There are days where we want speed and convenience with the food we make, with recipes that require minimal prep and cooking time. But there are other days where cooking – and especially baking – can be a mindful, enjoyable activity in its own right; an opportunity to take things slower and while away the hours on a cold winter weekend.
From seasonal buns and pies, to classic cakes and puddings with a warming wintry twist, these recipes are perfect for brightening up a cold, grey day.
Discover more seasonal cooking inspiration with our roundup of the best winter cookbooks and must-try crumbles to make during the colder months.
Chocolate Orange Knot Buns
A winning combination, orange and dark chocolate form the perfect flavour base for these homemade sweet buns that are packed with zesty, orangey goodness.
Nicola Lamb’s Bread-and-Butter Pudding with Caramel Mandarins
Cinnamon, orange peel, and syrup-poached mandarins bring a depth of flavour to this bread-and-butter pudding, making it perfect for the winter season.
Roasted Rhubarb and Cream Cake
Bring brightness to your kitchen table and make the most of forced rhubarb season with this gloriously coloured cake. Leaving the cake to completely cool allows ample time for making the homemade whipped cream topping, finished with oven-roasted rhubarb.
Seema Pankhania’s Spiced Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding
Sticky toffee pudding meets Jamaican black cake in this deliciously spiced, subtly boozy spin on a winter classic. Dates soaked in dark rum create an incredible depth of flavour to this light fluffy sponge, topped with a buttery homemade caramel sauce.
Nigella Lawson’s Norwegian Cinnamon Buns
Take on a Scandi-inspired baking project this weekend with the help of the Domestic Goddess herself. Just an hour or so in the kitchen will yield a batch of heavenly golden-brown buns that you’ll want to tear off and savour while they’re still warm.
Ottolenghi’s Malty Figgy Pudding
An ode to the nostalgic flavours of malted milk, this warm, gooey pudding is perfect for serving up after a hearty Sunday roast.
Julius Roberts’ Ginger Cake, Poached Quince and Crème Fraîche
More than just a perfect accompaniment to Julius Roberts’ beautifully warming ginger cake, this recipe for poached quince, steeped in syrup for hours in the oven until tender, is a versatile addition to crumbles, tarts, and even cocktails and sorbets.
Pretty-In-Pink Blood Orange Bundt with Blood Orange Glaze
Perfect for when you want an impressive baked centrepiece, this bundt cake makes the most of blood orange’s deep citrusy flavours and inimitable pink colour.
Mary Berry’s Windfall Pie
With its bright rhubarb and apple filling and golden, demerara sugar-dusted pastry, this is the kind of pudding that’s made for lashings of warm custard.
Carolina Gelen’s Upside-Down Orange Cardamom Olive Oil Cake
Topped with a layer of crystallised orange slices, this rich, moist orange and cardamom sponge is perfect for making the most of citrus season.
Discover more delicious olive oil cake recipes here.
