Aaron Davis, pastry lead at Chateau Luxe Event Venue in North Phoenix is currently appearing on Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship,” Season 10. The show will air its final episode of the season on Monday, October 28 at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. MST on Food Network and begin streaming October 29. 

Need more? Read more: Time to get festive: The BOSW guide to fall events in Phoenix

All the right ingredients for a baking career

 The baking bug bit Davis when he was just a little tot. 

“As soon as I could use a TV remote, I started watching Food Network,” Davis says. “My mom has stacks of notebooks that she’s kept all these years from when I was younger. I would watch and take notes and write recipes like I knew what I was doing at that point in my life.” 

Davis feels that those experiences cemented his interest in wanting to work in the kitchen. It also helped that his grandmother owned a bakery and deli when his dad was little, so you could say his oven of interest in baking was already pre-heated. 

Additionally, he gleaned foundational information from his grandmother relating to baking breads and cookies, especially around the holidays. 

“Growing up in California, we always had fresh produce, so there were always jams — it steered me more in a baking direction versus savory [efforts] in the kitchen,” Davis says.

A three-timer on Food Network

Will the third time be a charm for the talented baker? Davis has previously appeared on Food Network shows “Holiday Baking Championship” and “Holiday Wars.” 

“I think some of that just has to do with working well with people on set,” Davis says about his streak of appearances. “Your personality comes across and the baking as well. I feel very fortunate to be invited back on this season.”

Davis notes that one of his favorite things about being on these Food Network shows is meeting amazing people and building and maintaining those relationships, especially with fellow contestants. 

“All of the tears, all of the hugs, all of the cheering we do for each other on the shows — that’s all very real,” he says. 

Davis also loves the support of Food Network producers who help make the show’s process smooth.

The food challenges

Every food challenge is indeed just that! Depending on the dessert or certain flavor assignment, the ingredient “pantry” on the show changes consistently. But with each challenge, contestants have all the ingredients they need to make their baking concoctions. 

Davis’s specialties are bread, baked goods and pastries. On last year’s “Holiday Wars,” Aaron was taken out of his comfort zone when he was assigned cookie decorating. And he readily admits, he’s just not a fan of the beloved holiday tradition. A variety of techniques, understanding frosting consistency and crystallization — and the tediousness of the process — were just not Davis’s strong suit.

“I do think, in a way, that almost kind of set me apart because I had to approach it in a way of, ‘I don’t know how to do this,’ so I didn’t approach it like all the other cookie decorators,” he says.

On a personal note, I can tell you that every single thing Davis has made that I have ever had the pleasure of sampling at Chateau Luxe Event Venue has been stellar. The running joke is that I’m glad my office is located on the other side of the building from the kitchen. Otherwise, I would be sampling Davis’s breads, pastries and goodies constantly.

The host with the most

Comedian, writer and producer John Henson, formerly of “Talk Soup” and “Wipeout,” is the host of “Halloween Baking Challenge.” He brings the perfect balance of smarm and charm to serve up a wickedly delicious job of holding court with the batch of frightfully talented “Halloween Baking Championship” contestants.

“It was great working with him on set,” Davis says. “He kept things very light-hearted in the kitchen,” Davis says, adding that having Henson as host keeps the experience fun and challenging because as much as he may want to drop everything and just fully engage with the host, he has to be aware that he is on the clock and getting ready to present his baking challenge to the judges.

Henson also gets to enjoy the desserts alongside the “Halloween Baking Championship” judges. “You know that the dessert was good if [John] cleans his plate,” Davis jokes. “I think he is uniquely qualified specifically for Halloween because the Halloween season has a theme, so it’s a lot more campy in terms of the drama and the spooky, creepy aspects of the show. His personality fits in well.”

Playing favorites

There were so many fun and dynamic challenges during “Halloween Baking Championship,” you might think it would be hard to pick a favorite, but Davis had one.

“I think the favorite item I made was for the fourth episode – ‘The Killer Challenge,’” Davis recalls. “We had to do skeleton-inspired desserts based on a candy bar we were given and then a specific dessert element. My candy bar was milk chocolate and wafers.”

“What I ended up making was smoked salt milk chocolate mousse with a yuzu curd and a matcha Fiorentina layer and that was sort of like my wafer representative, and then a cookie sandwich crust.” 

He designed the dessert “scene” to be a skeleton clawing its way out of the ground.

Davis describes his unique process behind the flavor profile: “I was really proud of the way I thought through my inspiration there,” Davis says. “I was thinking, ‘I’m being inspired by dirt, here.’ In the layering of the dessert, you see the layers of the sediment. You get the actual earthiness flavor from the matcha, and the grittiness from the cookie crust. And then kind of balancing that out with the curd and the smoked salt.” 

Don’t miss Davis’s creepy creations  

The finale of Season 10 of “Halloween Baking Championship” airs Monday, October 28 at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. MST on Food Network, and then available on streaming on October 29. Visit Food Network for more information about “Halloween Baking Championship.”