The Great Christmas Bake Off: The best festive recipes from the hit show (2024)

If you want to wow your family and friends with festive treats fit for a king, look no further than these delicious recipes

Whether you want a simple but scrummy yule log or a showstopper for your table centrepiece, there’s only one way to create perfect cakes that will wow your family and friends at Christmas.

Yes, it’s The Great British Bake Off, and these fabulous festive treats, featuring recipes from Paul and Mary as well as contestants from previous series, including Cathryn Dresser and Edd Kimber, will brighten up any celebration.

Taken from the new book The Great British Bake Off: Christmas, here’s our pick of the best...

Mary's Yule Log

For 8-10 you need

• 33x23cm Swiss roll tin, lightly greased and lined
• Piping bag and star nozzle
• 4 large eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 65g self-raising flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• Icing sugar, for dusting
• 300ml double cream, whipped

For chocolate ganache topping

• 300ml double cream
• 300g dark chocolate, around 35–40% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces

1. Heat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Whisk eggs and sugar in large bowl, using electric whisk, until pale, light and frothy. Sift in flour and cocoa and cut and fold together, using a spatula, taking care not to beat any air out of mixture.
2. Pour into tin, spread evenly into corners. Place in middle of oven and bake for 8–10 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch with sides shrinking away from edge of tin.
3. Place baking parchment bigger than tin on work surface. Generously dust with icing sugar, carefully invert cake on to paper and remove bottom lining paper.
4. Score line with knife 2.5cm in from one of longer edges. Starting with this edge, tightly roll up sponge, rolling up paper inside as you go. Sit roll on top of its outside edge to cool completely.
5. For ganache, heat cream in pan to temperature where you can just keep your finger in it. Remove from heat and add chocolate, stirring until melted. Cool to room temp, then chill in fridge to firm.
6. Unfurl cold Swiss roll and remove paper. Spread whipped cream over surface and re-roll tightly. Cut quarter of cake off from one end, on the diagonal. Transfer the large piece on to a serving plate or board and angle-cut end out from middle of the large cake to make a branch.
7. Put ganache into piping bag with star nozzle. Pipe long, thick lines along cake, covering completely to resemble bark of a tree. Cover each end with icing or leave un-iced if you prefer to see cream. Alternatively, just use palette knife to spread on icing and create rough bark texture with fork. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Edd's spiced chocolate bundt cake

You will need

• 25cm, 2 litre bundt tin
• 200g unsalted butter, diced, plus extra
  for greasing
• 30g cocoa powder
• 100ml hot water
• 200g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• 300g light muscovado sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsps ground ginger
• 2 tsps ground mixed spice
• 1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 40g chopped glacé or crystallised ginger

For the glaze

• 300ml double cream
• 160g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

1. Heat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and grease the bundt tin well.
2. Put the cocoa into a small bowl and whisk in the hot water. Melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove and let cool slightly.
3. Use an electric mixer to whisk the sugar and eggs until thick and pale. With mixer still running, pour in the chocolate and mix in.
4. Whisk flour, baking powder and spices in a separate bowl. Sift over the chocolate mixture and fold together. Add ginger and cocoa mixture. Pour into prepared tin, put it on a baking sheet and bake for 40–45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.
5. Stir cream and chocolate over a low-medium heat until smooth and leave to cool.
6. Pour over cooled cake and let it set before transferring to a serving plate.
7. 30x20cm tin (greased and lined) makes 16 slices.

Cathryn's snowy white coconut traybake

For the cake

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g caster sugar
• 100ml soured cream
• 100ml buttermilk
• 2 eggs and 3 whites
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 75g desiccated coconut
• Seeds of 5 cardamom pods (optional), finely ground

For the icing

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• 2–3 tbsp soured cream

To decorate

• Handful of desiccated coconut
• Edible white glitter

For the marshmallow snowmen (optional)

• Strawberry laces
• White marshmallows
• Giant chocolate buttons
• Round caramel chocolates
• Black writing icing

1. Heat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smooth and pale. Gently whisk the soured cream, buttermilk, eggs and whites in a separate bowl until just combined. Mix the dry ingredients in a third bowl.
2. Add the other mixtures to the creamed butter and sugar, alternating them a third at a time and whisking after each until combined and the mixture very light. Pour into tin and smooth top.
3. Bake in middle of oven for 25-30 mins until lightly golden and springy. Turn out to cool.
4. For the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar together with an electric beater for at least 5 mins until fluffy and white. Add the soured cream and fold through then beat for another 1-2 mins.
5. When the cake is cooled, spread icing over top, cut into slices. Scatter coconut and glitter.
6. For snowmen, cut the laces into scarves. Spear a co*cktail stick through 3 marshmallows with the scarf on middle one. For the hat, push a chocolate button and caramel chocolate on to the top of the stick. Pipe on icing buttons and a face.

Rudolf's carrot cake

For 12–14 you need

• Two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins, buttered and lined
• 4 medium eggs
• 225ml sunflower oil
• 175g light muscovado sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 300g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50g pine nuts, toasted
• 350g (2–3) carrots, coarsely grated

For icing and decorating

• 400g full-fat cream cheese
• 50ml double cream
• 75g icing sugar
• chocolate icing
• chocolate sprinkles
• red icing
• red sugar sprinkles

1. Heat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Whisk eggs, oil, sugar and syrup until creamy.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon, fold gradually into the mixture. Fold in the pine nuts and carrots.
3. Divide between tins, bake for 35–40mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10mins, then turn out on to rack.
4. Beat the cream cheese and cream together until smooth, then beat in the icing sugar until smooth and creamy.
5. To assemble, place one sponge top-down on a plate and spread the surface with a third of the icing. Top with the other cake and cover it with rest of icing. Smooth flat with palette knife. Use a co*cktail stick to mark out where you want your design. Use chocolate icing to pipe the eyes and the antlers. Scatter with chocolate sprinkles. Use red icing to pipe outline of nose and fill with red sprinkles. Serve.

Stained glass tree biscuits

For 30-35 you will need

• Christmas biscuit cutters about 8cm and smaller decorative cutters
• 12 coloured boiled sweets
• 125g butter, softened
• 60g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 tablespoon milk

1. Put the sweets in freezer bags, keeping each colour in a separate bag and bash with a rolling pin until they are little pebbles of sugar.
2. Use a hand-held electric whisk to beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and creamy. Sift in the flour, then add the orange extract and the milk. Use your hands to mix everything together into a ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 10–15 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.
3. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out half the dough until it is about 5mm thick. Cut out shapes and use the smaller decorative cutters to stamp out shapes from the middle of each biscuit.Transfer the biscuits to the lined baking sheets using a spatula. Repeat with the remaining dough and re-roll the trimmings to make more.
4. Put one good pinch of the sweet pebbles in each biscuit hole. Place the biscuits in the oven and bake for 15–18 minutes, until they are just golden and the sweets have melted and filled the cut-out areas. While still warm, use a skewer to make holes in the top of each biscuit.
5. Leave to cool on the baking sheets until the sweets have set hard, then transfer to a wire rack. Once completely cool, thread with a string or fine ribbon and hang on your tree.

Paul's Kransekake

You will need

• A set of kransekake moulds and 2 piping bags with small plain nozzles
• 500g ground almonds
• 500g icing sugar, sifted
• 4 egg whites, beaten
• 1tsp almond extract oil, for greasing
• semolina, for dusting

For the icing and to decorate

• 3 egg whites
• 600g icing sugar, sifted
• red food colouring paste
• edible glitter

1. Tip the ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl, add the beaten egg whites and almond extract and mix to a dough with your hands. Cover bowl with clingfilm and chill for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
2. Heat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Lightly oil the moulds and sprinkle with semolina, shaking off excess. Divide chilled dough into 6 pieces, then divide each of these into 3 different sized pieces; small, medium and large. Roll each into finger-thick lengths and sit them in the moulds, joining the ends by squashing together. You will have 6 moulds, each with 3 rings in increasing sizes.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden. Leave to cool in the moulds until hardened, then remove to a wire rack.
4. Whisk egg whites until frothy. Fold in icing sugar a spoon at a time. Beat until white and standing in peaks. Spoon half into a second bowl and colour red. Put both halves in piping bags fitted with small, plain writing nozzles.
5. Sort the cooked rings into decreasing sizes. Pipe a few dots of white icing on the base of the largest ring and put on a serving plate. Pipe white and red zig-zags and sprinkle with glitter.
6. Repeat with the remaining rings in decreasing size order – the icing will keep them in place.

• Extracted from The Great British Bake Off: Christmas by Lizzie Kamenetzky, published by BBC Books at £20. Text and recipes © Love Productions 2014. Photo-graphy and design © Woodlands Books Ltd 2014.

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