Christmas truly is a blessed time in the year. Despite the very serious troubles our world encounters every year, Christmas gives us the opportunity to end the year in celebration, opening our hearts and minds to joy and good cheer, to hope and the jubilation of being alive!

It is indeed the sweet farewell festival of the year, because part of the joyful Christmas spirit of giving includes a plethora of Christmas treats! From hard-boiled candies, marzipan figures, sugar cookies and chocolates to Christmas cakes, Yule logs and flaming puddings, the absolute delight of Christmas is never as clearly expressed as in the season's desserts!

Christmas goodies come in a bewildering range of shapes and sizes, so unbelievably inventive and irresistible that often one feels bewitched. Christmas Cake, for example, can come in many forms: light and dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, soft and spongy to thick and heavy, leavened or unleavened; in round, square or oblong shapes; as whole cakes, fairy cakes, or petit fours; with marzipan, icing, glazing, and dusting with icing sugar, though perhaps not all at the same time.

German Stollen is another Christmas favourite, made with chopped candied fruit like candied orange or citrus peel, a variety of dried fruit and nuts, and spices like cardamom and cinnamon. The dough is then shaped like a loaf and once baked, powdered with icing sugar on the outside. But Christmas desserts are not always straightforward.

The Yule Log, for instance, is a great example of Christmas finery. Traditionally made from Génoise sponge cake, frosted and filled with chocolate butter-cream, rolled into a log, and then frosted again, the Yule Log endeavours to seem very much like a real wooden branch. Indeed, many chefs go to elaborate ends to ensure the finer details of the cake are attended to.

But of course, no Christmas dessert is as exciting as the Christmas Pudding. Traditionally served on Christmas Day, Christmas Pudding is a steamed pudding, heavy with dried fruit and nuts, and usually made with suet, darkened by the dark sugars and black treacle and by its long cooking time.

Often, the mixture is moistened with citrus juice, brandy and other alcohol. Just before serving, the pudding is steamed once more, doused by brandy and set alight, allowing a halo of orange and violet flames to surround the pudding before they disappear, caramelising the brandy around the pudding.

Throughout this festive Winter, at Frederick’s Lounge at ITC Grand Central, we offer you the undisputed best in Christmas desserts. Enjoy the sweetness of the season, from the smallest delights to the biggest celebrations. Indulge yourself during this happy festival, a time when people the world over are turning together to express their welcome to each other, their hopes for peace, their good-will and their joy.