Sugary Halloween Horror That Takes the Cake

From edible blood, fondant eyeballs and goo-filled treats to cereal “killers,” costumes, severed hands and sudden death, Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship'' is a foodie’s dream for chefs with an appetite for horror.

The entire show experience has been a thrill-a-minute for Nicole Proske, one of 10 professional bakers from across the country thrown into season seven’s steep competition at Camp Devil’s Food Lake. She is one of two contestants from Miami.

Proske, with less than a decade of baking experience under her belt, is a cake artist at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura and has already made a name for herself.

Throughout her career, she’s created jaw-dropping desserts ranging from elegant cupcakes, three-tiered and designer handbag cakes, macarons, fruit tarts, cheesecakes and cake pops.

Her favorite 1980s slasher film-inspired treats fit the competition’s horror genre perfectly. A custom cake based on Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” classic, Proske’s all-time favorite horror film, helped her land a spot in the competition. Her cookie cereal s’mores “cereal” killer pie is a close second.

Despite being the youngest contestant, Proske said she was not intimidated, instead putting on her game face and crushing this season’s first challenge.

“I try not to think about age as a direct relation to skill set, but I do realize that experience does come with age to some degree,” she said, and added that the competition helped her pick up some things from her fellow contestants.

Proske’s expertise stems from holiday baking with her grandmother, an undergraduate degree at Johnson & Wales University North Miami and her current role at Turnberry.

At 18 years old, she had already narrowed her career focus to pastry art, leading to her first professional job at the Fontainebleau Hotel Miami Beach while attending culinary school full time.

The fast-paced setting of the hospitality industry afforded her the organizational, time management and the problem-solving skills she says have strengthened her position as a contestant.

“I had never been judged or to a competition near this scale, so this was the first time my work was critiqued,” said Proske, admitting she was surprised when someone from the network reached out to her through Instagram to audition for the show. “I didn’t think I had the skills to be on these [types of] shows. I’ve watched them constantly and seen people with so much talent and experience. I never thought I would be one of [them].”

Feedback from renowned pastry chef judges Carla Hall, Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young are what guided Proske’s decisions for the competition’s subsequent rounds.

“Halloween Baking Championship,” hosted by comedian and actor John Henson, presents frightening challenges for contestants fighting for a chance to be crowned the Halloween Baking Champion and take home a $25,000 prize.

The challenges – cereal-inspired pies, a serial killer-themed cake, a blind cake bake, creepy cookies and cupcakes and a sudden death bake-off – certainly pushed the bakers to the edge.

Even Paul Allicock, the second Miami contestant and a pastry chef of 16 years, was pleasantly surprised by the twists and secret ingredients that tested their skills.

The former Komodo Miami and Kimpton Epic Hotel pastry chef’s creative process was on full display for thousands of viewers who tuned in to the hit baking series that aired the first episode of the season in mid-September.

Allicock turned to his Caribbean roots to create a pie for the first challenge, selecting corn cereal for a Dutch mango-pineapple dessert infused with a tropical liquor.

“I’ve been in the kitchen since I was 8 or 9 years old and always had the drive to learn, bake and put things together,” he said. “It has been nothing but a roller coaster of excitement since I was notified. I felt a sense of relief. Like finally, I made it far enough out there for people to see who Paul Allicock is, what I do, and the types of flavors [that] I can produce.”

After watching several seasons of the series with his Halloween-adoring sons, the opportunity to participate in the competition was a dream come true, he said. It also reignited a passion that had been lost after having his creativity stifled by former employers.

“Some places never allowed me to explore my creativity so it was a bit of a challenge,” said Allicock, sharing some of the obstacles he encountered throughout his career. “I was always searching for some form of stimulation to keep me going. Sometimes, when you’re just doing a job, it can get monotonous and you need something to stimulate you to [remind] you of that passion inside of you.”

Like Proske, this was the first competition that Allicock participated in. Both say they’ve been inspired by the other bakers, who each either own a home-based or storefront bakery in their respective communities.

“One of the best parts of the competition was meeting all of the bakers,” said Proske. “We are really close and FaceTime each other at least once a week to share recipes and experiences. It’s helpful to have a group of talented people as friends.”

“They’re all down-to-earth people trying to be their own entrepreneurs, and each has some unique thing about them,” added Allicock.

Though the Miami bakers were forced to go head-to-head, there was no animosity at any point during the competition. One of the two, however, made it farther than the other.

“It motivates me to go even harder,” Allicock said about the competition’s result.

Both contestants are working on building their clientele for their respective home-based businesses.

Allicock’s goal is to have Atomic Biscuit, a catering business that specializes in unique biscuit-based gourmet sandwiches and also offers custom-made cakes and other sweet treats, go mobile via a food truck or at a storefront location in Miami. For now, the business accepts orders through its Instagram at @atomic_biscuit20.

Despite working full time, Proske also wants to increase orders for her home-based baking business through her Instagram, @cakecouture1997.

“I love making cakes and I want to work toward making it full time where I won’t need a 9 to 5 anymore,” she said.

Bingeworthy past seasons of “Halloween Baking Championship” are streaming on Discovery+ and Hulu live TV in time for Halloween. Season seven airs every Monday at 9 p.m. on Food Network through Oct. 25.