Christmas Spiced Gingerbread Cake + Autumn-Winter Update (2025)

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but didn't manage to get this finished yesterday, so am posting today instead. :)

As with previous years, I'm doing a double post, sharing what I baked for Christmas and my last quarterly update of the year (autumn-winter). (Last year I didn't bake anything for Christmas, so shared what I baked for New Year instead). Scroll down if you just want to read the update. :)

 

Christmas Spiced Gingerbread Cake

For Christmas (2025) I baked a spiced gingerbread cake. The recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/gingerbread-cake-recipe/

It can be made as a single layer cake or a 3 layer cake and in various sizes. I made the single version. I used treacle instead of molasses, which I often do with ginger things, since it's more accessible in the UK. I also used mixed spice instead of cloves because I didn't have any and mixed spice has cloves in it.

The recipe has a cream cheese frosting which is one of my favourite icings/frostings, especially with ginger cakes! This frosting has spices in it, so I used ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice again. 

The cake was quite nice. It goes well with evaporated milk too. One of the suggestions for decorating it is festive Christmas sprinkles. I couldn't get any red and green sprinkles, so I used some multicoloured ones instead. Here's a pic:  

Yule 2025

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but didn't manage to get this finished yesterday. So I'm posting on a Tuesday instead. :)

The Sunday before last (21st December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I celebrated by having a chocolate Yule log from Tesco, a Finest red velvet white chocolate one this year, for a change. While I occasionally make my own, I most often buy them, especially since it's so close to Christmas!

The Yule log was quite nice and it was good to have red velvet, since I like the cake. Here's a pic:

 

Hallowe'en/Samhain 2025

The Friday before last (31st October) it was Hallowe'en and Samhain. I celebrated by carving a pumpkin, putting up some decorations and making some food and drink. I baked gingerbread skeletons, made some potato salad based on a recipe from the book The Kitchen Witch by Soraya and my favourite Demon's Blood drink (ginger beer mixed with apple juice and orange juice, and dyed green). The drink recipe is from Kate West's book The Real Witches' Kitchen.

Here's a picture of the pumpkin: 

Summer-Autumn Update (2025) + Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en!

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but didn't manage to get this post finished yesterday, so it's on a Tuesday instead. :) 

 

We're now in October, so it's time for my summer-autumn update! :) You can see my previous updates for 2025 below: 

Winter-Spring Update (2025):  https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/04/winter-spring-update-2025-easter-baking.html

Spring-Summer Update (2025): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/07/spring-summer-update-2025.html

Plus, Samhain/Hallowe'en is coming up), so I've included a section with inspiration for celebrating (scroll down to the bottom of the post).

In mid-July, I went to Yallabina, a belly dance event that I also went to last year. It was at a different venue this time (still in Brighton). Afterwards I got a mocha frappe from Hellenic Bakery, which I really liked. 

In late July, I met up with my belly dance friends to celebrate a birthday. We went to a pub in Woodingdean (Brighton). It was nice to see them all after a while. 

Then at the beginning of August, I celebrated Lammas. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/08/lammas-2025.html

I also met up with family members that month, who were visiting the UK. It was the first time I'd ever met them, so it was good. We had lunch in Harry Ramsden's (fish and chips restaurant in Brighton), then went on the pier. I've had takeaway from Harry Ramsden's but hadn't eaten in the restaurant before and I also hadn't been on the pier in years, so it made a change!

I shared a couple of pictures from that day in my Late Summer Photos + Happy Madron/Autumn! post, which you can see here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/09/late-summer-photos-happy-madronautumn.html

Here's a pic of my meal at Harry Ramsden's:

 

Madron 2025

Two weeks ago (Monday 22nd September) it was Madron, also known as Mabon/the Autumn Equinox. I normally bake for this sabbat as my main celebration. For the past few years I've made some form of ginger cake (although in 2022 I baked pumpkin spice bars) but this year I decided to go for something differrent, a buttermilk spice cake. The recipe is from Mix and Match Mama: https://mixandmatchmama.com/2018/09/buttermilk-spice-cake/

I thought it fit the theme because it has spices in (also any type of baked goods are suitable for Madron because it's a harvest festival). I didn't use nutmeg because I didn't have any and don't use it much, but I used some mixed spice instead. 

The cake was quite nice. I liked the cream cheese frosting too. (I like it in general but don't normally put maple syrup in it). You can bake it as a sheet cake or a layer cake and I chose to do a sheet cake. Here's a pic: 

Late Summer Photos + Happy Madron/Autumn!

Back in 2019, I wrote a post called Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn, where I shared some pictures from the summer and also wrote about getting ready for the new season. You can see it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/summer-photos-preparing-for-autumn.html

This year, I thought I'd something similar, but since Madron aka Mabon/the Autumn Equinox is tomorrow (Monday 22nd September), I'm doing a combined post with some photos from my summer and some inspiration for celebrating Madron and the autumn season. :)

 

Late Summer Photos 

First up, here are some pics from the end of summer. 

Here are some photos I took when I met up with some family members in Brighton in August:

View from Brighton Palace Pier.

Lammas 2025

The Friday before last it was Lammas (1st August). Although some people may celebrate on 31st July or 2nd August. My usual celebration for this sabbat is baking. This year I made gingerbread and also bread (using a mix).

The gingerbread recipe is the BBC Good Food one that I've used for the past several years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096

This Lammas I made standard "men" shapes and a couple of other ones. Last year I used ready made icing but this year I made up my own again (icing sugar mixed with water). I iced some of them completely. lol. Here's a pic: