Bold Baking of Buche de Noel

Buche de Noel (you can add decorated frosting)

This blog is partially becoming my tool for me to remember what I create in the kitchen and how I created it.  I often refer to my blog for some recipe or technique that I used before.  This of course requires that the blog entries have enough information to create the item.  That level of information can be time consuming to add to the blog, so I occasionally skip the detail and I conceptually blog about some great dish without adding the recipe.  

I planned to make this Yule Log (Buche de Noel) the night before Christmas Eve and frost it the next day.  I spent some valuable family time and it was midnight before I was ready to bake. I first looked at my blog, which only had pictures, but no recipe of the cake.  I quickly pulled up a recipe online and started making it. After robotically measuring 3 cups of flour and blending it with salt and baking soda, I realized that this recipe was way off.  Three cups of flour with six eggs does not sound right.  So I frantically (now 12:30 AM) googled and rushed through all kinds of recipes.  One called for cornstarch; I never use cornstarch in my cakes.  Somehow, by combining various recipes, I created the buche de noel cake part and rolled it up to cool overnight (now 2 AM).  During this process I also thought I misplaced two egg yolks in the separation process (but didn’t see it in the drain) so I added two more yolks. Later, I realized that  nothing was misplaced, instead the imagined discrepancy was due  to panic combined with fatigue.  Consequently the cake ended up with two extra yolks which led to a very yellow and tasty cake.  The  buche de noel was a success.

I do not want to repeat this panic night again. Baking is not something one can improvise (or the dreaded cake fall or cake break during the roll can happen).  Some on social media were also asking me for the recipe after seeing photos of the finished product.  So I decided to remake this cake during the holiday season so I can write down the recipe and photograph the process. 

Next year I will not have to panic at 1 AM; at least not about Buche de Noel.

[See my prior posts on Buche de Noel also:  Buche de Noel Overview and decorations]

Beat the yolk until thick

This is the the right consistency (fairly thick)

six egg whites

after beating with formed peaks

Fold the beaten whites into the yolk - make sure you keep incorporating air

The baked product (it's done when it springs back) - sprinkle with powder sugar to prevent sticking

achieve this by placing a cookie sheet topped with the cloth over the baking pan and flip

Very carefully remove the parchment paper, if you rush, you can rip the cake

More powder sugar

fold cloth over

remove cookie sheet from bottom

Very patiently roll the cake

let it rest for a few hours (I actually did overnight and it was fine)-this forms the cake to roll

For cake:

Recipe - Buche de Noel (Yule Log)

6 eggs + 2 yolks

½ cup plus 2 tbs granulated sugar divided in two (the ½ cup and 2 tbs)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar

½ cup cake flour

Powder sugar

Parchment paper

Clean Kitchen rag (not terrycloth)

Jelly pan

  And…

Hope (relating to the cake not breaking as it’s being rolled up, unrolled, and then rolled again-that’s three risk points).

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 11x10x1-inch jelly roll pan. Line bottom with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment paper also and knock out excess flour.

Separate 6 eggs

Beat yolks (8), ½ c. sugar, vanilla and large metal bowl until lemon yellow-high speed about 5-8 minutes sift half of flour over yolks and fold it in gently. Then sift rest of it in. I actually just beat the flour in at a low speed it also works.

Beat egg whites  (6) with cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form.  Beat in 1 tablespoons sugar half a tablespoon at time until peaks hold.

Add egg white to egg yolk, make sure air is incorporated (add in parts).

Spread batter in prepared pan evenly. Bang the pan once against counter to remove bubbles.  Bake until top springs back, about 10-14 minutes.  Sift powdered sugar over towel and top of cake. Run knife around edge of pan to loosen cake. Turn hot cake out onto towel with cookie sheet under it (with oven mitts). Peel off parchment. Starting at  long side and using towel as aid, gently roll up cake jelly-roll style. Cool.

Unroll cake, frost and  re-roll cake; place cake, seam side down, on platter. 

Roll (long side away) with towel.  Let sit so the cake molds into a rolled shape

Careful unroll from towel

Fill with frosting

Roll back

Take a diagonal slice off to serve as trunk – stick on the frosting and frost

Make lines to resemble a tree

Carefully put on a large serving platter that has been dusted with powder sugar

Sprinkle powder sugar over the frosted cake to resemble snow.  In prior years I have made white frosting so I can create green, white and red frosting pieces to resemble the forest (leaves, mushrooms, berries).  I skipped that step.

For frosting I used a slightly fluffier variation of my mocha frosting recipe (listed in this blog) and the second time this season I made a rum chocolate frosting (chocolate and rum are a great flavor combination).

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Buche De Noel-it's not just a pretty name

Do I thrive on stress and multitasking?

2011 concluded and as I look back on this blog, I have one comment:  I didn’t blog enough.

As I reflect on why I didn’t blog-it’s because for each entry I wanted to have all the photos, the story, and the exact recipe with all the key ingredients/substitutions.  I was too busy to make such complete entries as frequently as I would like.

So here’s my ‘incomplete’ entry – more to follow later.

For years I loved the way “Buche de Noel” sounds and looks.  Yes,  I could have bought a ready made one, but then my son wouldn’t be able to eat it due to cross contamination and allergens.  Even before his food allergies, I chose not to buy one because I knew the ingredients weren’t the best.

So I finally made it…. and it tastes as good as it looks and sounds.

As the first step, I watched the hilarious Julia Child video on how to make it (with the falling stump-I love her casual attitude when things don’t go perfectly).  But she didn’t cover the rolling part.  I researched at least 10 different recipes for ingredients, baking technique and rolling technique (there are many).

Mostly, this Yule Log (another name for it) is like my holiday mocha cake (prior blog entry).  I separate the eggs the same way I do for my cakes and the frosting was identical to my mocha frosting (except I added a bit of Kahlua).  But the rolling in towels and so forth gets a bit tricky (or at least stressful).  I always say holidays are not the time to experiment, but then I always do. Decorating the Buche de Noel was very easy.  So again, I tried to add a few new dishes to my holiday repertoire.    While creating new recipes and food items around the holidays is a bit stressful (what if it doesn’t work-disaster), it does provide me with some sort of accomplishment.

Apparently stress may be a killer, but it also fuels one’s creativity in all areas.

As usual I didn’t write the recipe and technique down (and I really should for something I make a few times a year).  So I will add this at a later time.  I’ve even found my blog useful to look up my own recipes. I also have many more to add from the recent holidays.


Contents are protected by the U.S. Copyright act and may not be duplicated or redistributed.  All contents are owned by BlogToTheNextOne ©2012