Christmas cake, Christmas pudding etc. Bought or home-made ?

[WildRosie]

Also mince pies, trifles, Black Forest Gateaux and so on. Are you happy with supermarket offerings, do you go to a bakery or someone else who is good at these things ? Or do you make your own ? I admit I don't eat any of these - they're just not to my taste so it's my loss - but I'm interested to know what other people do. My auntie used to make her mince pies from scratch, including the mincemeat. My Mum - her sister - was very admiring and appreciative. Is there any significant difference between supermarket stuff and baker's or your own ?

Thankyou.

My MIL makes mince pies from scratch and I’m embarrassed to say I prefer the bought ones obviously I don’t say that to her face!

My grandma used to make the Christmas pudding but since she died we usually buy one. Both are nice.

I always make the trifle and I do think a home made one is much nicer than a bought one.

I make my own Christmas cake pud and pies and gingerbread but mainly as a tradition. Some shop bought mine pies and puds are just as nice. I like the Viennese topped but it's such a faff to make.

It cost me a fortune to make Christmas cake. I put most of a bottle of rum in!

Most of those things are nice when bought, if they're your sort of thing. I'd rather have a decent bought version than a poor homemade one. However, I make my own mincemeat, shortcrust pastry, mince pies, Christmas pudding and rum cake. I like baking and am quite good at it, plus results are exactly how I like them and (fortunately) how others here like them too.

I make my own Christmas cake, I’m not a fan of the shop bought ones, they tend to have too much icing/marzipan & not enough fruit cake.

I make mince pies to Granny's recipe because it's the only way they taste nice. Pastry with lard, Robinson's mincemeat.

Fruit cake can be amazing but it's such hard work I just buy a Genoa cake. Likewise Xmas pudding. My Auntie Joyce would spend days over them, and they were amazing, but I don't care enough to invest that amount of time.

Chocolate log however. I like my chocolate log with ganache and buttercream. I'll make one of those. If I could find one I liked I'd buy it instead.

Stollen I love but again, it's not about nostalgia there for me so anything goes.

Just taken my Solstice cake out of the oven actually. I'm late this year and blaming the puppy!

We don't normally buy or eat the other items you mention. Most of my cakes are homemade, on the rare occasion I do buy one they just seem to taste of sugar nowadays. Much much too sweet.

I buy Christmas pudding, un-iced Christmas cake, stollen and mince pies. I think they're a bit of a faff and decent shop ones (eg from Cook) generally taste better than my homemade variety.

In my defence, I make my own marzipan and icing for the cake, and the brandy butter for the pudding and mince pies. I also make trifle and gingerbread. I have never tasted a decent shop bought Black Forest gateau, so if I was going to have one I would make that.

I make my own Christmas cake and frangipane mince pies - I buy the mincemeat and add cherry brandy, I also buy the pastry cases but I make the frangipane. I’ve never made a trifle but I might this year - I’m thinking Mary Berry’s royal trifle. I buy the Yule log from M&S and a couple of individual Christmas puddings.

I always make lots of mince pies, prefer them to shop ones - too much thick pastry.

I don’t make Christmas cake any more, hardly anyone used to eat it. We used to end up putting much of it on the bird table - at least it wasn’t entirely wasted.

Christmas pud is another matter. My very old trad recipe is a million times nicer than shop ones, much less dense, dark and heavy. I always make more than needed on the day - dh and I carry on eating it until halfway through January.

My dad used to toast leftover stale Christmas cake under the grill and butter it, served up with a slice or two of strong cheese. I don't know how it went stale in the first place as that isn't supposed to happen to Christmas cake, so I'm told. What happened to the icing is anyone's guess. Pudding was similarly rejuvenated by quickly frying, probably in butter. It sounds disgusting. Mince pies never lasted that long, whoever made them or wherever they came from.

What kind of sherry is used in a trifle, and what quantity ?

Sherry like Harvey's Bristol Cream or QC- the sweet unfashionable kind, pale cream I think? Shop-bought trifle is an abomination, despite my delicious homemade one being full of ultra processed crap!

Never bothered to make Christmas pudding or mincemeat myself. Love any fruitcake but always make my own Christmas cake or two. Happy with bought mince pies (except those overrated Costco ones) but make my own too.

Black Forest Gateau - unlikely to buy but if I wanted one unless VERY good I'd make my own. Black Forest Trifle is good to make.

Christmas cake is cooling in the kitchen as I type. I will make my own marzipan and royal icing - the icing is easy in a food mixer, and the marzipan is easy enough but a bit time consuming - but it tastes so nice, it’s worth it.

I have bought a pudding already - I like Christmas pud, and dh has a bit, but the dses don’t like it, and I can’t be bothered with all the hassle of boiling one for 6 hours if I make my own.

I buy mincemeat and puff pastry, for mince pies, but if I make them with shortcrust, I make my own (in the blender - easy peasy).

I buy a Yule log, because I’ve never tried to make a Swiss roll, and I think the run-up to Christmas is not the time to be trying something new and fiddly, but this year I’m making a white chocolate and Krispies wreath, in a Bundt tin, with marshmallows, cherries and popping candy mixed in, to be the alternative to Christmas cake.

I don't really like Christmas cake tbh

Make my own trifle using Amaretto not sherry and definitely no jelly.
Buy all the other stuff as only DH eats it out of the seven of us that will be here on xmas day.

I've made my own mincemeat for the first time this year, so I'll keep you posted!

I don’t buy Christmas cake or Christmas pudding, I bake whatever we are fancy for dessert. I love baking and I can’t stand the enormous amount of icing sugar and marzipan in shop bought cakes.
I never bake mince pies we usually try different ones every weekend and rate them, just for fun.
Home made is better imo but some recipes need too much different ingredients so easier to buy them.

STDG ooh like the sound of the white chocolate wreath. DS would love that.

I don't make any of it myself.

I buy xmas cake, xmas pudding, mince pies, yule log, stollen. Usually M&S or Sainsburys.

I quite enjoy cooking actual meals but I hate baking of any kind, it's always an expensive and time-consuming faff, requiring lots of fiddly ingredients and different-sized cake tins and equipment. Shop-bought is delicious. I expect in 'the old days' it was cheaper and nicer to home-bake, but these days there's no point (unless you enjoy doing it).

@EwwSprouts

STDG ooh like the sound of the white chocolate wreath. DS would love that.

He could probably make it - or help.

I made chocolate scotch eggs one Easter - crumbled chocolate cake, melted chocolate and a bit of golden syrup, balled around a crème egg, then rolled in digestive crumbs (to look like the breadcrumbs). They were delicious but very rich.

I go for a mixture.
Christmas cake - homemade every time!
Christmas pudding - homemade by a friend.
Mince pies - supermarket best range (Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco!) I’m not a fan of homemade.
Gingerbread - ready roll is fine.
Cookies - homemade.
Shortbread- homemade.

Love baking as you might guess from my username and I actually bake for a living so we rarely have shop bought cakes and puds.

Mince pies however, I’ve tried so many variations, different pastries, different mince meats etc but always prefer shop bought!

I make it all from scratch, including the mincemeat for the mince pies. Shop bought is far too sweet and tasteless for me (and doesn’t contain nearly enough whiskey/brandy or spices) and I enjoy making it, so it’s a win win.

I make Christmas cakes (just made 2 as it happens!). And mince pies. I do buy Christmas puddings though I'll admit.

I’ve never, ever had a Christmas pudding from a shop or restaurant that I’ve liked.

But if me, my sister or my mum make it we fight over every last scrap.

STDG You are right he could make it and enjoy doing so. The chocolate scotch eggs would be his idea of heaven. I'm going to remember them for the end of mocks week.