Occasion

A British Christmas

Christmas cake, pudding, mince pies and the big dinner.

A Christmas pudding, cut open — Photo: Lachlan Hardy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped

A traditional British Christmas starts weeks early: the cake is baked and fed with brandy, the pudding is steamed and stored. This hub gathers the bakes, the timings and the kit.

Recipes

A British Christmas recipes

Recipe · 4 hr 30 min

Traditional Christmas Cake

A rich, dark fruit cake baked weeks ahead and fed with brandy until Christmas.

Recipe · 2 hr 30 min

Beef Wellington

Practise this Advent Sunday and it will be perfect for Christmas: beef fillet wrapped in mushrooms, ham and golden puff pastry.

Recipe · 3 hr 30 min

Black Bun

Bake it now for Hogmanay: a dense, spiced fruit cake sealed inside a pastry case that needs weeks to mature.

A brandy snap filled with cream on a plate of sauce

Recipe · 50 min

Brandy Snaps

Lacy, golden ginger biscuits rolled into tubes while warm and filled with cream: a classic British party treat that is easier than it looks.

Brussels sprouts and bacon being fried in a cast-iron pan

Recipe · 25 min

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts

The recipe that wins over sprout sceptics: crisp-edged sprouts fried with smoky bacon and sweet chestnuts in 15 minutes.

Recipe · 1 hr 30 min

Chocolate Yule Log

A light chocolate sponge rolled round whipped cream and covered in glossy chocolate bark: the Christmas cake for people who do not like fruit cake.

Recipe · 6 hr 40 min

Christmas Pudding

Today is Stir-up Sunday, the traditional day to make it: everyone stirs and makes a wish, and the pudding matures until Christmas.

Recipe · 1 hr

Gingerbread Biscuits

Crisp, warmly spiced biscuits that hold their shape for cutting, icing and hanging on the tree: the Christmas bake to do with children.

Recipe · 3 hr 20 min

Homemade Mincemeat

Make it this week and it will be mellow and ready for your first mince pies: spiced fruit, apple, suet and a splash of brandy.

A honey-glazed ham scored in a diamond pattern on a carving board

Recipe · 2 hr 25 min

Honey and Mustard Glazed Gammon

Simmered until tender, then roasted with a sticky honey-mustard glaze: a Sunday centrepiece that also gives you ham for the week.

Recipe · 3 hr 20 min

Irish Spiced Beef

Cork's Christmas tradition: beef rubbed with spices and sugar for a week, then simmered and served thinly sliced. Start it now.

Recipe · 1 hr 30 min

Mince Pies

Crisp, buttery pastry and a spoonful of spiced mincemeat: make a batch now, freeze them, and bake fresh all December.

Recipe · 45 min

Pigs in Blankets

Often the first thing to disappear from the Christmas plate: chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon, roasted until sticky and crisp.

Two golden roast turkeys resting on a board

Recipe · 3 hr 35 min

Roast Turkey for Christmas Dinner

A juicy, golden Christmas turkey without the guesswork: butter under the foil, a meat thermometer to tell you when it is done, and a proper rest before carving.