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How to make a Yule log offers tips, tricks and advice on how to bake Bûche de Noël, the traditional French holiday dessert.
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How To Make A Yule Log
This videojug video demonstrates how to make a Yule log that will feed 6-8 people for a holiday dessert. While the recipe is a bit different than the one detailed below, the techniques used on the video can be applied to the recipe on this page. Please note that this is a UK video, so that the the temperatures in are centigrade, annd the measurements are all metric.Introduction
- Christmas is coming, which means it's time to start baking cakes shaped like logs! The Yule log or Bûche de Noël is a traditional French dessert served during the holiday season. The log typically consists of a yellow sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream. There are several popular variations, but you can feel confident knowing that whichever you choose, your cake will be nothing but delicious.
Step 1: Buche du Noel Sponge Cake Ingedients
- The cake part of the yule log is typically made from either a sponge or genoise cake. Both require the use of a shallow jelly roll pan.
Ingredients You'll Need
- 6 egg whites
- 6 egg yolks
- 3/4 cups of sugar
- 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 dash of salt
- Confectioners' sugar for dusting
- Butter to grease pan
Equipment You'll Need
- Jelly roll pan (approximately 15 x 10 x 1)
- Wax or parchment paper
- Electric mixer
- 2 mixing bowls
- Rubber spatula or wire whisk
- Clean tea towel
- Cooling rack
Sponge Cake Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease the bottom of the jelly roll pan.
- Line the pan with wax or parchment paper.
- Grease the paper.
- Using the electric mixer, beat the egg whites at a high speed until soft peaks form.
- Add 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time. Beat until stiff beaks form. Set aside bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks at a high speed while adding 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time. Beat until mixture is very thick. Approximately 4 minutes.
- At a low speed, beat the cocoa, vanilla and salt into the egg yolk mixture. Mix until smooth.
- With a wire whisk or rubber spatula, gently fold the cocoa mixture into egg whites until blended.
- Spread mixture evenly into the pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or just until the surface springs back when pressed gently.
- Sift confectioners' sugar in a 15 x 10 inch rectangle on a clean tea or linen towel.
- Turn cake out of the pan and onto the sugar-covered towel.
- Peel the wax or parchment paper off the cake.
- Starting with the short end, roll the cake with the towel up like a jelly roll.
- The towel is used to prevent the cake from sticking to itself while it cools. You will unroll the cake later to insert the filling.
- Let the rolled-up cake cool completely seam side down on a cooling rack.
Step 2: Make the Filling
- The filling is the easy part. Usually a butter or whipped cream, it can be made before or after the cake has been put in the oven. Just be sure that your cake has had time to cool before coating it with the filling.
Ingredients You'll Need
- 1 1/2 cups of chilled heavy cream
- 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
- 2 teaspoons of instant coffee
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Equipment You'll Need
- Electric mixer
- Mixing bowl
Step 3: Assemble the Yule Log
- Your cake is cooled. Your filling is chilled. Now, it's time to assemble the log!
- Unroll the cake.
- Spread the filling over the cake stopping 1 inch from each edge.
- Re-roll the cake. (No towel this time!)
- Place seam side down on a plate.
- Cover loosely with foil or plastic wrap.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- You can make and freeze your yule log for up to one week before serving. Wrap tightly in foil before freezing, and allow to thaw for at least 1 hour before serving.
Step 4: Decorate the Cake
- There are a number of ways to decorate your yule log. Some recipes simply call for a light dusting of confectioners' sugar. Others suggest creating a chocolate icing, which more closely resembles bark, or making marzipan mushrooms to dot along the side of your log. Here are a few decorating suggestions from the experts:
- Food Network: Chocolate Yule Log with Forest Mushrooms
- This recipe suggests using chocolate candy kisses and mini-marshmallows as mushrooms growing around your log.
- MarthaStewart.com: Meringue Mushrooms and Chocolate Ganache Icing
- Martha Stewart recommends making mushrooms out of meringue and using a small spatula to create bark-like etchings in a thin layer of ganache icing.
- Epicurious.com: Caramel-Orange Bûche de Noël
- This recipe calls for candied cranberries and actual pine twigs as garnish.
How to Make Chocolate Icing
- If you do decide to frost your cake, here's a simple chocolate icing recipe you can use:
Ingredients You'll Need
- 1/3 cup of butter
- 2 cups of confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup of cocoa
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Equipment You'll Need
- Electric mixer
- Allow butter to soften by sitting out.
- Once the butter has softened, combine all ingredients.
- Beat until smooth.
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