14/10/2026
Irish Independent - Wicklow People - Eoin Mac Raghnaill
A Wicklow bakery has gone all out for Halloween, transforming itself into a colourful world of wizardry complete with potion bottles, cauldrons, enchanted-looking treats and letters addressed to Mr H Potter.
For the month of October, visitors to First Batch Bakery in Aughrim will be greeted by witch hats and dangling eyeballs overhead, paintings filled with strange creatures, and a counter packed with magic-infused bakes.
“I think we’re all fans, so it was a good team effort, and it was really fun decorating and getting into the wizarding spirit.”
That team effort has conjured up an October menu of lemon sherbet cakes for Dumbledore, fizzy whizzbee buns, sorting hat Oreo cakes, mango golden snitches, spectre-specs and chocolate frog brownies.
Talented artist and staff member Jackson Byrne has once again helped give the bakery its darker Halloween edge, with his colourful paintings of strange, otherworldly creatures returning to the walls for October.
No stranger to television, Niamh is fresh from another appearance as a guest baker on Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show, where she brought pumpkin cakes, chocolate frog brownies and mango golden snitches for presenters Brian Dowling and Lottie Ryan — a fitting showcase for the treats on offer this month, while word of First Batch’s Halloween transformation had already spread rapidly around the locality.
“We’ve had a few parents come in, and their jaw hits the floor, and they’re like: ‘I have to bring my kids back here after school’, which has been great,”
“They love the treats from the books, and they get really excited that they can bring in their children to try them together. A lot of joy has been brought to people, I feel.
