Christmas log recipe from French confectioners. Christmas log Buche de Noel, traditional recipe with photo. Cake "Christmas log" chocolate and coffee

"Christmas Log" (Bûche de Noël) is a traditional log-shaped cake common in France, Belgium and former French colonies.

The custom of baking this cake dates back to the medieval custom of burning logs on Christmas night. A log from a fruit tree burning for 12 hours symbolized a rich harvest throughout the year. French winemakers doused the burning log with wine, farmers with milk and honey.

The cake itself appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century; in fact, it is a kind of roll made from sponge dough with cream, made in such a way that the cut of the cake resembles the cut of a tree trunk. The roll is coated with cream so that the outside resembles tree bark. Decorate the roll with mushroom-shaped meringues.

In fact, at the moment there are many variations on the theme of this traditional cake. Every self-respecting pastry chef creates and decorates logs in his own way; there are even entire collections of log cakes, and competitions are held on the Internet and on TV for the most beautiful, tasty and unusual log.

I’ll be honest with you: I was never particularly attracted to log cake; I always preferred the Italian fluffy panettone cake with the flavor of vanilla and candied fruits. Probably my nostalgia for Italy is affecting me.

I came across the Yule Log class almost by accident when I signed up for a pastry course with Christoph Felder after my experience with a macaron course.

Cake log "Miss Quetsches" - lesson with Christophe Felder.

The tutorial is called "Miss Quetsches Log Cake" and the recipe description reads: "White chocolate, lemon zest, almonds and plums." After searching on Google, I discovered that quetsches are purple oblong plums.

This combination of plums with Christmas dessert really intrigued me, it’s clearly an original recipe.

Already on the way to the studio where the lesson was supposed to take place, I was in a high Christmas mood. And when I saw the room decorated for Christmas, I began to mentally hum Jingle Bells. Despite the fact that the kitchen windows were curtained, I really wanted to come in for a light.

This time the famous Christoph Felder himself was present at the lesson. What is the strangest thing is, in contrast to the macarons course where among the students there was only one man, in this lesson the majority of the students were men. I still don't understand why...

What did Christoph Felder teach us together with the already familiar Olivier Christien?

Very, very much. The dessert itself consists of:

White chocolate mousse

Plum jelly

Almond sponge cake

Whipped cream

This dessert is very delicate, one might say refreshing thanks to its core of plums, cold light mousse and airy whipped cream. And who knows how to do it quite simply. I’ll give you step-by-step explanations in the recipe section.

And of course, in 4 hours we not only managed to make all the components of this cake, but also its original decoration consisting of merin mushrooms and Christmas trees (this time we made French meringues) and even gimme (marshmallow).

Ma dyed sugar and coconut shavings purple and pink so that our gimov and mnrengi would stand out against the white log.

What is gimov and what is it eaten with?

In France, marshmallow-like candies called marshmallows are sold commercially. But I’ll tell you honestly, I never really liked them: they are far from marshmallow-like in consistency and their taste is cloyingly sweet.

In Christoph Felder's lesson, I learned that gimov is nothing more than Italian meringue (whipped egg whites and boiled sugar) plus gelatin and natural additives that give gimov the desired taste.

In our case, we added shavings of orange and lemon peel to the gim kirsch (cherry-flavored liqueur). I’ll tell you honestly, such an unusual combination gave a unique result. Naturally, our gimov has nothing in common with commercial candies and never will.

We used gims to decorate the log cake. By cutting it into squares, we gave it the shape of New Year's gift boxes, rolling them in colored coconut flakes, we gave them the desired color. To be honest, I didn’t like the taste of coconut flakes in combination with gimov (taste and color).

I doused the remaining gims at home with liquid chocolate and the result was marshmallow-like chocolate candies with an orange flavor. The consistency is a little thicker than marshmallows, but it’s still tasty and not so cloyingly sweet.

Ollivier said that you can roll the gims in powdered sugar and starch and dry them slightly; they can be stored for a couple of months, but they will no longer be gims but marshmallows.

Ollivier taught us how to make a plum core and Christophe showed us how to decorate a traditional cake in a modern style.

Christmas will soon come to our homes, and friendly French families will gather around a noisy festive table. Do you want to decorate your holiday with an incredibly delicious chocolate dessert? Especially for readers of the ZagraNitsa portal, confectioner from Paris Evgenia Sarovik made a gorgeous Christmas log and shared in detail the secrets of its preparation. You'll lick your fingers, it's beautiful like in a fairy tale - and not a drop of gluten!

Dessert composition: Joconde sponge cake, chocolate mousse, crispy praline, Ferrero Rocher sweets.

The first step in making logs is baking the sponge cake.

You will need: 2 eggs, 80 g + 30 g sugar, 80 g almond powder, 20 g cocoa, 4 egg whites.

Beat the whites with 30 g of sugar into a thick foam. Using a mixer, beat the eggs, remaining sugar and almond powder. Gently mix them with the whites, then add cocoa.

Photo: personal archive Photo: personal archive Photo: personal archive

Line a rectangular baking sheet with parchment. Place the dough on it and level the surface. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 200°C for 10 minutes. Then take out the sponge cake, carefully remove the parchment and cover the layer with a damp towel.

Meanwhile, prepare the crispy praline layer. For it you will need 140 g of ready-made praline paste, 35 g of dark chocolate, 40 g of butter, 70 g of feuillentine (wafer crumbs, sold in supermarkets) and 140 g of crushed roasted hazelnuts.


Photo: personal archive
Photo: personal archive

Melt butter, praline and chocolate. Add waffle crumbs with nuts, mix well. Roll out the resulting mass between two sheets of parchment to a thickness of 2.5 - 3 mm. Place the layer in the freezer.

Now prepare the chocolate mousse (cream). It requires 300 ml of very cold cream 30% fat, 150 g of dark chocolate and 6 g of gelatin (3 sheets or 1 tsp granulated). Soak gelatin in cold water. Whip the cream into thick foam. Squeeze out the swollen gelatin and melt with chocolate in a water bath or in the microwave, stirring constantly.

Add a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream to the melted chocolate and stir. Add the rest of the cream and mix gently.


Photo: personal archive
Photo: personal archive

Lightly soak the sponge cake with the prepared syrup. Place some of the chocolate mousse on top. Remove the praline from the freezer and cut it into pieces for convenience.


Photo: personal archive

Arrange the praline pieces on the mousse. Place Ferrero Rocher candies in a row along the edge of the sponge cake. Starting from their side, carefully roll the roll. Use foil to secure it. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours. It is better to make the roll in the evening - then the next day all that remains is to decorate the dessert.


Photo: personal archive
Photo: personal archive

Cut the ends of the roll diagonally. Place them on the log in the form of branches and secure with mousse.


Photo: personal archive
Photo: personal archive

Place the remaining mousse in the microwave or water bath for a few seconds (be careful not to overheat!), and then whisk. Cover the log with mousse. Use a fork to make longitudinal lines, imitating the pattern of tree bark.

Description

Christmas log- a type of traditional Christmas pastry that has existed for centuries. However, today we offer you an original step-by-step recipe with a photo of this unique cake. It takes a little longer to prepare and is more complicated than a regular sponge roll. with jam (and this is how many people imagine the classic “Christmas log”), but it also turns out much tastier than its prototype.

However, preparing even such an original “Christmas log” at home is not at all difficult. You just need to follow the recipe exactly and check the accompanying step-by-step photos. And then everything will work out great for you.

Let's get started!

Ingredients


  • (5 pieces.)

  • (3 pcs.)

  • (50 g)

  • (155 g)

  • (93 g)

  • (70 g)

  • (175 g)

  • (60 g)

  • (75 ml)

  • (70 g)

  • (125 g)

  • (50 g)

  • (75 g)

  • (7 g)

  • (For decoration)

Cooking steps

    First, prepare the chocolate ganache. To do this, put butter and chocolate disassembled into pieces into a fireproof container, and then heat this mixture in a water bath or in the microwave.

    Meanwhile, bring the lime or lemon juice to a boil in a saucepan, then slowly and carefully pour it into the chocolate-butter mixture. Mix everything thoroughly. The ganache should be homogeneous, smooth, with a slight glossy sheen. At the final stage, you need to beat it with a blender and put it in the refrigerator for an hour and a half. There the ganache will thicken and acquire the creamy consistency we need.

    Prepare orange syrup for soaking. In a small saucepan, boil water with sugar (80 g), stirring until the latter is completely dissolved. After this, cool the syrup and mix with orange juice.

    It's time to prepare a biscuit for our "Christmas Log". First, let's set the oven to heat up to 220 degrees. Sift the flour. In a bowl, grind 5 egg yolks with 45 g of granulated sugar until white. Separately, beat 3 egg whites into a light foam, gradually adding 30 g of sugar to them in the process. After this, increase the intensity of whipping to achieve stable white peaks. Now combine the beaten yolks with the sifted flour, and then carefully fold in the whites from bottom to top (this will prevent the dough from falling off).

    We cover a baking sheet with parchment, on top of which we lay out the dough in the form of a rectangle and level it out. Place it in a preheated oven for 5-6 minutes.

    We take out the finished cake, turning it upside down to make it easier to remove the parchment.

    Now, using a pastry brush, soak the still hot sponge cake with orange syrup.

    Generously apply the chocolate ganache taken out of the refrigerator on top, setting aside about ¼ of it.

    Roll up a tight roll.

    Wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer.

    After 6 hours, take out the roll and cover it with the reserved ganache. If the ganache has thickened too much by this point, you need to slightly heat it in a water bath or in the microwave. We put the “log” in the freezer for a couple of hours (an hour is possible).

    Preparing the glaze. Soak the gelatin in cool water and wait for it to swell. Place mineral water, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and sour cream on the fire and bring, stirring constantly, to a boil. Make sure there are no lumps. Remove the mixture from heat and mix with gelatin until it is completely dissolved. Let the mixture cool to about 40 degrees and add softened butter. Once again, stir everything thoroughly. Now all that remains is to pour the glaze over our roll, having first placed it on the wire rack and placed a container underneath into which the excess glaze will drain.

    We trim the ends of the roll and cut it in half, getting not one, but two “Christmas logs” at once.

    We decorate the rolls with candied fruits, nuts or any other decoration of your choice (in this case, with macaron halves).

    Now the “Christmas Log” cake according to the original recipe can be served.

    Bon appetit and Merry Christmas!

The exquisite and delicious Christmas Log cake first appeared in France and today is a classic dessert for Christmas both in the country itself and in many countries that were once part of the French Empire. Bûche de Noël is the classic French name for a dessert. They make it in the form of a knotty log because it is a symbol and tribute to the medieval tradition of burning natural trees cut down specially for this ceremony before Christmas. Most often cherry trees were used for this. This ritual is a symbol of Christmas grace and purification. In those distant times, it was customary to store unburnt logs in houses until next year. Over time, this kind of charred log began to be prepared for the holiday in the form of a sponge roll with cream. The classic French recipe involves a simple white sponge cake and chocolate cream for both layering and decoration. This is the interesting history of this popular dessert among us today.

This New Year's dessert, Christmas Log, has a classic recipe - a delicate white sponge cake and delicious chocolate cream.

And this recipe is the opposite of the classic one. Here the author suggests baking a chocolate sponge cake, filling it with delicate cream and decorating it with chocolate cream on top.

Next Christmas log with white sponge cake and French mocha cream. A specially made home decor turns it into a New Year's Log cake. The author of the video recipe explains everything in great detail, so it’s very possible to repeat everything at home.

The last option for preparing a very tasty and unusual Polena dessert, which you may find useful, includes an original double (regular white and chocolate) sponge cake and delicate mousse cream. The multi-colored sponge cake is baked at the same time. The roll turns out, in addition to being delicious, also very beautiful and intriguing. And, although the author of the video recipe designed it as an ordinary roll, it deserves to be presented as a New Year's Log cake. Moreover, from previous videos you already know how to decorate it correctly and make a chic Christmas or. 🙂

Haven't decided on the Christmas log yet? The photo shows successful and easy-to-implement ideas for decorating this traditional French dessert for Christmas or New Year.






That's probably all. Choose for yourself which is the best. 🙂 I hope that now the classic French roll, no matter what its name is - Christmas or New Year's Log, French Christmas Log, fabulous or just chocolate Log - will now be a frequent guest on your menu, regardless of the occasion being celebrated.

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Dear readers, sweet tooths and simply lovers of sweets! In this article you will find several recipes for a traditional French roll cake. "Christmas Log" or La bûche de Noël. This cake is baked exclusively for Christmas and every French housewife has her own recipe.

I offer you several proven and adapted to Russian products recipes for Christmas cake. French Christmas Cake Recipes Read "Christmas Log" below.

Christmas log - traditional French cake

The custom of baking a cake in the form of a log appeared in the distant Middle Ages, from the ritual burning of the Christmas Yuletide log, when the arrival of the winter solstice was celebrated.

Modern log cakes are made from sponge dough soaked in cream and rolled into a roll. As a result, the cut of the finished cake resembles a cut of a tree trunk, and the top of the cake is smeared with cream so that it looks like tree bark. To do this, use special devices, brushes or a regular fork.

Sometimes the bark is made from large chocolate chips. Often the log is decorated with powdered sugar that looks like snow, or marzipan figures of mushrooms, berries, leaves or cones.

Do you know that Christmas log in France- This is a very good old ritual. Several centuries ago, on December 24, the oldest member of the family helped the youngest member to choose the largest log from the woodpile.

The two of them carried the chosen Christmas log around the festive table three times and recited a special ancient text. Then the log was sent to the fireplace or hearth, where it burned until midnight. There was no way to extinguish it.

Unfortunately, as in any modern state, this tradition has long been forgotten and has turned into an ordinary dessert that the whole family eats with pleasure at the festive table.

So, we’ll start with the recipes for this wonderful Christmas dessert.

Recipes "Christmas log"

Cake "Christmas log" chocolate and coffee

Ingredients:

  • 120 gr. flour
  • 2 tsp. instant coffee
  • 0.5 tbsp. water
  • 4 eggs
  • 200 gr. Sahara
  • 250 ml cream 33%
  • 50 gr. any nuts
  • 0.5 tsp. vanillin
  • 1 tsp. baking powder

For cream:

  • 100 gr. butter
  • 150 gr. cocoa powder
  • 100 gr. dark chocolate
  • 100 gr. powdered sugar
  • vanillin on the tip of a knife

Cooking method:

  1. Beat eggs from the refrigerator with sugar and salt. Pour in water and add vanillin. Sift the flour and mix with the baking powder. Pour flour into egg mixture.
  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper, grease with oil and pour in the dough. Bake the dough at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.
  3. Sprinkle the warm cake with powdered sugar and trim the edges so that the layer is even.
  4. Whip cream with 2 tbsp. l. sugar, add coffee. Apply cream to the cake and carefully roll into a tight roll.
  5. For the cream, melt the chocolate in a water bath. Beat butter with cocoa, vanilla and powdered sugar. Pour in the cooled liquid chocolate.
  6. Cover the entire cake with chocolate cream.
  7. Use a fork to make grooves on the surface of the log to resemble the bark of a tree.
  8. Decorate the roll with chopped nuts. Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

Cake "Christmas log without baking"

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg biscuits
  • 1 b. boiled condensed milk
  • 0.7 tbsp. warm milk or cocoa
  • 2-3 tbsp. l. cocoa powder
  • figurines of cones or leaves

Cooking method:

  1. Crush the cookies into a large bowl with your hands. Pour in half the warm milk and leave to swell for 1 hour. Then beat the mixture with a fork, add half the butter and add milk if necessary.
  2. Spread a 1cm layer of buttered biscuits onto a large sheet of cling film. Place in the refrigerator or freezer for 3-5 minutes.
  3. Beat half a can of condensed milk with the other half of butter. Using a spatula, spread the cream onto the cookie layer. Place in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Then take out and sprinkle the layers with cocoa powder, leaving a little for decoration.
  5. Carefully roll the entire layer into a tight roll, wrap in film and put in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
  6. Before serving, sprinkle a flat dish with powdered sugar and place the roll on it without film.
  7. Grease the roll with the remaining boiled condensed milk, sprinkle with cocoa powder and run a fork along the grooves along the barrel. Decorate the cake with figures of cones, leaves or mushrooms.

Cake "Christmas log" chocolate

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tbsp. l. liquid honey
  • 0.5 tbsp. Sahara
  • 0.5 tsp. soda
  • 1 tbsp. flour

For cream:

  • 1 b. boiled condensed milk
  • 200 gr. soft butter

For the glaze:

  • 100 gr. dark chocolate

For mushrooms:

  • 1 protein
  • 1 tbsp. l. Sahara

Cooking method:

  1. Sift the flour. Beat eggs with sugar, add liquid honey, soda and flour. Beat the batter.
  2. Grease a large baking tray with oil and sprinkle with flour.
  3. Pour the dough onto a baking sheet and place in a hot oven. Bake for 7-15 minutes at 180 degrees.
  4. For the cream, beat condensed milk with soft butter.
  5. For the glaze, melt the chocolate in a water bath, pour onto a sheet of parchment paper, smooth with a spatula and put in the freezer. Break the frozen glaze into pieces.
  6. To prepare the mushrooms, you need to beat cold egg whites with sugar until very stiff foam. Cover a baking sheet with parchment. Place the protein mass in a pastry bag and place it on paper in the form of mushroom caps and legs. Bake the meringue for about an hour at 100 degrees. Combine the finished mushrooms with cream.
  7. Baked warm cake, grease with cream and quickly roll into a roll. Cover the entire roll with cream. Decorate with broken chocolate and mushrooms.

Enjoy delicate Christmas cakes and delight your family and friends with homemade desserts.

Enjoy your tea and Merry Christmas!

Have fun cooking and be healthy!

Always yours Alena Tereshina.