The best Christmas cake for 2025, according to our tasting panel

Score: 82/100

Tesco’s Christmas cake impressed our panellists with its intricate, jewelled fruit topping. More importantly, they praised its classic but well‑executed flavour, encompassing rich fruit cake, a generous layer of nutty marzipan, and complex spice.

Texture-wise, it was a big hit too, thanks to crunchy walnuts, pistachios and whole glacé cherries.

Score: 81/100

Hand decorated (just not by you!), Waitrose’s festive cake delivers a powerful thwack of brandy and ginger, with apricot purée adding interest. Both complement the naturally sweet vine fruit, classic marzipan and firm layer of icing.

Score: 80/100

Topped with a scene depicting Cambridge’s King’s College Chapel, this one certainly looks the part. The flavour is every bit as classic and very well executed, with a thick layer of sweet icing, plenty of rum, and a full-flavoured nutty sponge cake brimming with glacé cherries.

Available 10 November 2025

Score: 80/100

Iceland’s cake is light and fluffy – closer to a gently spiced fruit cake than a classic pud. Brandy is prominent on the nose, while on the palate, a not‑too‑sweet icing pairs neatly with the nutty marzipan.

Score: 76/100

Rich and pleasantly spiced, this fruit cake has well‑integrated sweetness and a fudgy crumb. The icing is excellent and pairs beautifully with the light, nutty marzipan, while the cake is full flavour.

Available TBC

Score: 75/100

Presented in a pretty, giftable tin, this Sainsbury’s Christmas cake is lighter than its aroma suggests. Brown butter and a touch of cinnamon are the prominent flavours, making it a good choice for those less keen on a bold, traditional cake.

Available 1 November 2025

Score: 74/100

Morrisons’ Christmas cake is a solid supermarket option if you don’t have time to make your own. The full-flavoured fruit cake is dense and sweet, with an abundance of raisins and sticky glacé cherries for textural contrast. The icing and marzipan layers are relatively thin, but super tasty.

Score: 74/100

Handmade in the Cotswolds and presented in a reusable tin, ready for gifting, Daylesford’s un-iced fruit cake is a class act. Bright and zesty, with the pronounced flavour of clove, ginger and nutmeg and well-balanced sweetness, it’s a beautiful base for you to add your own decoration.

Score: 73/100

This Yorkshire-based bakery has added a generous glug of stout to its loaf cake to make it extra decadent. The result is a bake with treacle sweetness and intensely flavoured vine fruit, reminiscent of PX sherry.

There’s no icing, giving it a balanced sweetness, and it’s easy to serve in slices with a cup of tea.

Score: 73/100

Beautifully decorated with royal icing and finished with a green ribbon, this top-quality cake would make a stunning centrepiece.

There’s a beautiful balance of brown sugar sweetness, buttery, brandy kissed fruit, and chunky walnuts throughout. The thick layer of icing and nutty marzipan was also described as “knockout” by our panel, making this a great all-rounder.

Score: 72/100

Reminiscent of Soreen malt loaf, Cartwright & Butler’s malty cake delivers an authentic fruity flavour. The notes of golden syrup in the sponge contrast nicely against the thick layer of icing and rich marzipan. And the metal tin can also be reused for future homemade bakes.

Score: 70/100

Aldi’s well‑priced bake delivers brown‑sugar sweetness and well‑judged spice, with prominent warming ginger and an indulgent, fudgy texture. The icing is thick and sweet, but the marzipan holds its own, adding a nutty note. We’ll be serving it alongside a good cuppa.

Available 2 November 2025