I’ve always wanted to make a Buche de Noel, the French cake that is shaped like a log.
It’s so beautiful, decadent looking, and chocolate!
Last year when I was at my kids’ Chick-fil-A Christmas party, I determined that I would make my first Buche de Noel for this year’s party!
SUPPLIES FOR TRANSPORTING THE CAKE
To safely transport what I hoped would be a pretty cake, I shopped for supplies in the Wilton cake section of Hobby Lobby.
I found a set of sturdy cardboard, just the right size upon which to place the cake, pretty foil to decorate the base, and cake boxes for the cake and base. (see them in the header photo)
INCORPORATING THREE RECIPES WITH MY OWN IDEAS
Incorporating three different recipes, I added a few ideas of my own to create this cake.
I was quite hopeful that it would all work out!
This was a huge risk because I’m not much of a baker, yet the science behind baking a Buche de Noel is quite specific.
Hopefulness was definitely the operative word!
HOW WE MADE THE FRENCH YULE LOG CAKE
Rolling the sponge cake and letting it set as it sits is imperative prep work to give the cake a memory.
In other words, that helps the cake look like a log later.
After unrolling it, the crushed pistachios can be seen in the chocolate…
For the center of the cake I made a whip cream filling, to which I added almond extract.
Then I decided to add almond extract (with vanilla) to each component of the cake.
After spreading the whipped frosting, I rerolled the cake, which worked beautifully.
However, I plan to double the frosting recipe next time, because I’d rather it ooze out the ends…
After the cake set up in the fridge I made a chocolate buttercream frosting for the outside.
By this time it was midnight.
Due to a long crazy day, I couldn’t start baking until after dinner.
After I put it in the fridge I watched a Christmas movie with my family.
By midnight I finished frosting the log.
Although I cut off the end to create knots…my tired brain just sort of went kaput.
MY ARTISTIC SON HELPED
At that moment my son came down and volunteered to help.
He took over at that point!
After he cut, placed, and frosted the cake and knots, I gave him the powdered pistachios to dust over the log to represent moss. (see header photo)
Then we put it in the fridge overnight which happily seemed to set it up even more.
I took it to the Chick-fil-A Christmas party, which was my contribution.
Since my son and I sampled parts while creating this, we thought it was delicious.
CHRISTMAS PARTY DEVOURED OUR CAKE
At the party, it was devoured!
