Best Christmas cake recipes (2024)

Everybody loves a hearty slice of Christmas cake and this delicious recipe is full of sweet and fragrant maple and pecan flavours. The slight twist on a classic makes this recipe the perfect way to branch out this year. Bake a couple of weeks ahead of time to allow the cake to mature.

Try Lorraine Pascale’s Christmas cake recipe

A beautiful and romantic way to jazz up a simple vanilla cake.

Try this vanilla ruffle cake recipe

This Christmas tea loaf is afternoon tea at its best. Put mulled wine to good use in this deliciously spiced and fruity bread– delicious served with a crumbly Cheshire cheese leftover from the Christmas cheeseboard.

Try this mulled wine and cranberry tea bread recipe

If a traditional Christmas cake isn’t your thing, this chocolate cake, with its four luscious layers, is a sure winner.

Try this Christmas chocolate cake recipe

If you’ve left it too late to make a traditional Christmas cake, then this moist and tasty cake is the perfect last-minute option. You can decorate it at will with marzipan and sugar paste.

Try our quick Christmas cake recipe

This is a beautiful cake, with a pretty white glaze and shredded white coconut sprinkled over the top. It just begs to be the center of attention, and tastes delicious, too. Ripe for decoration, the unusual shape makes a great canvas for drizzled icing and scattered festive toppings.

Try this coconut bundt cake recipe

Rich and fruity, make your Christmas cake in the first week of December, ‘feed’ it with brandy a week later and leave it wrapped in greaseproof paper until it’s ready to marzipan and ice. Feel free to substitute any ingredients with your favourites. For speed and ease, this recipe uses ready-to-roll icing, as this gives a really smooth finish, but once you’ve gone to the trouble of making your own cake and marzipan, it’s a real sense of achievement to ice your own cake.

Try Lisa Faulkner’s Christmas cake recipe

With a surprise frozen creamy filling dotted with sweet festive ingredients, this is a great dessert for Christmas. It looks impressive and, best of all, it can be made well in advance and kept in the freezer for up to a month. For a speedy cheat’s version, you could replace the creamy meringue filling with good-quality ready-made ice cream.

Try Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas bombe recipe

This is an easy Yule log with a delicious filling and icing. The apricot jam helps the icing stick to the cake.

Try Mary Berry's yule log recipe

Chocolate and pears go beautifully in this delicious roulade which is great alternative to the traditional yule log this Christmas.

Brimming with seasonal clementines, this is a moist, dense cake with a subtle hint of star anise. If you’re not a fan of traditional Christmas fruit cakes this is a great recipe that is light and full of flavour.

Try Gordon Ramsay’s ricotta cake with caramelised clementines and star anise recipe

This is an incredibly rich chocolate dessert with a seasonal chestnut taste - you’ll only need a sliver.

Try Alan Coxon's chestnut slice recipe

This is a homely cake that, while baking, fills the house with a wonderful aroma. It’s a lovely easy recipe that’s ideal for whipping up over the holiday period with children. Serve a slice at teatime as a tasty treat.

Try Gennaro’s apple cake recipe

The rich chocolate ganache and the Grand Marnier complement each other for a wonderfully decadent dessert.

Try this orange and truffle cake recipe

This rich spicy cake made a few weeks or even a month or two before Christmas will age and mature for a tasty result.

Try Margaret Fulton's rich Christmas cake recipe

This delicate cream puff tower is not only delicious, it’s a real show-stopper.

Try this cream puff Christmas tree recipe

This is a typical Scandinavian afternoon tea cake eaten all through the winter months, here decorated for the festivities with white chocolate hearts.

Try Trine Hahnemann's spiced Christmas cake recipe

This is the perfect recipe to fall back on, as it’s simple to make but looks deceptively impressive. The blend of flours keeps it really moist.

Try this hot spiced apple cake recipe