There are just over 15 weeks until Christmas and the nation’s bakery businesses have begun unveiling their plans for the festive season.

From familiar products in new formats, revamped packaging and innovative NPD, bakery brands have been busy gearing up for Christmas.

Many of the UK’s major retailers unveiled their Christmas ranges at previews in June and July, with highlights including a wreath-shaped sausage roll from Asda, festive sourdough from The Co-op and a Christmas Dinner Wellington available at Aldi.

For more highlights of retailers’ bakery ranges, check out our previous stories here and here.

Country Range

Foodservice brand Country Range has added a quartet of new desserts to its Christmas line-up, including a ‘show-stopping’ Premium Mint Chocolate Shared Cake (centre) comprising white and dark chocolate peppermint mousses on chocolate sponge, covered with mirror glaze and finished with chocolate shards.

Three roulades also join its range including Black Cherry & Cream (right) and Pecan Toffee ones, alongside a Raspberry, Prosecco and Milk Chocolate Roulade (left). The latter features a meringue rolled with prosecco raspberry jam filling, fresh cream and raspberries drizzled with milk chocolate.

Warrens Bakery

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me… a partridge in a pasty. Admittedly, Warrens Bakery’s new Three Bird Roast Pasty (right) doesn’t feature any partridge, but it is stuffed with turkey, chicken and duck combined with a cranberry and apricot stuffing and sprinkled with a sage crumb (rsp £3.65).

Following the success of its Mince Pie Pasty a couple of years ago, Warrens has created a Christmas Pudding Pasty (rsp £1.60). Handmade using rough puff pastry, it is stuffed with Christmas pudding filling, including apples, sultanas, currants and traditional mixed peel, all soaked in brandy, with brandy-style cream and a pink sugar topping on the pastry.

Warrens was winner of the Craft Bakery Business accolade at this year’s Baking Industry Awards.

Flower & White

Self-described ‘bakers of indulgence’, Flower & White is launching a limited-edition collection of chocolate-themed meringues this festive season. The Meringue Truffles (left) feature Swiss baked meringues filled with chocolate truffle in three boozy flavours – Chocolate Brandy, Pink Champagne & White Chocolate and Cointreau Chocolate Orange.

Also joining the range are Chocolate Covered Meringue Drops (right),  which see hazelnut-flavoured meringue covered in milk chocolate and finished with caramelised hazelnuts and edible gold stars.

Flower & White was a winner of a regional Craft Bakery Business accolade at this year’s Baking Industry Awards.

Pierre Marcolini

Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini has conjured up three Champagne cocktail-inspired macarons for the party season, featuring Bellini, Passion Fizz and Cherry Royal flavours.

Joining the macarons are a duo of Sleigh Bell Logs (pictured). The chocolate one features a shell made of dark chocolate enveloping an almond misérable cake, crunchy praline, milk chocolate insert and dark chocolate mousse, topped off with edible sleigh bells. The fruity one sees the same cake enveloped in white chocolate with an oozing raspberry and cherry insert with meringue mousse made of rose and passionfruit. It’s also topped with edible chocolate and mini nougat praline sleigh bells.

Burton’s Biscuit Co

Burton’s is focusing on new seasonal formats this Christmas. Maryland Cookies will be given a makeover to become Merryland during the festive season, with the introduction of a share box of Maryland Minis (left). In addition, it is rolling out a festive-themed version of its savoury biscuits Cathedral City Baked Bites with a 140g sharing box (right).

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