This was such a heartwarming book that I went and purchased a hard copy for our own Christmas library. It was such a comforting picture book and encompasses the spirit of Christmas so beautiful.

A fun new take on the 12 Days of Christmas with different characters from the song being involved in the making of a Christmas cake. With a clear rhythmic pattern and brightly illustrated pictures, this would be a great addition to any child's Christmas bookshelf.
It also includes a recipe for a cake that readers could make together with an adult.

I like that apart from just adapting the 12 Days of Christmas into the steps of baking a pudding, Barker has also introduced the idea of the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany as something that is traditionally celebrated. That does make it a bit of a hard sell to an American audience, though, as these are not typically aspects of our holiday celebration.

I had heard that the Twelve Days of Christmas start the day after Christmas but didn’t know much else about the tradition before picking up this cute book. There’s a small blurb on the inside front cover briefly explaining Twelfth Night and the tradition to make a cake with a hidden surprise to enjoy on the twelfth day after Christmas to celebrate the end of the season. The book then loosely follows the Twelve Days of Christmas carol, using the items from the song to bring an ingredient each day for the cake. The idea is adorable and the execution mostly worked, but I couldn’t help but get tripped up because the rhymes didn’t match the cadence of the song, nor were they supposed to. I just automatically started singing “On the first day of Christmas” along with the words of the book and then had to awkwardly transition to a story- reading voice. Also, the last day didn’t follow the pattern of the previous days (there was only a small nod to the drummers) so that felt a little unfinished. My daughter who enjoys baking thought it was a fun read and my son loved all of the animal illustrations. There is enough illustrative details on each page to keep all ages of readers engaged. A cute story and it even included a recipe that might lead to a new family tradition (for you - not me…12 days after Christmas isn’t enough recovery time for me to start baking again, but you do you!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Happy Yak Publishing for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet mix of Great British Bake Off and Christmas time! I enjoyed the story, the cute illustrations, and the recipe that was included.

This was such a fun and festive read for little ones. I love picture books that explore family traditions during the holidays and this one did not disappoint. I really appreciated the recipe at the end as well as I felt this was a nice touch.

The ideal holiday present! A lovely book for getting children into the holiday spirit. The illustrations were quite appealing.

My Review: This was such a fun book, and would be a blast to read with some littles. I had no idea about the Twelfth Night Cake tradition so it was also fun to learn a little about it. It is told with some great rhymes and a bit of a play on the Twelve Days of Christmas song, it will have those young and old giggling. With the added illustrations, you will find this might become a favorite holiday season re-read. Keep the fun going after Christmas with a 12 days celebration with a recipe to make your own Twelfth Night Cake and start a new tradition.

My Rating: This is definitely a fun book to keep the holiday going and introduce some new (or old) traditions. The illustrations and the rhyme will have the littles wanting more. I give this one a rating of Four Paws!

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

The Big Christmas Bake is an adorable festive children's picture book adding a refreshing spin on the well known and loved Carol 'the twelve days of christmas'. Told in rhyming format children will soon join in with this story and be asking for it again and again on the run up to Christmas. Every day in the book a variety of animal friends bring a different ingredient to make the Twelth Night cake and even includes a child friendly cupcake recipe for children to make too. The illustrations make the book even more special and fun and i loved exploring everything going in on every page. Definitely one to invest in for Christmas to get out every year.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

A cute take on the twelve days of Christmas! Very cheerful and gets you in the holiday spirit! Beautiful illustrations as well!

We are big Christmas people in my house so this was just a great way to start the holidays. It’s a unique take on the 12 days of Christmas song. Slightly silly and adorably illustrated. It even has a recipe included.

Holiday baking doesn't get much bigger, or more exciting than having the characters from "The Twelve Days of Christmas" drop by your house bearing the gifts of necessary ingredients.

That's exactly what two lucky children get when they decide to make a Twelfth Night cake. Readers will be enthralled at Pippa Curnick's new interpretations of those old familiar dancing ladies, milkmaids, and lords-a-leaping; her illustrations are fun and energizing. And, of course, there's a recipe for making your own yummy cupcakes.

A fun holiday read for anyone looking for something a little different.

This was the most adorable Christmas story for kids. I am excited to read this to the children and my grandchildren will love this book so much this holiday season

In this takeoff of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” children bake a cake for the Twelfth Night Celebration which takes place eleven days after Christmas (Christmas being the first night). With simple, four line poems on each page, the text clearly explains what Twelfth Night is and goes over the steps in making a cake from gathering ingredients to icing it. The colorful cartoon artwork (likely watercolors with ink outlines) depicts a Black boy and white girl as they create the cake, assisted by various animals. The book ends with the cake recipe and lyrics to the traditional song. This holiday book would be great for storytime and combines originality, information, and traditions in a clever way.

There are so many wonderful traditions during the holiday season, I remain enthusiastic whenever I learn about a new one. This picture book tells the story of two young children as they begin the preparations for the Twelfth Day bake—a tradition I had never heard about but am very eager to participate in myself. Though, I am not a cake lover by any means, the colourful illustrations of the baking process left my mind with delicious hopes for a time when the smell of fresh goods wafted from the kitchen & I knew that Christmas was near.

What is wonderful about this book is that it incorporates a fun play on the traditional song, known to many, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. I appreciated seeing a number of superbly drawn characters make their way onto the scene of this story as everyone contributed to ensuring that the cake was baked with love, care, & in a timely manner.

I think that many young readers will enjoy working through this book with a guardian—reading the rhymes, the poetic prose that leads them to the delicious treat at the end of the book. This is a story that is meant to be shared; meant to be enjoyed with those whom we love. I am glad to see it available on bookshelves where children might find a familiar or new practice to incorporate into the holiday season.

Thank you to NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books, & Fiona Barker for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Big Christmas Bake by Fiona Barker and Pippa Curnick

Link to publisher
Published by: Happy Yak, Quarto, 4th October

👍👍👍👍👍

This picture book is a joy from start to finish: a great big Christmassy hug with an extra dollop of comfort. Combining our nation's love of Bake Off (and who doesn't love Christmassy baking anyway) with a very popular Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, it focusses on the twelve days AFTER Christmas, rather than the Christmas build-up, and the tradition of baking a twelfth night cake. This is an element of Christmas which has perhaps become a bit lost in British culture but which still remains very popular in other countries and it was lovely to see it being brought back to life.

"Christmas Day is over now,

Santa's been and gone.

But Christmas lasts for twelve more days!

Let's put our aprons on..."

In a clever twist from author Fiona Barker, it is not the 'true love' that is bringing the gift of animals (and rings) but the animals bringing the ingredients for a twelfth night cake - an idea that illustrator Pippa Curnick has run wild with, whipping up dancing hippos, festive penguins and flour bags full of pure joy. The five gold rings are beautifully adapted and there are some lovely extras at the end which include a recipe and the original song. There's not much else to say except...On the first day of Christmas, I really hope Santa brings us this book!

A big thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan and Quarto for allowing us a review of both of the above picture books.

This is such a cute story, I love the artwork! It is a new take on the 12 Days of Christmas!

I will definitely be looking to add this to my children's holiday bookshelf this year!

I love everything about The Big Christmas Bake! It's a beautifully illustrated, delicious countdown to making a Twelfth Night Cake. Written in rhyme, similar to the original Twelve Days of Christmas, it cleverly manages to include all the ingredients of the cake as well as the tradition of choosing the Twelfth Night king or queen.

Two children find a recipe and a large bowl and wait for the friends that the partridge has called to help them bake a cake. Over the twelve days a variety of birds and animals bring all the ingredients that are needed – including a special bean!

The Big Christmas Bake has a bouncy rhyming text which is fun to read aloud. There is so much humour in the text and in Pippa Curnick’s wonderfully energetic, festive illustrations. We love the whimsical style of her animal characters – penguins in Christmas sweaters, ballet dancing hippos, yaks in bowties. We also love the five gold rings – very different to the original version of the song but perfect for a cake!

We’ve read The Big Christmas Bake several times and are constantly finding new details in the illustrations. It’s the perfect picture book to put you in a festive baking mood.

This book takes the 12 days of Christmas into a different direction, baking a cake. The description and recipe made me want to bake a cake for the 12 days of Christmas. The information on the 12 days of Christmas, as well as the original song were a nice touch! This is a great addition to any Christmas book collection.

The BIG Christmas Bake written by Fiona Barker with art by Pippa Curnick is a funny, cheerful, and quick read that will put your young readers into the holiday spirit. I love the charmingly detailed art as well as the original storyline!

The easy-to-follow story puts a lovely and lively spin to the traditional carol, the Twelve Days of Christmas. Follow along as two kids, their pet dog, and a huge flock of animal friends gather together to make a magnificent Twelfth Night Cake.

The simple rhyming narrative is fun and festive! The rhymes will be great to read aloud. However, at times, they are a little forced and do not flow very naturally. I love how the book nicely and uniquely uses elements from the Christmas carol to reflect the gathering of the ingredients for the special cake. It is such a clever and fun way to introduce kids to the tradition of the Twelfth Night Cake as well as the traditional carol. This book will also be a great tool to get kids into baking as the book even includes a super simple delicious Christmas Cupcake recipe!

I love the variety of animals that help out with the baking process! I was so excited to turn the page to see which new animals would join the party. There are the three hens who arrive in balloons with their gift of baking powder, nine dancing hippo ladies bring cherries, and five fancifully dressed rabbits contribute candied orange peels.

Curnick’s illustrations are so lovely and bright! Each page is more fun and festive than the last. If you’re lacking the Christmas spirit, get this book instantly because it will put you into a joyously festive mood! Every wonderful detail is so beautifully and sweetly rendered. I love that even the recipe and song pages are filled with cute illustrations. I particularly love the adorable penguins in their fuzzy sweaters and the kids’ super cute pet dog.


🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂 out of 5 cakes!