According to a new consumer survey by Hershey, Americans across age groups are more excited for Halloween this year. 86% of Americans ages 35-44 reported being either more or as excited for this coming season. With that excitement comes bigger plans to celebrate this Halloween. 

• Two-thirds (66%) of Americans ages 18-34 and parents with a child under 18 plan to do more for Halloween this year compared to other years.
• More than half (59%) of parents with a child under 18 have already started thinking about Halloween celebrations.
• Two-thirds (66%) of people ages 18-34 plan to do more for Halloween this year compared to other years for themselves.

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Hershey Company between August 5 and August 9, 2021, among 2,056 US adults ages 18 and older of which 1,935 celebrate Halloween.

Halloween provides retailers with a unique opportunity for LTO’s (Limited Time Offers). By creating and marketing products that reflect the holiday, businesses give customers an immediate reason to visit and make purchases.

Colorful creations

For bakers, vibrant purple, orange, and green will catch the eye of any customer looking for the treat to impress at their Halloween part, according to BakeMark. Better yet, both chocolate and vanilla into one delectable ring cake will bring the variety your customers are looking for.

BakeMark’s Ultra Rich Crème Cake Mix line brings the versatility without compromise. Whether muffins, ring cakes, or loaves, the adaptability of Ultra Rich crème cake mixes will broaden your bakery case. With the richest flavor along with excellent shelf life, your customers will indulge in the same great taste they would if freshly baked. So, when you are looking for a mix for your baking masterpieces, you deserve the best quality ingredients. With BakeMark you won’t have to compromise.

In addition, with the vibrant colors and the unique shimmer of BakeMark’s Sprinkelina line of sprinkles, treat will beat trick every time. 

Theme cakes

Bake Me A Wish! is offering brand new Halloween Theme Cakes, including Hocus Pocus, Mickey and Minnie Happy Halloween, and an “Eat, Drink and Be Scary!” message cake.

The company offers a thrilling collection of wickedly delicious, gourmet Halloween treats for every ghoul and goblin on your list. From sinister selections like the Spooky Spider Tote to festive favorites like the Trick or Treat Boo Box, the online bakery provider for consumers and corporate clients has you covered for a frighteningly fun Halloween celebration.

Options from Bake Me A Wish! include Mini Halloween Cupcakes, which consists of chocolate, red velvet and vanilla cupcakes with creamy frosting, orange and black sprinkles and an array of ghoulish faces you can eat. 

Halloween classics include jumbo cupcakes in Pumpkin Spiced Jack-O-Lantern, Candy Corn, Spider Chocolate, and Cobweb Confetti. 

Trend-setting designs

Decorating ideas and tips for bakers will take you Halloween cakes to the next level. Melissa Trimmer, CEPC®, corporate executive pastry chef at Dawn Foods, starts out by offering that rip cakes continue to be extremely popular. 

Halloween Drip Cake

While they started as an emerging trend, drip cakes are now considered a standard for high-quality, premium cakes – especially on Instagram and other social media platforms. Rich and indulgent flavors also continue to be a key trend in the cake space. The cake shown on the left contains Dawn’s Dark Devils Food Cake Mix, which has a stronger, more decadent taste than regular Devil’s Food cake. 

In this Halloween drip cake, Chef Melissa used a buttercream, variegated leaf border to create the décor on top of the green drip. When working with buttercreams, cake decorators may find it difficult to get the exact color desired. Chef Melissa recommends using pre-colored buttercreams to get those highly pigmented colors and to save time in the decorating process.  For this technique, stripe the inside of a piping bag fitted with a leaf tip and pipe leaves in various directions.  

Bakers can also apply drip cakes to other holidays and seasons too, such as Christmas or springtime. Just adjust the color scheme and decorate accordingly. 

Buttercream Pumpkin Cake 

Sometimes you want a high-quality-looking cake, but don’t have the time to create something as time-consuming as a drip cake. This buttercream pumpkin cake only requires simple techniques, such as using a star tip to create the pumpkin decorations with cream cheese buttercream icing. Chef Melissa recommends this style of cake for bakers that are looking to create Halloween-themed cakes in high volume, as the cream cheese frosting is smooth and easy to manipulate into the shape you want. 

Another great decorating tip for Halloween is to consider secondary palette colors that may not be considered traditional for the season. Typically, Halloween colors are purple, green, orange and white, but here, Chef Melissa uses blue to help the cake stand out.  It’s no coincidence that this is the same blue as heirloom pumpkins!

Finally, consider what flavors are trending for the season. Yet again, pumpkin spice continues to dominate. Dawn is seeing its customers ask for pumpkin spice products as early as August. Make sure that you are incorporating this flavor into your menu throughout the fall season. 

Sugar Skull Cupcakes

While larger cakes are starting to make a comeback, many consumers are still opting for single-serve options – like cupcakes – at celebrations. 

Dawn is also starting to see more people merge holiday celebrations across cultures, such as celebrating both Día de Los Muertos and Halloween. When decorating holiday cakes, Chef Melissa recommends finding ways to integrate celebrations across cultures where it makes sense. These sugar skull cupcakes incorporate elements of Día de Los Muertos and Halloween.

Chef Melissa used a shimmery fondant disc to make the top of these cupcakes look like a sugar skull. When it comes to working with fondants, many bakers think that they must make them from scratch. Many times, this is when the fondant cracks. Chef Melissa recommends bakers consider working with a partner, such as Satin Ice, for your fondant. This cuts the decoration process down significantly.