Love Cake December 2016 round up

We've eaten the turkey, drunk the mulled wine, ripped open the presents and spent all our money in the sales. There's only one thing left to do – let's see what everyone has been baking for this month's theme of Winter Wonderland.

With time at a premium Sarah at Tales From The Kitchen Shed has come up with a cunning way to get all the flavour of mince pies without the fuss of cutting out the pastry. Her Mincemeat Streusel Slice combines a shortbread base with a mincemeat filling all finished off with an almond streusel topping.

For Cakeyboi Stuart it wasn't a case of chestnuts roasting on an open fire but more a tin of chestnut purée lurking in the cupboard. After several Christmases going by and it never being used Stuart finally decided to break it open and use it as part of his Chocolate and Chestnut Cupcakes. With some festive decoration added they are the perfect alternative to the traditional Christmas pudding.

Christmas isn't Christmas without a showstopper of a cake and here's an amazing one from The Gluten Free Alchemist Kate. Her Layered Chocolate-Mint Christmas Tree Cake is made up of her go-to gluten free chocolate sponge, lashings of mint flavoured butter icing and a selection of edible decorations.

With some leftovers of the Gluten Free Layered Chocolate-Mint Christmas Tree Cake Miss Gluten Free came up with the idea of Snowman Cakes. With a body of gluten free chocolate sponge, a snowy covering of buttercream and sprinkling of sweets this is the perfect way to turn Christmas leftovers into winter treats.

I went for the mincemeat option as well this month with Mincemeat loaf cakes. These are quick to prepare with a simple but effective decoration. They've proved a hit as well with them selling out at all the Christmas bake sales I've taken them to.

That ends another year of Love Cake. Thank you to everyone who has joined in during 2016. I will return in a couple of days with the first theme of 2017.