Lucky New Year's Food and Recipes

The promise of a new year is a magical time, with many believing it to be an auspicious time of the season. Many different cultures have their own versions of delicious bakes and desserts that are said to bring good luck.

For those who want to lean into manifesting some good luck for the New Year but still impress your dinner guests, we have the perfect dessert ideas complete with recipes to inspire your menu for the evening.

Let’s take a look at some lucky New Year recipes to wow your dinner companions.

What recipes are considered lucky for New Year?

It’s believed that round or circular cakes will bring good luck to those at the table for New Year, as the circle symbolises a full circle of luck for the year ahead.

Traditional ‘lucky’ recipes often involve some kind of hidden treat in the cake, like a coin or almond. Whoever gets the treat will be the receiver of good luck for the rest of the year.

Chocolate Orange Cake

Oranges have a rich history with the festive season already, such as clementines traditionally being gifted in stockings. The humble orange is considered a new year’s good luck symbol in many different cultures, bringing wealth and prosperity to those who receive them.

Here, we’ve chosen a chocolate and orange combination so you can wow your guests at your New Year celebrations. Plump for a bundt tin to give your bake a circular shape for extra good luck!

You will need:

• A bundt cake tin or similar round cake tin
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 375g light brown sugar
• 300ml sour cream
• 250ml vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 oranges, zested
• 300g dark chocolate
• 1 tsp salt

Prepare your bundt tin with some oil and a light dusting of flour. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and salt) together into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and add the orange zest. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix. When fully combined, pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour.

Once baked, leave to cool completely before lifting from the mould. You can decorate your bundt cake however you like - we’d recommend taking a look at our wholesale sweets range to see how you can jazz up your cake.

Kransekake

This Scandinavian dessert takes pride of place throughout Christmas and New Year celebrations. Everyone has to eat a piece for good luck!

While more involved than the average dessert, this is a real showstopper that’s sure to impress your guests this New Year’s Eve.

You will need:

• 500g ground almonds
• 1.1kg icing sugar (500g for the mix, 600g for the icing)
• 7 egg whites (4 for the mix, 3 for the icing)
• 1 tsp almond extract
• Vegetable oil
• Semolina
• Plain flour
• Kransekake tin moulds
• Your food colouring of choice

Add the ground almonds and icing sugar to a bowl. Pour in the egg whites and almond extract, then combine. This can be done either with an electric mixer or by hand. When completely combined, chill in the fridge for two hours.

Preheat your oven to 200C (or 180C fan). Brush the kransekake moulds with some oil and dust semolina inside, shaking off the excess. Remove your dough from the fridge and roll out into long, thin links to fit the moulds. Press into the moulds until all are filled.

Bake the kransekakes for 8-10 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool - during this time, the cakes will harden slightly.

For the icing, whisk the remaining egg whites until frothy. Gradually sift in the icing sugar until the icing is shiny and forms stiff peaks. Add any food colourings you like at this point, then transfer the mixture to a piping bag.

Assemble the kransekakes into size order, from largest to smallest. Pipe on the icing to each kransekake to give a fir tree effect. Wait until the icing has hardened, then serve.

Almond Cake

This is another delicious cake baked in a round or bundt tin for good luck. The secret to this cake is the single whole almond baked inside. Whoever gets the almond in their slice is said to have good fortune for the rest of the year.

Here’s the recipe so you can make your own almond pound cake. You will need:

• Bundt or other round cake tin
• 50g flaked almonds
• 225g butter
• 500g cream cheese
• 6 eggs
• 400g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 450g sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 whole almond

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before making the batter. Into a bowl, sift together the flour, flaked almonds, baking powder and salt. Preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan).

When ready, mix together the butter and cream cheese until softened. Add the sugar gradually while whisking constantly, mixing for five minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the almond extract and then whisk in one egg at a time on a medium speed until fully combined.

Gradually add in the flour mixture while whisking on a low speed until fully combined. Pour the batter into the bundt tin and add the whole almond into the mix.

Bake for around an hour, checking with a skewer to see if the mix is cooked through. When cooked, leave to cool on a wire rack. Top with any decorations or glaze you like, then serve.

Wrapping up

The New Year is the perfect time to celebrate with loved ones and cultivate some luck for the year ahead. There’s no better - or tastier - way to do it than with these delicious dessert recipes.

We’ve got a fantastic range of New Year's sweets and chocolates you can take a look at to decorate your bakes and give as gifts.