Buche De Noel

Although it’s not Christmas right now, Kathy enjoyed learning how to make this beautiful Buche de Noel. She actually made two, and the second went a lot faster! This is an enchanting French Christmas log cake to prepare for family and friends who love chocolate. We’ve taken bits and pieces from other recipes to make the one we normally use.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat Oven to 425 F

Line a 13” x 9” baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut slits in the paper at the corners to make sure the paper is laying as square as possible. Use binder clips to hold the paper to the pan on all four sides.

Cake

1. Whip egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. (Usually two to three minutes.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together. If you have a stand mixer, use that because it will help with the next steps.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, coffee granules, baking powder and salt.
4. Add the dry contents to the bowl with the yolks and sugar. The mixture will be very thick and can be hard to mix, so it’s easier if you are doing it with a stand mixer.
5. By hand with a rubber spatula, gently fold in half the stiff egg whites. This will make the batter looser. Then very carefully add in the last half of the egg whites with your spatula. You want to retain a lot of the fluffy, stiff egg whites. 
6. Pour the batter on the baking sheet and smooth the batter with the spatula. Do not tap or shake the pan to smooth it out. You want to keep the air bubbles in the egg whites. Bake for six to seven minutes.
7. While the cake is baking, sprinkle a thin kitchen towel with powdered sugar. After you take the cake out of the oven, you can let it cool briefly – two minutes or less. Flip the cake out onto the towel with the powdered sugar. 
8. Carefully remove the parchment paper. Fold any part of the towel that is on a short end onto the cake and start rolling from that end. Set the cake aside and let it cool. 

Frosting

1. Combine chips, butter, coffee granules and vanilla in a small bowl. Heat the cream until you can see steam. You can microwave it in ten second intervals. When the cream is very warm, pour it over the chip mixture and stir until it’s smooth. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, although, it has taken longer at times. It should be fairly thick and not a runny liquid. 

Filling

1. Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla on high speed until it’s very thick. You need to be able to spread it.

Assembly

• Unroll your cooled cake and remove the towel. 
• Spread the filling onto the inside of the cake. Leave a border because when you roll it again, the filling will squeeze out to the edges.
• Roll it again and leave the seam side down.
• Cut a small section off of one end at a diagonal and place this cut section with the flat side against the main body of the cake. It should start resemble a log with a small branch.
• When the frosting is cold and fairly thick, stir it briefly to loosen it. Spread it onto the cake, leaving the ends exposed. You can use a fork to gently run through the frosting after it’s on the cake to make it look more like bark on a log. 
• You can decorate the cake with rosemary sprigs and powdered sugar. However, don’t do the powdered sugar until you’re ready to serve because it will be absorbed by the icing and basically disappear.