Guest Post | Christmas Bakes From Around The World*

Christmas is a time for family, friends and festive food. But what kind of cakes do people in other countries make to celebrate Christmas? In this post, we will explore the different types of Christmas cakes from around the world. From gingerbread houses in Norway to fruitcakes all over England, there are many delicious traditions that you may not have heard about before.

Before we dive in though let's explore what (and why) we bake the things we do in the country. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a traditional fruit cake. We have been baking fruit cakes for Christmas in this country for hundreds of years. The rich fruit cake was historically baked to celebrate the twelfth night, the last night of Christmas. Mince pies, the other ubiquitous baked Christmas treat were meant to be eaten every day of the festive period, right up until twelfth night.

Casting our net a little wider now in Scandinavia, Christmas is a time for gingerbread houses. Families spend the holidays baking and decorating these edible buildings before eating them together on New Year's Eve. We can't imagine that they taste as good as they look though! In Germany, children leave their shoes out on Christmas eve in expectation of receiving small gifts. If they are lucky, the children will find a small chocolate figurine inside. Christmas in Germany also wouldn't be Christmas without a Stollen cake. A Stollen cake is a fruit cake with lots of delicious marzipan inside.

In the United States, Christmas is often celebrated by eating a chocolate Yule Log. There are many variations of this festive treat but they all have two things in common: logs are involved and there's lots of chocolate! You may also find snowflake-shaped cookies being given out at parties during the Christmas (or holiday) season.

Elsewhere in Europe, Christmas is an excuse for baking sweet treats that hark back to childhood memories of Christmases past. The French have Bûche de Noël and Italy has Panettone: two cakes with rich histories and hearty ingredients. The Panettone cake is rich in fruit and is traditionally star-shaped, while the Bûche de Noël is made of a rolled sponge with layers of cream filling it.

Now, let's go across to Australia where Christmas isn't complete without pavlova. Sweet meringue shells are filled with whipped cream and fresh fruit before being decorated to look like wreath. Given that much of Australia is going to be extremely hot during the festive period a nice pavlova is going to be more appropriate than a heavy fruit cake.

Jumping back up to Europe in Spain at Christmas the festive favourite is turrón, a hard sweet made from honey and almonds. Given that it is very difficult to get turrón outside of Spain you should probably try your hand at making some this Christmas. The Turron actually has its origins in Moorish cuisine - the giveaway being the extensive use of almonds.

Going further east now the Romanian Christmas favourite is the Cozonac. A Cozonacan is flavoured with cocoa or has raisins added to the dough for extra sweetness. Although many believe that it is a traditional Romanian Christmas cake, its history actually dates all the way back to Ottoman times!

Now let's take our final stop in Brazil where Christmas isn't complete without Pão de Mel. A sweet eggless loaf, this cake is traditionally served with a cup of hot chocolate to dip in. So even though December is going to be warm in Brazil, there’s always a role for warm and delicious chocolate.

We hope this piece has given you a flavour of the less traditional bakes you could whip up this Christmas. If you want some more inspiration on cakes or decorations (or if you simply want one delivered without any of the hassles) head on over to the guys at Anges De Sucre.