Renshaw Blogger Baking Gift Challenge

This Christmas, Renshaw are in a gift giving mood, and have been developing deliciously decorated cakes and bakes ideal for making for loved ones this Christmas. We’ve been getting creative with bauble cake pops, gingerbread fairy light biscuits and star biscuits for the tree, but we’re not the only ones celebrating in the spirit of Santa. We challenged some of the best bloggers in the country to see what they might bake for friends and family.

With a creative twinkle in their eye, and a sack full of Renshaw marzipan and fondant icing to inspire them, this merry band of baking bloggers have come up with some truly inspirational ideas for the festivities. Feast your eyes on these….

Christmas Present Mini Sponge Cakes

These Christmas present styled mini sponge cakes, made by Tania over at the Larger Family Life blog, are the perfect Christmas gift. Covered in green and red fondant icing with neatly tied bows, these perfectly adorable edible gifts are ideal, especially as no more unwrapping is needed! Just pop them in your mouth and enjoy.

Find the recipe here.

First Christmas Cake

Johnson Babies has created a cracking first Christmas cake. Adorned with cut our trees and bauble motifs, all made with gingerbread cutters, it’s a classic in colour and composition. Based on a less traditional sponge base and festooned with holly leaves over an ambitious two tiers, we loves to receive this cake come Christmas.

Find the recipe here.

Christmas Cookie Lollipops

Sarah from the Boo Roo and Tigger Too blog has created one of our favourite Christmas baking gift ideas. Simple cut out Christmas Trees, presented on lollipop sticks and covered in red and green fondant icing make for a colourful, fun and all too easily eaten gift come Christmas. You could also sprinkle these with edible lustre dust or glitter to really make them sparkle.

Find the recipe here.

Christmas Gift Cake

An elegant imagining and skilfully executed Christmas cake, everything from the present themed top tier, artfully wrapped icing bows and snowflake smattered base tier sings of Christmas. The modelled snowman and penguin, both of which have intricate step by steps listed on creator Cakes and Catwalks’s blog are quite literally the icing on the cake.

Find the recipe here.

Mini Christmas Fruit Cakes

Tea-soaked fruit cake, covered in marzipan and iced in vibrant Christmas colours, these festively themed mini parcels of joy have been adorned with tiny Christmas trees, cut out gingerbread men, Christmas trees modelled out of green ready to roll icing and carefully rolled and twisted candy canes. Baking Aitch has been busy!

Find the recipe here.

Chocolate Filled Christmas Pudding Cake

A great alternative to the classic Christmas pudding, The Mini Me’s and Me blog has created this incredibly indulgent chocolate filled Christmas pudding cake. Whimsically covered with white ready to roll icing and topped with non-traditional but altogether seasonal colours in the shape of holly berries, this would make a great centre piece to any Christmas table.

Find the recipe here.

Cracker Christmas Cakes

A wonderful concept, and irresistible to pull apart – these chocolate chip sponge cakes wrapped in ready to roll icing and simply adorned with a festive star  are too adorable for words. Here Come the Girls blog has come up with a great concept, that could be pulled together in many creative ways, including painting the icing to creative Christmas patterns or decorating with sprinkles.

Find the recipe here. 

Peppermint and White Chocolate Christmas Cake

Ten out of ten for flavour combination, this single tier, immaculately covered and prettily decorated star themed cake from Mummy Mishaps is now the most coveted cake at Renshaw HQ. Easy to create with a star cutter, stuck to the icing using cooled boiled water, and made festive with silver pearls, we’re thankful she shared the full instructions on how to create over on the blog.

Find the recipe here.

Christmas Cookies

Nothing says Christmas better than a classic shortbread, and topped in rosy red icing and deliciously almond-y marzipan, sprinkled with gold and pink pearls to decorate, you have the ideal gift to present. In classic rounds or snowflake shapes, wrap in decorative bags and tie with a ribbon, and you have an ideal stocking filler too. Thanks for sharing Romanian Mum!

Find the recipe here. 

Christmas Bauble Cake

A cake idea which elicited gasps around the office, this Christmas bauble cake is a brilliant theme. A chocolate sponge base baked in a round cake pan and sandwiched using snowy white chocolate buttercream, it’s (almost) too good to eat!  Difficult to cover, the talented Cakes and Bakes by Kate has a fantastic finish. Decorated with embossed snowflakes in white icing, with the top painted gold for added festivity, would make a wonderful Christmas gift!

Find the recipe here. 

Feeling inspired? We certainly are, and for Emma Jane at Cakes and Catwalks – whose creation we are awarding top prize in the blogger baking gift challenge on account of a wonderful theme, professionally finished cake and making use of lots of skills from covering to modelling – the £100 gift voucher for renshawbaking.com should come in handy in creating all those Christmas gifts for friends and family!

So what will you be baking for loved ones this Christmas?