Black Cat Christmas

The Christmas shop is live! This feels like the earliest we've ever managed to get it

out - and is down to Eleanor's months of recipe development, which means we're good to go with a range of SourDoughnuts and sourdough loaves which are jam-packed full of festive spirit.

We're offering pre-orders for now, and are hoping to save some capacity for walk-up purchases on Christmas eve morning. It's one of my favourite days of the year to work. Seeing everyone's joyful faces, and finally putting faces to names - it's a real honour to see our goodies going home to be part of your special season.

There are two collection points - our Wivenhoe bakery (head beyond 4 Watsham Place, CO7 9WP, and you will see us!) and Love Local (Copford), between 9am-12pm on 24th December.

Nitty gritty

Orders need to be placed via our website - we aren't taking orders via email. This creates a logistical nightmare with more dreaded admin (trust me, already drowning) and makes it more challenging to manage stock. Only items in the Christmas shop are available on Christmas Eve. We will be working at maximum capacity on bread and doughnuts, and simply can't add things you love like brownies (sorry! But they will be available on Saturday 21st and they freeze beautifully).

Christmas Eve is collection only. Our wonderful delivery drivers will be enjoying time with their friends and family. Collection is between 9am-12pm; we will be washing up, and then heading for a well-deserved rest! If you need to organise an alternative collection time, please email first, and we'll see if we can help you out.

We ask that you place your Christmas Eve order separately to any other order you wish to make for another day. It helps us to know you've not made an error (in ordering something not available on Xmas Eve), and means that you will pay the appropriate delivery for any items not being collected on Xmas Eve.

We will be releasing a NYE drop in the next few weeks. This will be the only day we bake between Christmas Eve and our reopening in January.

So we will be baking on

24th December (collection only)

31st December (collection only)

And then back again with deliveries on Thursday 8th January 2026

Subscriptions will pause following delivery on Saturday 21st December until Thursday 8th January, so any subscribers wishing to have Christmas Eve or NYE bread will need to make a separate order.

We have a month of exciting SourDoughnut specials, which will continue to be a choice of 3 each week, before our big finale on 24th December!

As always, thank you for your likes, shares, and words of encouragement (as well as purchases!) in 2025. Black Cat has been through a scary phase of growth this year, and we're really excited for what lies ahead.

Ayala x