Festive cake recipes

Make an easy ‘fridge cake’ version of Black Forest gateau by layering cherries, chocolatey cream and chocolate biscuits. It's a moreish dessert to end a meal

These beautiful and classy little fruitcakes make lovely gifts, and kids will enjoy decorating them too.

A versatile and light fruitcake with a hint of spice and plenty of juicy cranberries and cherries - ice as you wish!

Bake this festive fruit cake in advance of Christmas and feed it regularly with rum, brandy or whisky to build the flavour and keep it moist

Make our wreath cake (see 'goes well with') and use the spare middle section to create a small gift decorated with classic marzipan and fondant icing

You can make this Christmas cake right at the last minute. The decorating makes a fun holiday project for the kids

Get the kids to help create this winter wonderland - just make sure you have enough Smarties to nibble on!

Turn a plain cake into a stunning centre piece. You need a steady hand so save the sherry for after the tricky balancing act!

Showstopping individual coffee sponges with hidden mousse, and an Irish cream and white chocolate topping - stunning!

This crunchy, sugar-snow topping is an easy way to transform a humble fruitcake into a celebration centrepiece

This traditional Christmas cake is the perfect combination of fruit, nuts and spices

This fabulous Christmas cake can be made and decorated in four very different ways. Just choose your
favourite

Packed with
almonds, both ground and whole, and fed with raisiny PX sherry, this is
intensely fruity - but not overly rich

Has all the flavours of Christmas without being too heavy and can be made at the last minute too

A good glug of ginger wine makes this cake a little different from the norm. It's also lighter than its predecessors, so you can have two pieces!

An 'intergalactically special' Christmas cake enriched with the honey-vanilla-whisky flavours of bourbon - it'll improve with keeping so bake it early

An easy-to-make alternative to traditional Christmas cakes which requires no beating

BBC Good Food's show-stealing December 08 cover recipe - perfect if you fancy a change from the usual Christmas cake

It's worth having a go at making your own marzipan to cover your Christmas cake - and you can experiment with adding different flavours

Homemade marzipan out does shop-bought every time, if orange isn't your thing try ginger or cinnamon - it's simple too

Decorating a simple iced cake with herbs, spices, nuts and fruit works to great effect and is especially easy for beginners to try

This fun and festive cake is popular with kids and adults alike

The lighter version of this much-loved festive treat keeps all of the chocolatey richness

The perfect treat to serve up for Boxing Day brunch, panettone is easy to make if you have a food processor fitted with a dough blade