Bûche de Noël

Ingredients for the cake

4 eggs, yolks and whites separated

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch pressed cocoa powder

1/3 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

for the filling

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting

6 oz good quality dark or bittersweet chocolate chips, approx 3/4 cup

1.5 tbsp softened unsalted butter

1 tsp instant coffee granules

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 tbsp Kahlua

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

cranberries and rosemary for garnishing

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a half sheet baking pan with parchment paper. Cut a slit in the parchment paper in each of the four corners of the pan so that the parchment paper lies completely flat against the edges of the pan. Use office binder clips to clip the parchment paper to the edges of the pan. Set aside.

Drop the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk on high speed for about 2 to 3 minutes, until wet, soft peaks form. You want the whites to stay hanging on your whisk when they're held upside down, but you don't want them so stiff and dry like you would for a merengue (aim for softly curled tips). Temporarily set the whites aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until they're pale yellow. In a separate, smaller bowl, sift the cocoa powder, cake flour, coffee granules, baking powder, and salt together. Add these dry ingredients to the bowl containing the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk to combine - batter will be VERY thick and hard to mix, but this is normal, so just try your best to mix everything together.

Add in half of the egg whites and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the whites into the batter. You don't have to be extra gentle at this point since you are merely trying to loosen up the batter with the egg whites. Now, add the remaining half of egg whites and, this time, be VERY gentle when folding the whites into the batter with your spatula; make light, long folds.

Pour the batter into you're prepared pan and use your spatula to gently smooth out the batter. Don't tap the pan or move the pan side to side - you don't want to ruin the air bubbles you created with the whipped egg whites. Bake the cake for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently pressed by the tip of your finger (for me, it's always about 6 1/2 minutes in the oven). Let the cake slightly cool in the pan for 2 minutes - no longer.

Meanwhile, prepare a light kitchen/tea towel by sprinkling powdered sugar all over it. Flip the cake out onto the towel and very gently peel the parchment paper off inch by inch. Grab one of the short sides of the cake and roll it towards the other short side, rolling the towel with it as you go. Let the cake remain in this rolled shape until it's completely cool. (Note: It’s important to do this while the cake is still warm as the cake is still flexible at this point and this prevents the cake from cracking or tearing as you roll it).

Meanwhile, create the frosting by adding the chocolate chips, coffee granules, kahlua, unsalted butter, and vanilla extract to a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream over medium-low heat until it’s hot but not boiling (the edges should begin to simmer and steam should rise from the cream). Pour this hot cream over the chocolate and contents in the bowl, then use a spoon to stir the mixture together until it’s completely smooth. Cover the bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes - no longer.

While the frosting chills, whip up your heavy cream in your stand mixer on high speed for one minute, or until the folds of the whisk start appearing in the cream. Add in the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar and continue to whisk on high until the cream is thick like frosting.

Once your cake is cool, unroll your cake and use an offset spatula to spread the whipped cream all over the surface, leaving a very small border around the edges of the cake unfrosted. Gently roll the cake back up just like you did before (minus the towel), with the seam side facing down.

Take a sharp knife and cut off a 2-

inch slice from one end of the cake, cutting at an angle so that one end of the slice is 2 inches and the other end is closer to 1 inch. Take this slice and place the side of it that isn’t cut/exposed and attach it to the main cake log somewhere near the middle of the log.

Use a hand mixer to whisk the chilled frosting for 15 to 25 seconds, or until you can see the whisk leaving indentations in the frosting. Don’t whisk any longer than that as it’ll ruin the frosting. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the frosting all over the cake log and it’s side stump. It’s preferred that you don’t use an offset spatula, as the rubber spatula leaves nice streaks that make the cake look more like a log. Take a fork and run it down the length of the cake log several times. Adorn the cake with cranberries and rosemary for a more festive look.

Buche de Noel

Beyond Brioche: The History and Tradition of La Bûche de Noël-

By Lucie Rose December 24, 2024

December has arrived, and with it, promises of snowy holidays, ice skating, and warming frozen hands around a warm mug of hot chocolate.

Sorry, wrong country. Most of France hasn’t yet seen snow this year, and temperatures are more midseason coat than down parka. Gloves? Hats? Still in the closet.

Warmer weather, however, doesn’t mean the holidays aren’t in full swing. Department stores have a full array of tinsel on display, and pastry shops are piled high with the requisite cakes.

As Parisians and small-town dwellers alike purchase their freshly cut Christmas trees, the anticipatory delight in getting together en famille is starting to show. French family meals are known for three things: lasting hours on end, being the scene of political family feuds (for which there is ample material this year and every year), and traditional holiday desserts.

America has its Thanksgiving turkeys, but France has its Christmas birds too. Here at Beyond Brioche, we say it’s all about what comes after the bird: dessert. And Christmas dessert in France can only mean one thing: la bûche de Noël.

Head into any high-end pastry shop in a major French city and you’ll find some incarnation of the bûche de Noël, or Christmas yule log. Modern bûches resemble a log only because of their cylindrical shape and come in all colors and flavors. As delicious as they may be, for many French, the real deal is the one they helped their mother make in the kitchen on the morning of December 24th.

First thing’s first. Why in the world would anyone bite into a dessert that looks like a log?

The history of the bûche de Noël is a history class in and of itself. The tradition dates back to medieval times, one of many pagan rites competing with Christmas traditions. A log of wood—often from a fruit tree to ensure a successful harvest in the year to come—would be brought home and placed in the hearth, which at the time functioned as the epicenter of every family’s activity. Depending on the region and its various beliefs, salt, wine, or holy water—among other ingredients—were sprinkled atop the log before lighting it on fire. Sprinkling wine, for example, was yet another way to guarantee the following year’s grape harvest would be bountiful.

Once lit on Christmas Eve, the log is supposed to burn for at least three days for good luck—ideally until the New Year. It would have to be a massive, damp log to achieve this, but no matter, that was just the start: ash from the log was thought to also provide protection against lightning strikes, and the coals were used throughout the year in various medicinal potions. That’s all interesting, but at what point does the cake come into the picture?

Little by little, traditional hearths disappeared in homes, replaced by wood-burning stoves. With no center stage left for the Christmas log ritual, smaller logs were placed as a decorative reminder on tabletops, and it was only a matter of time before some intrepid and imaginative soul realized that it would be a lot nicer to eat the log rather than simply watching it. The bûche de Noël as a dessert was born.

What makes the bûche such an astounding year-after-year success in French homes is that pretty much anyone can make one. It takes only a few ingredients to create a simple bûche, and the baking skills required aren’t nearly those of a gateaux Opera or Saint-Honoré cake. The bûche de Noël is the perfect opportunity for what Americans like to call “quality family time.”

The step-by-step is simple: start by making a jelly roll cake and buttercream (the cooked version with egg yolks). Roll it all up, just like a jelly roll cake, and frost with silky ganache. A fork is all you need to create a yule log effect, but a little slicing and reassembling here and there makes for a more realistic look. Diminutive decorations such as handmade marzipan red-and-white mushrooms go a long way to create that Christmas twinkle that appeals to children and adults alike. A yule log is a true family dessert, meant to be shared and enjoyed with leftovers for days after Christmas lunch.

There are hundreds, dare we say thousands, of variations on the bûche throughout France, but it’s a safe bet that almost everyone has a version that reminds them of their childhood. Beyond Brioche favors a simple twist, where chocolate pastry cream lightens up the jelly roll cake instead of buttercream, although in all honesty, it depends on what you were brought up enjoying.

This Christmas, if you fancy a slice of French tradition around the dinner table, it doesn’t get more authentic than a bûche. Our recommendation? Find a simple recipe, such as the classic La Grenouille bûche featured in the New York Times in 1982, or French cooking master Jacques Pépin’s iconic dessert. One word of advice: sprinkling wine or salt on this one won’t get you anywhere, although we can’t vouch for the holy water.