White Chocolate Buche de Noel

on Friday, 13 December 2019. Posted in French Friday, Provence

Buche de Noel is the French name for a Christmas cake shaped like a log. This is a heavenly cake rolled with either chocolate or whipped cream. It can be a chocolate cake or a white cake. Traditionally, Buche de Noel is decorated with icing sugar to resemble snow on a Yule log. It was originally a Nordic tradition. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals in parts of northern Europe... In some eastern European countries, the log was cut down on Christmas Eve morning and lit that evening.

Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

Sponge

4 eggs
100 gr sugar
140 gr self raising flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Butter Cream

350 gr softened unsalted butter
500 gr icing sugar
250 gr white chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
90 gr cream
Pinch of salt

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
With baking paper, line a tin which is close to 26 cm x 38 cm.
Beat eggs well, for about 4 minutes. Add sugar, salt and vanilla to eggs and continue beating for another 2 minutes. Slowly fold in the sifted flour. Once incorporated, spread onto the baking ray and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and tip the baked cake onto a tea towel which has been sprinkled with sugar. Peel off the baking paper and gently roll the cake into a log. Allow this to completely cool.

White Chocolate Butter Cream

Melt the chocolate in a dish over a saucepan of boiling water. Allow it to cool a bit.
In another pan, beat the icing sugar, butter and salt till fluffy and smooth. On a low speed add the cream and vanilla. Beat till fluffy again and then add the cooled chocolate and beat till frosting is fluffy again.
To assemble the log, cut a piece off the end, to then attach it onto the side, resembling a branch coming out of the log. Unroll the cake and evenly spread a third of the butter cream onto the cake. Then spread the remaining butter cream onto the outside of the log.
For the added decoration to this cake I made a small amount of meringue mixture and made small mushrooms, dusted with cocoa. Add whatever decorations you desire to make this log. Chill the cake before serving.