Sometimes I feel as if my family is eating its way through the liturgical year. Cake for the guardian angels, cream puffs for St. Joseph, Mexican food for Our Lady of Guadalupe, king cake for Mardi Gras, Paska bread for Easter, and on and on.

So in addition to our secular yet delicious pumpkin, ghost, and bat butter cookies, we’re enjoying soul cakes, which a couple of my children have been prodding me to make for several years.

In conjunction with the release of the Catholic Teen Books anthology Shadows: Visible & Invisible, my daughters and I and fellow author Catholic Teen Books author T.M. Gaouette had the opportunity to test and tweak several soul cake recipes, finally landing on the one that appears at the end of the Shadows anthology. These cakes can easily be made with pantry staples.

I encourage you to learn more about souling traditions and the entire Halloween triduum by reading Shadows. Halloween has taken a dark turn in our culture in some cases, but it’s fascinating to see its Christian roots. Maybe by noshing a few soul cakes, we can revive some positive traditions from the past, and remind us of the reason for our celebrations.

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