ISSUE 4 OCTOBER 2012
Recently a friend and I were in a shop which had a few Halloween items on display. This friend is, like me, a fun-‐loving mum who enjoys celebra<ons of any kind, par<es, kitschy things, retro sweets and baking. But unlike me, she is not American. So in response to my obvious delight about haunted house cake stands and graveyard napkins, she said, in a bemused
“tell me again why Halloween is such a big deal? I just don’t get it.” way,
She is not alone. Many – okay, most – of my friends simply do not “get” Halloween or why it is such an enjoyable – and important, holiday in the States. And sadly, as is the case with so many American customs and tradi<on, the elements that have been adopted by the UK in recent years are the most commercial and least important to making Halloween so much fun. Now, of course trick-‐or-‐ trea<ng – one of the few elements that has taken off over here – is one part of celebra<ng Halloween. But most of the really enjoyable celebratory aspects are being missed out on by folks who choose to celebrate Halloween. Growing up in a small New England town, Halloween was one of the major community events for the en<re year. The party held in the centre of town – either in the church hall or community centre – was looked forward to by neighbours and residents of all ages. For me as a child, Halloween prep began in early October through heated playground discussions about what costume
our mums would make (we weren’t limited to being a witch/ devil/vampire/ghost like children are here in the UK – I personally was a ballerina, a nurse, Queen Guinevere, a cat and a “velvet witch”, to name a few). But it wasn’t just the kids who looked forward to Halloween or got dressed up. Our mums – and in some cases, dads – saw it as a chance to decorate our yards and houses, make amazing costumes for themselves as well as for children and best of all – to bake special treats. As one of my fellow ex-‐pats told me, “My mom was big into Halloween. She'd start making cookies and pumpkin bread weeks in advance.” And it’s true. Halloween is a crea<ve’s dream come true – and in par<cular – a baker & cake decorator’s dream come true! Obviously pumpkins feature heavily, both in flavour and design ideas. But it doesn’t stop there. Into royal icing? Think elaborately iced cookies shaped like brooms<cks, witches hats and ghosts. Like miniature cakes? How about bat-‐shaped mini cakes drizzled with a black maple icing. More of a pie/tart baker? Try pumpkin & chocolate pies with a swirled paTern to look like spider webs. Or if you enjoy a challenge, do a search for “shortbread haunted houses” and you will see work to rival any winter<me gingerbread house fantasy. And of course, there are the cupcakes – quite literally, millions of them (my search for “Halloween cupcakes” returned 15.4m op<ons) to accommodate your personal preferences and styles. Halloween baking – in kind with autumnal baking in general – is
also an opportunity to work with seasonal ingredients: fresh pumpkins, just-‐picked apples and root vegetables like carrots and beetroot all feature heavily in popular recipes. Or, as another ex-‐ pat friend men<oned, “aPer Halloween, my mother a few days later would take the pumpkins from the stoop, carve them, and boil them down...She'd freeze the pies she made for Thanksgiving.” These types of vegetables make for the most incredibly moist and flavourful cakes – something we Yanks are always striving to achieve. On the day itself, the aforemen<oned trick-‐or-‐trea<ng (which actually happens a lot less now than it did 20-‐30 years ago) is so much more entertaining than the UK’s approach of cheap rubber masks and capes bought has<ly as an aPerthought by many parents. Care and aTen<on is given to what you dress up as -‐ “the best part of Halloween was deciding what we wanted to be and the lengths and crea<vity my mom went to, to make our costumes” and it is truly anything goes because we don’t limit ourselves to just monsters and witches! In addi<on, many households par<cipate in the experience itself: “One year my dad put out a scarecrow-‐type man on the front porch in a chair at the beginning of the month, including a mask and hat. On Halloween he put a bowl (of candy) with a sign saying, "please only take one” and removed the dummy, put on the ousit himself and sat with the bowl in his lap. Whenever a greedy kid came up he would grab their hand and say, "Sign says TAKE ONE'!" You can bet he gave a few teens a big fright!” 17