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From flayed skulls to edible eyeballs, here’s our round up of the most gruesome gastronomy for your Halloween party.

Snacks

Delicious digits
US Baking blogger, Texanerin, has created these wholesome wholewheat witches’ fingers, with a recipe that’s as easy as a first year’s homework at Hogwarts. She suggests serving with a strawberry jam dip, and we love the use of almonds for gnarly finger nails.

Texanerin’s witches’ fingers

Flayed skull Antipasti
One for all you flesh-eating zombie fans out there from hellish food blogger, Necro-nom-nom-nomican. Simple to make but scary as hell. Simply pick up a plastic skull from a costume store and give it a good clean with hot soapy water. Then, wrap in layers of Italian prosciutto for the full flayed skull look. Mozzarella balls, black olives or cherry tomatoes for eyeballs seal the deal. Full recipe here Flayed Flesh Antipasto Platter.

Edible eyeballs

Continuing with the eyeball theme, you’ve got a couple of options here. For a quick, easy version place a slice of olive on a mozzarella ball. If you want a more professional look you can make eyes from jelly, see the video below.
‘Real’ meat fingers
Take a can of hot dogs, make a few cuts where the knuckles would be, and slice off the tip where the finger nail would be and you’ve got yourself a load of severed mystery meat fingers – mmm. Slather the ends in ketchup for a freshly ‘ripped from the hand’ look.
http://instagram.com/p/9IybuZsaXi/
Zombie Mermaid cake
Bound to cause nightmares to girls who grew up with Disney’s Ariel, this stunning 3D cake is by top UK cake designer Laura Miller of Sugar Spice Cakes and was made for a competition with the theme ’the ordinary with a twist’.

Octopus pie
One for all you seafood-loving HP Lovecraft fans, this Cthulhu pie contains stewed berries and, er, a tentacle representing the Great One himself. Get the recipe here, Cthulhu fhtagn!

A Cthulhu pie by Canida

Hannibal Lecter inspired menu
Go for broke with some real veal brains, available online here in the UK or from any good butcher. Best gently sautéed in a pan with shallots and white wine, just like Dr Lecter did to Ray Liotta. If that’s a little ‘full on’, there’s also (lambs) liver served with flava beans, washed down with a nice chianti.

Brains, full of goodness

Spider web cakes
If slices of brain aren’t quite your thing, what about a nice slice of cake? There’s loads of ‘cobweb’ cake designs out there, but we really liked this version from Sainsbury’s Magazine, that uses melted marshmellows for a 3D cobweb look.
Edible fake blood
Having catered for zombies and cannibals, we move swiftly on to a vampires dietary requirements, blood. Sick Science have a great video tutorial for edible, fruity blood that’s perfect for slathering your neck with.

Drinks

Food’s all well and good, but as all sensible grown ups know, its liquor that gets a party pumping. Here’s some suggestions to wash everything down.

Black velvet
Putting the ‘fun’ into funereal since the death of Queen Victoria’s bae Prince Albert, ‘black velvet’ calls for half a glass of champagne topped in funeral black by slowly pouring in Guinness.

http://instagram.com/p/BL6DN-Nh1Ey/

Black cider
It’s black and it’s called Skorpion, it’s basically a 1980s Eastern European death metal band in a glass, what’s not to like?

Black cider

Corpse reviver
Harry Craddock, the famous barman at the Savoy hotel, created not one, but two ’corpse revivers’ in his classic 1930s tome, The Savoy Cocktail Handbook. These cocktails were designed to revive flagging gentleman the morning after the night before. We say, start the evening with them – chin chin old boy!
http://instagram.com/p/BL_S9-aBiFI/

Skull skills

Keep your cocktails cool with these skulls molds. You can also use them to make frozen desserts by adding fruit juices and pulps.

Ice skull molds

Brooklyn Brewery pumpkin ale
If you’re one of our US readers, this Colonial Style Pumpkin Ale has an orange amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt centre, and crisp finish. Hurry though, production only runs through to the end of November. Check website for nearest US stockist.

http://instagram.com/p/BLZUpMOjT6x/
And finally…
If you’re after the ultimate horror tablecloth, Nocro-nom-nom-nomican’s ‘human skin‘ version is a table cloth to ‘die’ for.

‘human’ skin tablecloth /

About the author

Born in the Midlands and raised in the North West of England, Andrew came to London to attend St Martin's College of Art. After ten years working for the BBC and Channel 4, he set off on an eight month food tour of Britain, which led him to write his award-winning book, Food Britannia. He was previously the Editor of Lovefood.com and also produced and hosted delicious magazine's podcast. Responsible for the Culture Trip's food and drink content, he is interested in hearing about food events, product launches and potential interviews with chefs and food producers. He's also judged the British Pie Awards, reviewed restaurants, and spoken at food festivals, and so knows a good plate of food when he sees it. He can be found tweeting here @foodjournalist

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