Peek at the festive sweet treats unveiled by the nation’s bakers

Trifle cakes, brownie wreaths and Champagne yule logs are among the sweet treats unwrapped by the nation’s bakers for the festive season this year.

Staples such as mince pies, Christmas puddings and iced fruit cakes also make an appearance as businesses look to cater for traditional tastes as well as those seeking a twist on festive fare.

Take a peek at what bakeries have unwrapped for Christmas 2022:

The Hummingbird Bakery

The Hummingbird Bakery has gone all out for Christmas with a host of cakes and other sweet treats.

Its red velvet cake has been given a Christmas makeover for the Christmas Red Velvet Wreath Cake (£37.95). The deep red sponge is smothered in cream cheese frosting and finished with a festive buttercream wreath and sprinkles. Another centrepiece comes in the form of the Christmas Chocolate Rainbow Reindeer Cake (£69.95) which features rainbow vanilla sponge layers covered in chocolate frosting and topped with sugar fondant ears, antlers, and frosting rosettes.

There’s also Christmas Snowy Road (£22.80 for a box of six) – a new take on rocky road featuring gingernut biscuits, marshmallows and M&Ms covered in white chocolate and festive sprinkles.

The Hummingbird Bakery is also embracing after dinner mints with its Christmas Mint Chocolate Baked Cheesecake (£40.45) in which mint flavoured cheesecake sits on a sweet chocolate biscuit based and is topped with a layer of dark chocolate and seasonal sprinkles.

Vanilla Pod Bakery

Cheltenham-based Vanilla Pod Bakery has unveiled its Christmas Collection for 2022 featuring cakes, hand-iced biscuits, macarons, and brownie wreaths.

Alongside Traditional Christmas Cakes (from £173) decorated with a layer of marzipan, royal icing and sugar decorations, the bakery is also serving up Red & White Christmas Cakes (from £173). The candy cane-striped cakes come in a variety of sizes and flavours including apple & cinnamon, chocolate & cherry, orange & chocolate, and Christmas spice. They’re finished with red & white striped buttercream, white chocolate drips, buttercream swirls, silver sprinkles and Christmas macarons in cherry & white chocolate and cinnamon flavours.

The Triple Chocolate Brownie Wreath (from £25) is drizzled in Belgian white chocolate, gold, and silver sprinkles, and finished with an edible holly leaf.

The collection is available to order online until 18 December 2022.

Taylors of Bruton

The Somerset-based craft bakery has put a festive twist on tiffin this Christmas. The Ginger Tiffin is described as having the ‘delicious richness of tiffin with the heat of ginger’ thanks to the inclusion of ginger biscuits and crystalised ginger.

The bakery is also serving up Viennese Mince Pies – deep dish mince pies with a buttery Viennese biscuit topping – as well as Chocolate & Hazelnut Biscuits shaped like Christmas trees. Christmas puddings, made using a traditional family recipe, are also available.

Patisserie Valerie

Patisserie Valerie is hoping to add a touch of elegance to festive celebrations with its Champagne Yule Log (£49.95). The brightly coloured creation features a plain Genoese sponge with Champagne cream and a raspberry compote filling. It’s topped off with a bright pink glaze, freeze-dried raspberries, and alcohol-infused truffles.

For traditionalists, the business is also serving a Chocolate Yule Log (£49.95) that features fluffy chocolate Genoese sponge filled and coated with chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with a dusting of icing sugar, snowflake sugar pearls and miniature figurines.

Another centrepiece comes in the form of the Madame Valerie Gateau (£54.95), which has layers of chocolate sponge with salted caramel cream, crisp honeycomb pieces and chocolate ganache. It’s finished with smooth chocolate cream, chocolate pearls, truffles, Christmas trees and golden swirls.

Sponge

Online cake specialist Sponge has embraced classic yuletide flavours for its Christmas range.

The Trifle Sponge consists of three marsala wine-flavoured sponge layers, sandwiched with three flavours of buttercream – strawberry at the bottom, vanilla custard in the middle and vanilla on top. To emulate a trifle, the cake is decorated with half cherries and multicoloured sprinkles.

Its Mince Pie Sponge also embraces flavours consumers expect at this time of year, but in new formats. Fruity mincemeat is baked into Sponge’s signature cake alongside mixed spices and brown sugar. The layers are sandwiched with vanilla butter icing and topped with festive crumble.

The mince pie sponge is also available in a gluten-free variant, as is the Orange & Cranberry Sponge which is full of warming seasonal spices, natural orange flavouring and whole cranberries.

Sponge has also added an interactive element to the Christmas cake with its Christmas Colouring Cake, available in chocolate and Victoria sponge variants. There are several designs to choose from, including Santa’s sleigh and a festive bear, alongside a pack of cake pens to colour them in.

Just Desserts

Just Desserts in Yorkshire has expanded its range of handcrafted desserts with a trio of festive bakery treats. Taking inspiration from Christmas classics, the NPD offers ‘a unique twist on traditional festive flavours’, according to the firm.

First up is the Mince Pie Franzi which comprises a sweet butter pastry case filled with classic mincemeat, topped with franzipan sponge and finished with a dusting of sugar snow.

There’s also the Ginger & Toffee Christmas Pudding which offers an alternative to the fruited sponge. Just Desserts’ version sees a classic ginger sponge topped with toffee sauce.

Finishing off the line-up is a Candy Cane Cheesecake which has a digestive biscuit base with white chocolate peppermint ganache topping, finished with whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed peppermint candy cane.

Biscuiteers

Biscuiteers is back with a range of its hand-iced biscuits in a selection of Christmas and winter themes.

The Winter Walk Biscuit Tin (£48) features biscuits themed around a seasonal stroll, including a dog, a blazing fire, walking boots and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Other seasonal options include the Icy Christmas Luxe Tin (£48) which has 16 gingerbread biscuits inside, including frosty friends, Christmas crackers and sparkling snowflakes. The biscuits are also available in vegan and chocolate variants.

The business is selling Luxury Frangipane Topped Mince Pies (£15) which are deep filled with a matured mincemeat of cranberries, sultanas, currants, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice, all soaked in brandy, rum, lemon juice and orange juice. The pies, topped with almond frangipane are handmade using a traditional vintage pie blocker in Biscuiteers’ bakery.