When will Halloween Baking Championship Season 11 air? Release date, what to expect, and more

Halloween Baking Championship is back with Season 11 set to release this fall sooner than expected. It will start airing on Monday, September 15, 2025, at 9:00 pm ET as announced by Food Network. The trailer has not been released yet. However, some intriguing and suspenseful details have surfaced, heightening the anticipation.

Episodes will air on Monday evenings on Food Network, followed by a repeat on HBO MAX the next day. The series will feature 10 participants welcomed into the horrifying mansion, where a basket of fruits is dripping with blood. The list has not been disclosed yet.

Halloween Baking Championship comes with a new format this season

The contestants are welcomed into a scary mansion filled with secret passageways and scares around every corner, where challenges are sinister based on personal fear. The format is slightly different this time, as the bottom three contenders will bake for their lives. 

The format of Halloween Baking Championship includes a unique switch. Instead of simply eliminating the baker with the least appreciation in each episode, the last three contestants would compete by creating witch symbol desserts designed to ward off evil spirits, and eventually, one of them would get eliminated.

A total of seven episodes would constitute the series, including a two-hour premiere titled For Doom the Bell Tolls. This time, the level of competition is extreme as the bakers would be asked to reveal their greatest fear and then challenged to make it pump edible blood.

Host John Henson returns to host this season while the judges Stephanie Boswell, Zac Young, and Carla Hall continue on this panel. Carla Hall served as a judge since the first season, with Stephanie Boswell and Carla Hall joining in later seasons. The trio has judged together since season six. 

 The bakers are tested over seven episodes with a series of sinister challenges inspired by the haunted manor, and the most terrifying aspect of all – their own personal fears. For the first time, the bottom three bakers in most episodes will be forced to bake for their lives as judges Stephanie Boswell, Carla Hall, and Zac Young decide whose chilling displays will earn $25,000 and the title of Halloween Baking Champion!” As per the Food Network.

The last participant who manages to survive the whole journey would be crowned the winner of the Halloween Baking Championship title and receive a prize of $25,000. The rest of the format is the same, where there would be two rounds in each episode. A short "preliminary heat"  followed by a "main heat" where they have to prepare scary and spooky desserts based on Halloween themes.

About Halloween Baking Championship

Halloween Baking Championship started in October 2015 and returns with a new season every year on Food Network. It's a Halloween-based baking competition where a group of talented bakers compete for the title and prize money.

During the journey, they face fearful challenges where they produce edible "creations" such as haunted houses, skeleton cakes, witches, monsters, creepy cupcakes, and even a spooky science lab. There were unique themes in the last season, such as Laboratory Story, Beetlejuice, Mad Mutations and Transformations, etc.

Manny Martinez was announced the winner after he presented his black magic cake, which impressed the judges. It was later revealed that he had injured his knee two days before the final challenge, where he was visibly limping.

This year seems to be more intense with fresh talents from around the world coming together with new themes and ideas. It would be interesting to watch the participants deal with the new twist and navigate the challenges each time to reach the winning title.

Stay tuned for more updates.