A new year brings new trends in festive desserts. It may only be early 2025, but for bakeries, food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, staying ahead of these trends is key to attracting customers and boosting sales during one of the busiest times of the year.
This year, consumers will seek a balance between nostalgia and innovation, craving both reimagined classics and bold new confections. In this blog, we’ll explore the trending Christmas desserts set to drive demand in 2025 – helping you create products that stand out on shelves and appeal to festive shoppers.
The Evolution of Christmas Desserts: What’s Changed for 2025?
Consumer Behaviour Shifts: From Understated to ‘Extra’
Many dessert trends that took off in 2024 will keep growing in 2025. One key shift is the demand for larger, more artistic, visually striking desserts. Consumers want indulgence with a touch of spectacle, making desserts a centrepiece of Christmas celebrations rather than simply a finishing touch. Think distinctive flavours, unexpected pairings and bold, show-stopping presentations.
The Rise of Inclusions and Toppings in Christmas Desserts
This festive season consumers will be craving texture and decadence, placing more emphasis on inclusions and toppings in Christmas desserts. From caramelised nut croquant to seasonal shaped sprinkles and spiced biscuit crumbs, these elements enhance both flavour and visual appeal.
Top 5 Christmas Dessert Trends for 2025
Let’s dive into the specifics – what are the dessert trends for this coming Christmas?
1. Hybrid Cake Creations
Hybrid cake creations are redefining Christmas desserts by blending multiple flavours, textures and styles into one indulgently innovative treat. Last year, we saw desserts like tiramisu cheesecake and layered trifle cakes emerge, and this year, consumers will be looking for the next distinctive dessert to impress their guests. Hybrid desserts like cheesecake-infused yule logs, panettone-layered trifles and coffee-flavoured croquembouches cater to adventurous consumers seeking new festive delights.
2. Nostalgic Desserts with a Modern Twist
Classic Christmas desserts are making a comeback but with contemporary flair. Think spiced gingerbread with white chocolate chips and espresso glaze, mince pies infused with exotic citrus, or spiced festive cupcakes. The key is to evoke nostalgia while appealing to modern palates.
3. Plant-Based Festive Indulgences
With an estimated 2.5 million vegans in the UK, offering plant-based Christmas treats is now more important than ever. From dairy-free yule logs with silky ganache and plant-based fudge pieces to eggless spiced puddings with vegan dark chocolate chips, these creations deliver festive flavours without compromise. And all can be served with a generous helping of delicious plant-based ice cream. Whether you’re a manufacturer, retailer or restaurant, you can capitalise on this trend by crafting decadent, vegan options that feel truly celebratory.
4. Christmas Treats with a Savoury Twist
Savoury elements are making their way into Christmas desserts in 2025, creating a bold contrast to traditional sweetness. Think rosemary-infused shortbread, miso caramel brownies with choco pretzel dragées, or blue cheese and fig tarts with salted pistachio croquant. These innovative pairings offer a unique way to elevate festive treats and stand out in the dessert market.
5. The Rise of the Loaf Cake
Loaf cakes are making a strong comeback, offering a versatile, classic treat with modern accents. From spiced gingerbread loaves with orange fudge pieces to Christmas cake-inspired versions with dried fruit, nuts and citrus crisp, these cakes combine simplicity with indulgence. Their classic elegance and easy-to-slice format make them perfect for sharing and gifting.
6. Low Sugar Sweet Treats
Health-conscious consumers are seeking festive desserts that deliver decadence and sweetness with less sugar. Innovations like traditional Christmas pudding recipes naturally sweetened with apple and dried fruits, or dark chocolate truffles with sugar-free chocolate chips offer reduced-guilt dessert recipes for Christmas Day.
7. Experimental Dessert Combinations
Consumers are embracing bold, unexpected dessert pairings, driving the rise of experimental combinations. Imagine sticky toffee pudding infused with coffee or a Black Forest cake reinvented with spiced cherry compote and dark biscuit crumb. These creative reimaginations offer a fresh take on tradition, enticing adventurous palates and elevating festive indulgence.
Christmas Desserts Your Customers Will Love
From cafés to supermarkets, here are some Christmas dessert ideas consumers will love, and the inclusions that’ll take appeal to the next level.
Salted Caramel Crispy Reindeer
Kids and adults alike will find these adorable, crispy reindeer irresistible. With crunchy rice puffs and golden syrup decorated with pretzels and sweets, they’re decadent, delicious and undoubtedly, festive.
Our caramelised rise crispy sprinkle would work well in this recipe, infusing rich sweetness. And for extra indulgence and depth of flavour, you could add chocolate dragées. They come in a range of flavours, from caramel chocolate to choco pretzel.
Christmas Tree Brownies
These vibrant Christmas tree-shaped brownies bring colour and a festive feel to a classic recipe. Rich and chewy brownies, decorated with buttercream and festive sprinkles, create the ultimate Christmas treat.
Our white, milk or dark chocolate chips would work well in this type of Christmas dessert, and you could mix it up by including fudge pieces – try apple and cinnamon flavour for the unmistakable taste of Christmas. When it comes to decorations, our Christmas sprinkles add festive cheer, while our colourful chocolate and sugar beans bring vibrancy and fun.
Ginger Loaf Cake
This Christmas take on the classic ginger loaf cake sounds divine. Filled with festive spices and topped with sweet ginger preserve and coconut, this cake would be ideal for an afternoon tea treat over the festive period. Our roasted and caramelised coconut croquant would bring a rich sweetness to this recipe.
To infuse elegance and make this cake more of an after-dinner dessert, you could try a simple icing, then embellish with golden sugar crystals, white chocolate snowflakes or pecan croquant.
How to Incorporate These Christmas Dessert Trends into Your Product Line
Quick-Win Product Development Ideas
Festive sprinkles can easily give best-selling products a Christmas twist. From Christmas-coloured strands to trees and snowflakes, we have a range of products at OV to help create festive treats quickly and simply.
Our festive flavoured inclusions can also add a touch of Christmas to product favourites. Try our gingerbread crocant for spicy crunch and apple and cinnamon fudge pieces for seasonal sweetness.
Cross-Selling Opportunities with OV Group Inclusions
These yuletide touches can be incorporated into a range of products, increasing your cross-selling opportunities. Our festive sprinkles, for example, are perfect for cupcakes, loaf cakes, biscuits, traybakes and more, allowing you to create a whole suite of sweetness that consumers will find irresistible.
The versatility of our products means they have multiple delicious uses across baking, confections and desserts. Take our gingerbread crocant, for instance, it works well as an inclusion in chocolaty fillings, or it’s equally joyful scattered across the top and sides of Christmas treats.
Looking Ahead: Planning Your Christmas 2025 Production
At OV, we have a diverse range of festive inclusions and confections that are ideal Christmas desserts, whether you’re a manufacturer, a quick-serve restaurant, a retailer or a wholesaler. We can even work with you to develop custom ingredients to meet your needs exactly. We also host Product Solution Workshops where NPD teams collaborate with our experts to create the next innovation in festive treats and beyond. Contact us today to find out more.
