Buche De No L(Christmas Log Cake)
Submitted by mikeacarpenter
Buche de Noel (Christmas log cake): a classic French yule log with sponge cake, coffee buttercream, meringue mushrooms, and a dusting of powdered sugar snow. A showstopping holiday centerpiece.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
40 minCOOK
1 hrsREADY
2 hrsBuche de Noel is the French Christmas cake that looks like a snow-dusted log fallen in the woods: rolled sponge filled with coffee buttercream, carved with a diagonal cut for the stump, draped in bark-textured frosting, and crowned with meringue mushrooms that actually look like mushrooms.
The sponge is the load-bearing step. Whip the eggs at high speed for a full 5 to 10 minutes until they triple in volume and form ribbons when the beater lifts. That air is the only leavening you get. Fold in the dry ingredients gently, in four additions, so you keep every bit of that volume.
Roll the warm sponge in a powdered-sugar-dusted tea towel right out of the oven. This pre-sets the curl so when you unroll it to frost and re-roll, it doesn’t crack down the middle.
The decoration is where the patience pays off. Piped meringue mushroom caps and stems bake separately in a low oven, then get “glued” with buttercream and dusted with cocoa. Green-tinted frosting pipes ivy along the log, and a final snowfall of powdered sugar finishes the fairy-tale look.
Pro Tips
- Use cake flour, not all-purpose. The lower protein keeps the sponge tender and flexible enough to roll without cracking.
- Roll the cake while it’s still warm, towel and all. Cold sponge has already set and will shatter when you try to curl it.
- Bake the meringue mushrooms low and slow at 250°F (120°C). Higher and they brown; this way they stay snow white.
- Chill the assembled log briefly before decorating. A cold base makes buttercream bark textures hold their ridges instead of melting flat.
- Use a fork or offset spatula dragged lengthwise for realistic bark texture.
Variations
- Fill with sweetened whipped cream and berry jam instead of coffee buttercream for a lighter, more modern version.
- Swap coffee for dark chocolate ganache in the buttercream for a deeper, richer flavor.
- Garnish with rosemary sprigs (for pine boughs), sugared cranberries, and marzipan holly leaves for extra fairy-tale drama.
Ingredients
Directions
Grease a jelly roll baking sheet.
Line with parchment paper.
Grease the parchment paper. Sift dry ingredients together.
Beat eggs at high speed about 5 to 10 minutes.
Add sugar by tablespoonfuls. Continue beating until the butter is very thick.
Then add lemon juice and water.
Fold in dry ingredients in four stages, ¼ cup at a time.
Spread evenly on the baking sheet.
Bake at 375℉ (190℃). for 15 minutes or until the sponge springs back when tested.
Sift powdered sugar onto the sponge.
Turn cake out onto a clean tea towel.
Remove parchment paper.
Trim edges of the sponge if they are crispy.
Roll up gently, leaving towel inside, while still warm.
Let cool. Beat egg whites, and when foamy add the cream of tartar.
When soft peaks form, gradually beat in the sugar.
Beat until meringue is stiff and glossy.
Pipe meringue through a pastry bag, making and equal number of stems and caps to resemble small mushrooms.
Bake mushroom pieces at 250 degrees F. about 45 minutes. When cool, glue them together with butter cream icing and dust lightly with cocoa in a fine strainer.
Beat egg yolks and butter together until smooth.
Add coffee and milk. Gradually add powdered sugar.
Beat until smooth. Mix about ⅓ cup to ½ cup of the frosting with green food coloring for the ivy decoration.
TO ASSEMBLE: Unroll cooled sponge, remove towel, spread, cake with butter cream icing.
Roll up. Cut off at a diagonal.
This is the tree stump. Frost the outside, then add the stump and frost.
Make ivy patterns. Add the mushrooms.
Dust the whole cake very lightly with powdered sugar, to simulate snow.
Keep in refrigerator.
Cut with serrated knife.
Comments




Hello
The recipe shared is terrific and steps used for the preparation of the cake is very easy to understand and practice. Photographs displayed are awesome and provide huge visual delight. Thanks a lot for sharing such a wonderful peace of text.
T