Büche De Noël or Chocolate Yule Log

This beautiful traditional cake hailing from medieval times has become a staple for many Christmas and New Year’s tables. Legend has it the cakes’ origins are from a pagan rite, and what is Christmas without a few pagan rites thrown in?

Families would bring in a log from a fruit tree and place it in the family hearth to ensure a successful harvest the next year. The log was sprinkled with items such as salt, wine or holy water before lighting it. Eventually these hearths disappeared from homes and the French began to place a decorative log on the table which over time became a piece of extraordinary pastry.

The cake itself is fairly simple, just a standard chocolate jelly roll cake. I fill it with mocha whipped cream and then use a chocolate buttercream to frost the log.

Place bon bons, truffles, chocolate shavings or meringue toadstools around the cake to garnish and dust with a sprinkling of powdered sugar to look as though you just carried it in from the frosty woods.

Merry Christmas!