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Yule Log
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4.67 from 3 votes

Buche de Noel Recipe

Bûche de Noël or Yule log a French Christmas cake, also quite popular in Japan
Cook Time2 hours
Ganache4 hours 20 minutes
Total Time6 hours 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: cake, chocolate, Christmas
Servings: 8 servings

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Equipment

  • 1 square sheet pan 10" x 10" (25cm x 25cm)

Ingredients

Cake

  • 4 eggs
  • 50 g cake flour
  • 30 g cocoa
  • 30 g butter
  • 100 g sugar

Ganache

  • 225 g chocolate
  • 1 cup heavy cream 240ml

Buttercream

Instructions

To make Ganache:

  • Chop chocolate into very small pieces and put in a medium bowl. Heat heavy cream to just before boiling. Add to chocolate and leave for a couple of minutes without disturbing. Stir well with a spatula until completely mixed. Let it sit at least 3-4 hours to set, preferably overnight.

To make cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line an 11" (28cm) square baking pan with parchment paper.
  • Divide eggs into whites and yolks. Sift cake flour and cocoa together. Melt butter. Set all aside.
  • Beat yolks and 1/3 of sugar until a light color and very thick.
  • In a different bowl, whip egg whites. When the eggs are forming into meringue, start adding the rest of the sugar in 3 parts. Whip until almost forming stiff peaks.
  • In the bowl of beaten yolks, add 1/3 of the whipped egg whites, and mix in carefully without deflating the foam. Add this mixture to the rest of the meringue, and carefully mix in the same way.
  • Add flour mixture, sifting into the egg mixture, and carefully mix. Finally add melted butter and mix again.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spread evenly, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Take out from the oven, cool in the pan completely, covered with plastic.

To make filling:

  • In a bowl, put 1/2 of the buttercream and 2-3 Tbsp of ganache and mix well.

To make frosting:

  • In a different bowl, put the rest of the buttercream and ganache and mix well.

To assemble:

  • Remove the parchment paper from the cake. Place a new piece of parchment paper under the cake. Spread filling (leaving 1/2 cup or so) over the cake. From the one side of the cake, start rolling. Wrap the cake with the parchment end side down. Refrigerate for 30 mins to 1 hour.
  • If you like, cut out pieces of the cake with round cookie cutters to make branch stumps. Fill the holes with the frosting, and place round cake pieces on top.
  • Then spread the frosting (the darker cream) over the surface of the log except the surface of the ends and any branch stumps. Cover the surface of the ends of the log and of any branch stumps with filling (the lighter color cream). With a fork, make lines like the surface of trees (bark) and circles on the ends and stumps. Sprinkle cocoa powder. Decorate as you like.

Video