Christmas pudding
Marks & Spencer
Orange Topped Christmas Pud
907g, £12.99, marksandspencer.com
Stunning. The candied oranges give the pud great flavour.
★★★★★
Dunn's Bakery
Christmas Pudding
900g, £12.95, dunns-bakery.co.uk
Pleasingly dark and glistening from the treacle used. Needs a touch more booze, but this is a great Christmas pud.
★★★★
Fifteen
Boozy Christmas Pudding
900g, £15, fifteencornwall.co.uk
A bit soggy and lacks flavour. Fruit content isn't bad but it needs a boozy kick.
★★
The Co-operative
Truly Irresistible Christmas Pud
454g, £5.50, co-operative.coop
Weirdly salty to the taste, and gritty from zest that's not broken down.Good amount of fruit, but it's too dry.
★★
Stollen
Simply Cornish
Rich Fruit Cornish Stollen Cake
£4.50, simplycornish.com
The marzipan tastes a bit artificial and the texture is like a loaf of bread. That said, it's pleasant enough to eat.
★★★
Sainsbury's
Fruit and Nut Stollen
675g, £4.99, sainsburys.co.uk
Bit heavy on the outside decoration. There's a lot of nice spice here, but the cake is too dry.
★★
Marks & Spencer
Stollen
680g, £6.99, marksandspencer.com
Marzipan is pleasantly soft, but there's not much spice and no moistness.
★★
Bahlsen
Baked Apple Stollen
500g, £3.99, ocado.com
Far too much sugar on top. The apple flavour tastes so synthetic, but I like the traditional Stollen shape.
★
Christmas cake
Tesco
Finest* Iced Christmas Cake
1.5kg, £14, tesco.com
Big promise of brandy on the nose, which delivers in the mouth. Lovely.
★★★★
Waitrose
Christmas Cake
1.6kg, £15.99, waitrose.com
They could have made more effort with the icing. Still, this has decent depth of flavour.
★★★
Sainsbury's
Christmas Rose Fruit Cake
1.36kg, £14.99, sainsburys.co.uk
This looks great but doesn't deliver on taste - vine fruits are dry.
★★
The Co-operative
Fully Iced Christmas Cake
907g, £7, co-operative.coop
Upon cutting, the fruits look decent, but there's no boozy kick whatsoever.
★
Yule log
Cocomaya
Bouche Noel
£65, cocomaya.co.uk
This is a very, very rich cake. The chestnuts and candied orange in the centre cut through it quite well, though.
★★★
Dunn's Bakery
Dark Ganache Chocolate Log
700g, £14.95, dunns-bakery.co.uk
The raspberries are a great touch.
★★★
Tesco
Finest Chocolate Fudge Yule Log
£3.25, tesco.com
Dense sponge, but the chocolate flavour isn't rich enough for me.
★
Asda
Extra Special Yule Log
£2, asda.com
Very aerated sponge. Don't get any buttery richness - this is like a kid's birthday cake. And there's too much fudge coating.
★
Panettone
Tesco
Finest Panettone
1kg, £10, tesco.com
There's a real body in the brioche and the candy fruits are delicious. Looks magic, too.
★★★★★
Scarpato
Panettone
1kg, £15.95, harrods.com
Very well made and it looks good. Bit dry, though, and not buttery enough.
★★★
Marks & Spencer
Panettone
1kg, £12.99, marksandspencer.com
Lots of lovely candied fruit, but otherwise it lacks flavour. Again, I want more buttery notes.
★★
Bosari
Cherry Panettone
750g, £8.99, waitrose.com
This looks a bit like a loaf of bread. The cherries should have been chopped.
★
Mince pies
Duchy for Waitrose
Mince Pies
£3.99 for six, waitrose.com
Excellent shortcrust pastry; buttery, crumbly, rich. Filling is good, too; plump, spicy. Just need more of it!
★★★★
Modern Pantry
Mince Pies
225g, £5, themodernpantry.co.uk
The filling is amazing - complex, with some great orangey notes. Made with passion. The pastry is odd, though. Tastes savoury.
★★★
The Co-operative
Truly Irresistible Mince Pies
£1.69 for six, co-operative.coop
Nice bits of apple in the filling. Pastry is made well enough but the mincemeat is too sweet and jammy.
★★
Harrods
Traditional Deep Fill Mince Pies
450g, £8.95, harrods.com
Good caramelisation on the pastry. Like the vanilla essence taste that's coming through, but far too sweet overall.
★★
