a homemade recipe you prefer, that works too. As long as you're ready to get a little crafty and extra witchy, this easy, Halloween dessert will come together in a flash.
Lemon-Black Sesame Baked Doughnuts
If you need a break from rainbow-smattered sweets and unicorn-coated everything, these deliciously dark doughnuts are exactly what you’re looking for. A bright lemony glaze balances the warm toasty flavors delivered by black sesame seeds for a balanced, not-too-sweet doughnut. Being an oven-baked doughnut, this recipe is perfect for the first-time doughnut maker or anyone who’s not trying to spend their Saturday morning cleaning up a deep-fry station in their kitchen. We used black food dye to intensify the darkness of these doughnuts, but feel free to leave it out if you’d prefer. Beyond being an incredibly tasty way to boycott rainbow foods, these black sesame doughnuts are the perfect treat to whip out for Halloween.
Boo-tiful Pumpkin Cake
Make two recipes of this pumpkin cake and create your own tasty pumpkin!
Deserted Graveyard Cake
Prepare this decadent, chocolate-frosted cake for a festive Halloween dessert.
Candy Corn Cookies
Those fancy Halloween slice-and-bake cookies are a breeze to make at home thanks to a little food coloring. And trust us, these candy corn cookies are infinitely more delicious than the Halloween candy they’re inspired by (no offense if you like candy corn). Easy to make and absolutely adorable, these autumn-inspired treats are as perfect to send for the kids’ school Halloween party as they are to bring to your own fall festivities. You can even prep the dough a few days in advance and refrigerate, so that baking off the candy corn cookies is a breeze on the day you plan to eat them. Just follow the recipe through step 3, and be sure to wrap the loaf pan tightly with a few layers of plastic wrap.
Pumpkin-Chocolate Brownies
TIP: Let fresh-baked brownies chill, uncovered, overnight. For a perfect slice, cut while they're cold. Serve at room temperature.
Little Monster Cupcakes
Decorate cupcakes for Halloween by creating not-too-scary monster faces on top of the cupcakes using colored frostings and an assortment of candies.
Bat Cake
For the Halloween crafter inside all of this, this simple Halloween sheet cake is a fun, easy dessert to make. Devil’s food cake is very dark chocolaty color, but a red velvet cake would look just as fitting and festive for the bat, too. Piping bags and tips are found in craft stores or specialty baking shops. Be sure to cut the cake rounds in the prescribed order so that the bat’s head with ears comes out as 1 of the cuts.
Mummified Candy-Corn Cake
This festive candy corn-colored cake is sure to impress your Halloween guests.
Spider Web Cake
This incredibly fudgy flourless chocolate cake is a much better way to satisfy your own spooky sweet cravings than dipping into your kids’ Halloween candy. Dark and delightful, this rich and chocolatey cake only requires five ingredients and about an hour to pull together.
Spiderweb Spice Cake
Colored candies are all you need to transform a chocolate cake into a creepy, crawling Halloween-themed cake. Don't worry, even with the spiders you won't be able to resist this delicious confection.
Witchy Cookies
Save time by using refrigerated sugar-cookie dough to make these spooky witch cookies. Use green food coloring and cocoa to dye the dough green and brown then decorate with brown icing and mini chocolate candies.
Lemon and Black Sesame Baked Doughnuts
We're here for anti-unicorn breakfasts
Flying Brooms
No Halloween party is complete without a table full of assorted goodies, especially in the form of monsters, ghosts, or ghoulish accessories like these witches brooms! These cookie brooms are a fun and easy Halloween dessert that are great to serve to adults and kids alike.
Chocolate Candy Corn Truffles
Dark chocolate and bitter orange offset the sweetness of candy corn in these fun but fancy truffles. Prep and Cook Time: about 30 minutes, plus at least 2 1/2 hours to chill. You'll need 64 fluted 1-inch paper candy cups for this recipe.
Owl Cookies
Who gives a hoot if someone takes the last cookie? When the cookies are this cute, can you blame them?
Pumpkin Toffee Crunch Cheesecake
Bring Halloween cheer to the dessert table with this too-cuke cheesecake. Keep it simple by preparing just about everything for this cake ahead of time.
Halloween Spider Cookies
Landing somewhere between adorable and slightly spooky, these Halloween spider cookies are sure to fulfill all your creepy-crawly sweet needs for your upcoming Halloween festivities. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your spider cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Decorate these Halloween cut-out cookies with black gel icing, royal icing, candy eyes, orangle and black sprinkles, or whatever fun decorations you have on hand. These cookies make for a playful, spooky food craft that grown-ups and kids alike can enjoy.
Graveyard Cake
Halloween desserts definitely call for having a little extra fun in the kitchen. This kinda-cute, kinda-creepy Graveyard Cake is easy to make, fun to decorate (so recruit the kids’ help), and is sure to be a perfectly spooky centerpiece for any Halloween dessert table.
Pumpkin Madeleines
Make these sweet little cakes throughout the fall. For Halloween, all you need are some edible eyeballs and a bit of black food coloring to turn them into charming pumpkin ghosts. You'll need 2 (12-mold) madeleine pans to make this recipe. Find them at a kitchenware shop or online.
Trick or Treat Cupcakes
This cupcake is the showcase for our Halloween thrills. For the parade of goblins, ghosts, and monsters looking for something sweet, we top it with anything we can find on the candy aisle. There's no trick to this treat—it's scrumptious any time of year.
Ghost Cookies
Prepare for a sweet scare when these adorable Halloween ghost cookies are all iced, decorated, and ready to party. Super easy and kid-friendly to make, these butter cut-out cookies coated with royal icing are the perfect dessert for your Halloween spread. Candy eyeballs add a playful, whimsical touch to these spooky treats, but you could also use black icing to draw eyes on your ghost cookies. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your ghost cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Whip up a batch with the kids and let them go to town with the decorating for a fun Halloween kitchen activity.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Butter
Brown butter takes these rich, seasonal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to the next level, adding a nutty, fragrant flavor that is absolutely perfect for fall. Canned pumpkin puree lends moisture to these fluffy, cake-like treats while warm chocolate chips fill every bite. Make these for a Halloween party or a fall dinner party, and be sure to store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Skeleton Cupcakes
Stop the presses! These too-cute cupcakes are a must-bake for your Halloween party. There's room for creativity on these delicious desserts, so make the faces fun or scary--your choice.
Frankenstein Cookies
Starting with refrigerated, store-bought cookie dough, these cooky Frankenstein cookies are an easy Halloween baking project to whip up this year. That said, packaged cookie dough is made to spread, so if you’d rather your Frankenstein cookies have rectangular or otherwise shaped faces (as opposed to these round-faced cuties), you can use a classic cut-out cookie dough that will better hold its shape.
Pumpkin Cake
For this festive version of a pumpkin cake, we opted for a "spiced pumpkin" box cake mix, but any box mix will do. Adding powdered sugar to the prepared frosting helps make it thicker and less likely to melt off the cake or get too soft and drippy. It's helpful to use piping bags to get a nicel layer of frosting and then blend together on the pumpkin to get green vines and leaves.
Monster Brownies
Your little human monsters will love decorating brownies with chocolate, marshmallows, and M&M's to make these sweet treats. For the base, we doubled the recipe for Dark Chocolate Brownies, baking it in a 9- by 13-in. pan and omitting the glaze. Thin, flat chocolate bars work best for the faces.
Chocolate Ghost Cakes
Make super-quick Halloween treats using this 3-ingredient recipe that starts with packaged cream-filled chocolate cakes.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze
With a rich, gooey pumpkin spice filling, buttery pecan streusel topping, and maple glaze, this fluffy and moist pumpkin coffee cake is sure to impress. Perfect for any occasion, from your next fall brunch to a Halloween party, this coffee cake is easy to make and full of toasty fall flavors.
Ghost-Topped Fudge Pie
Rich and chocolaty, this pie is perfect for Halloween ghosts and goblins!
Almond Spider Cakes
A web of sugary goodness awaits you in these Halloween cupcakes. Almond paste in the batter and a colorful almond glaze give these cakes a distinctive nutty taste that kids will love. Top with plastic or gummy spiders for a spooky touch.
Pumpkin Cake with Little Ghosts
Don't let this creepy cake fool you, it's infused with hauntingly-good spices, rich pumpkin flavor, and a decadent chocolate drizzle. Even the little ghosts are edible!
Cunning Citrus Cake
This autumn recipe comes together in no time and never fails to impress.
Red-Velvet Cake Balls with White Chocolate
Dipped in white chocolate, these red-velvet cake balls are perfect for turning into eyeballs on Halloween. With a steady hand and food coloring, David Burtka paints detailed irises and pupils on each one; for the less artistically inclined, an M and M pressed into the white chocolate before it sets makes for a quick-and-easy creepy alternative.
Pumpkin-Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches
These whoopie pies give a whole knew meaning to cake and ice cream! Vanilla ice cream is sandwiched between the festive orange cakes that are pack with pumpkin flavor.
Ghosts in the Mud
These cookies are so ooey-gooey and chocolaty that a gang of ghosts couldn't resist and got stuck!
Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies
Gingerbread cutters work if you're making skeletons. You can also use 2 1/2-inch cat or bat cutters. Look for meringue powder at craft stores or in the craft section of some big-box retailers.
Pumpkin Cookies
Our editor grew up making these family-favorite Pumpkin Cookies every fall, and the smell still reminds her of her mother's kitchen. You can top off the frosting with a single candy corn, a pecan, or colored sprinkles or put two cookies together to make whoopie pies. Family, friends, and neighbors alike will go nuts over these sweet-spiced Pumpkin Cookies!
Skullduggery Squares
The real pumpkin in these little bars makes them moist and full of color!
