8 Amazing Christmas Cakes

The holiday season is the most festive time of the year to bake. With Christmas parties to attend (and host) and holiday gifts to give, there are plenty of reasons to roll up your sleeves, turn on some Christmas music, and bake. In addition to the classic snowflake shaped sugar cookies, try baking a Christmas cake this year.

Click here to see the 8 Amazing Christmas Cakes (Slideshow)

So what exactly qualifies as a Christmas cake? The traditional bûche de noël or Yule log cake is a classic favorite. Other options are gingerbread cakes, cakes topped with crumbled candy canes, cranberry cakes, and cinnamon-spiced chocolate cakes. This week, we put the Culinary Content Network and our staff to the test to come up with festive Christmas cake recipes. Here are some of the highlights:

• Simi from Turmericnspice.com shared with us her recipe for a festive spin on tiramisu with a ginger caramel tiramisu cake. Simi is a member of The Culinary Content Network.

• Karen Gifford of Thefoodcharlatan.com made a cheerful cranberry Bundt cake with fresh, ruby red cranberries. Gifford is a member of The Culinary Content Network.

• The winner this week is Rebecca Turchan of adustingofsugar.com. She shared with us her recipe for nutcracker cake, a triple layer chocolate hazelnut cake. Turchan is a member of The Culinary Content Network.

All of the recipes featured can be made at home for about $20 or less, excluding the cost of small amounts of basic ingredients such as butter, oil, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and other dried herbs and spices.

For more holiday cheer, visit The Daily Meal's Ultimate Guide to Christmas!

Emily Jacobs is the Recipe editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyRecipes.