What Is Your Halloween Baking Style?

Piping outlines on three dozen cookies with a timer running. Testing whether the batter glows under a blacklight. Pulling a second loaf of pumpkin bread out of the oven. Stacking cake tiers and praying to the dowel gods. Deciding what to bake based on what's about to expire. Melting chocolate in the microwave. That's the whole plan.

A set of fine piping tips and a turntable. A digital thermometer and gel colours in every shade. A wooden spoon that's older than you are. An offset spatula and a very tall cake box. One big bowl. Maybe a fork. The fridge.

Chill it for three, to be safe. Sharp edges matter. Wonder what happens at 30 minutes vs. overnight and test both. Set a timer and tidy the kitchen while you wait. Use the time to pipe decorations for the other three components. Chill for 2 hours? You already baked it. Pick a different recipe with no dough.

The icing bled and now the ghost has a moustache. The colour experiment turned everything a concerning grey-green. Nothing went wrong. It never does. It's banana bread. Tier two is doing a slow lean toward the edge of the board. You cannot recreate it. You don't know what you did. The chocolate seized. You bought more cookies.

"Those were too pretty to eat" (they ate them anyway). "How did you MAKE that?" "Can I get the recipe?" — every single year. Someone filmed the slice for their story. "Wait, you made this? It's actually good." "You did NOT need to bring anything" (the bowl is empty).