To make the walnut sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 18 × 13-inch sheet tray with cooking spray or butter, then line with parchment paper. Grease the paper too. Set aside.
Pour a handful of walnuts onto a second parchment-lined tray. Transfer to oven, toasting for 10 minutes. Once cool, grind walnuts. Measure 6 tablespoons into a medium bowl. Add cocoa powder and spices, whisking to combine.
Separate eggs. Place egg yolks into the bowl of stand mixer.
Prepare cake: Place bowl containing egg yolks onto stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add granulated sugar and beat on high speed for 5 minutes. Add vanilla then continue to beat for 5 minutes more. Mixture should be light and fluffy. Transfer to a large bowl. Gently fold in walnut dry mixture.
Clean bowl and whisk. Add egg whites into bowl of a stand mixer, whipping them until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the yolk and nut mixture. Spread batter evenly onto prepared pan. Bake about 12 - 15 minutes or until the cake is a golden colour and the cake springs back when gently poked. While the cake is baking, lay a clean dishtowel on a work surface. Place a piece of parchment paper in the centre and dust it with icing sugar. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert it onto the parchment. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and roll hot cake with the towel into a log, starting at a long end. Leave the rolled cake to cool completely. Make next two components while it cools.
Prepare buttercream: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. When chocolate is melted, remove from pan and leave to cool. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. With the mixer running, gradually add the icing sugar and cooled melted chocolate. Scrape down sides of bowl so that all of the butter is evenly beaten into the chocolate and sugar.
Prepare mocha whipped cream: Pour cream into a large liquid measure or stainless steel bowl. Add sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and kosher salt. Using a hand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, dissolve the sugar then whip until it becomes a light, billowy whipped cream.
Assemble dessert: Unroll cake on work surface. Add dollops of cream onto it, then spread the cream out in an even layer. Roll the cake back up to create a log. Cut off a few inches from the ends of the roll at an angle to make branches. Set the offcuts to the side for a moment. Transfer the long portion—the log—to a serving platter. Frost the main log with the buttercream, dragging the icing knife or fork to create the bark texture. Then gently press offcuts onto each side of the log to give it the look of branches. Frost the branches so that they meet the main log, icing over any seams. Dust entire cake with icing sugar before serving.
Bûche de Noël
Ingredients
For the walnut sponge cake:
6 eggs, room temperature
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup walnut halves, 6 tablespoons ground
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
confectioners’ sugar
For the mocha whipped cream:
1½ cups 35% cream
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
pinch of kosher salt
For the buttercream:
300 g dark chocolate (70% cacao or greater)
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
300 g icing sugar
Directions
To make the walnut sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 18 × 13-inch sheet tray with cooking spray or butter, then line with parchment paper. Grease the paper too. Set aside.
Pour a handful of walnuts onto a second parchment-lined tray. Transfer to oven, toasting for 10 minutes. Once cool, grind walnuts. Measure 6 tablespoons into a medium bowl. Add cocoa powder and spices, whisking to combine.
Separate eggs. Place egg yolks into the bowl of stand mixer.
Prepare cake: Place bowl containing egg yolks onto stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add granulated sugar and beat on high speed for 5 minutes. Add vanilla then continue to beat for 5 minutes more. Mixture should be light and fluffy. Transfer to a large bowl. Gently fold in walnut dry mixture.
Clean bowl and whisk. Add egg whites into bowl of a stand mixer, whipping them until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the yolk and nut mixture. Spread batter evenly onto prepared pan. Bake about 12 - 15 minutes or until the cake is a golden colour and the cake springs back when gently poked. While the cake is baking, lay a clean dishtowel on a work surface. Place a piece of parchment paper in the centre and dust it with icing sugar. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert it onto the parchment. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and roll hot cake with the towel into a log, starting at a long end. Leave the rolled cake to cool completely. Make next two components while it cools.
Prepare buttercream: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. When chocolate is melted, remove from pan and leave to cool. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. With the mixer running, gradually add the icing sugar and cooled melted chocolate. Scrape down sides of bowl so that all of the butter is evenly beaten into the chocolate and sugar.
Prepare mocha whipped cream: Pour cream into a large liquid measure or stainless steel bowl. Add sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and kosher salt. Using a hand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, dissolve the sugar then whip until it becomes a light, billowy whipped cream.
Assemble dessert: Unroll cake on work surface. Add dollops of cream onto it, then spread the cream out in an even layer. Roll the cake back up to create a log. Cut off a few inches from the ends of the roll at an angle to make branches. Set the offcuts to the side for a moment. Transfer the long portion—the log—to a serving platter. Frost the main log with the buttercream, dragging the icing knife or fork to create the bark texture. Then gently press offcuts onto each side of the log to give it the look of branches. Frost the branches so that they meet the main log, icing over any seams. Dust entire cake with icing sugar before serving.
Bûche de Noël
5 / 5. 1
A layer of toasted walnut sponge cake rolled up with a decadent mocha whipped cream, frosted with chocolate buttercream…
Let’s make BÛCHE DE NOËL, a classic chocolate yule log cake!
If you’ve just dropped in for a visit, enticed by the look of this showstoppingly beautiful holiday dessert, we’ve got two words for you: make it! It’s easier than you might think, courtesy of our step-by-step guide. We’re confident you’ll be rolling up a yule log as lovely as ours in time for the holidays. With only three components, this BÛCHE DE NOËL recipe is sure to become a baking tradition for your future holiday seasons. Imagine serving this on Christmas Eve or as the perfect ending to your holiday meal? Swoon!
Once you’ve mastered your log rolling technique, make sure to visit us again, as we have additional holiday dessert recipes that always please a crowd. If you need quick and easy dessert ideas, try our very flavourful CRANBERRY COBBLER served with a Grand Marnier sauce, or this STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING topped with salted caramel sauce. Two other options include this GINGERBREAD UPSIDE DOWN CAKE and our BLACK FOREST TRIFLE made with chocolate cake. We are your North Star for holiday sweet treats; we absolutely love them!
Let’s continue now with some handy tips and tricks to make the three components of a traditional yule log: a sponge cake, a whipped cream filling and a buttercream icing.
Time to roll out the BÛCHE DE NOËL:
STEP ONE: MAKE THE SPONGE CAKE
Similar to a jelly roll cake or a Swiss roll, the most common cake used in this type of recipe is a light, airy sponge cake. In planning our version, I took the sage advice of two of my siblings and put their know-how to work using my mom’s recipe for a walnut tort. Although some holiday cakes are made in fancy Bundt pans or fluted springform pans, the sponge cake for this recipe is prepared in a greased baking tray lined with parchment paper.
INGREDIENTS FOR A SPONGE CAKE
The above photo shows all the ingredients you’ll need – eggs, granulated sugar, ground walnuts, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and a few spices. Before I get into the details, I do want to explain an option you can try when you make the cake layer at home. In our recipe, I went with the number 6: 6 eggs, 6 tablespoons of sugar and 6 tablespoons of ground walnuts. My Mom wanted a thicker sponge to make her layers taller, so she went with 9. My point is that you can make your cake as thin or as thick as you’d like by adjusting those quantities accordingly.
TOASTED WALNUTS
Is this nuts or what? So at the start of the VIDEO tutorial crafted for this post, I grind up some freshly toasted walnuts. My sister Dana pointed out such an interesting thing about this recipe: you can make the cake with a variety of dry ingredients. Use unbleached all-purpose flour, cake flour, ground nuts (pecans and almonds work too!), breadcrumbs or crushed Digestive biscuits. Again, as long as you match the quantity to the eggs and sugar, you’re golden.
But wanna know what’s really nuts? Our version of this dessert is entirely gluten-free! There I was, listening to Christmas carols, setting up the beauty shot, adding decorations, looking at the finished BÛCHE DE NOËL when my lightbulb moment shone like the entire Christmas tree. Selecting a ground nut option for the dry mix makes this a 100% gluten-free, flourless cake recipe. Truly a holiday miracle!
FRESH EGGS
Something I’d like to mention here is the fact that this recipe was made using fresh, large eggs. My neighbour up the road has some very obliging hens that provided for this recipe. We often suggest using fresh, locally sourced organic ingredients whenever possible, as we believe doing so improves the flavour of the finished dish. If you have a local source, purchase fresh eggs for this recipe. The yolks will be a brilliant yellow colour, and both the yolks and egg whites will whip perfectly.
COCOA AND SPICES
Here’s another opportunity to make this recipe your own. Although my Mom made her cake layer plain, I added a few flavour enhancers to amplify our holiday baking vibes. Adding just a tablespoon of cocoa powder gives the sponge cake a pleasing chocolatey flavour. We then boosted the warming spice notes with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. These three spices are often combined for other holiday baking recipes like these GINGERBREAD COOKIES, our CHOCOLATE SPICE COOKIES or this FESTIVE MINCEMEAT. Together with the cocoa, the spices give this yule log recipe such a pleasing taste. In the direction where you whisk the ground nuts with the cocoa and spices, make sure to take a big whiff of that dry mixture. Nice, right?
MAKING THE CAKE LAYER
The most complicated and time-consuming part of this recipe is making the cake, which really isn’t all that hard, so long as you go slow and put on some holiday tunes to enjoy the process. The first step is to separate the eggs, placing the egg whites into one bowl and the egg yolks in the other. Don’t forget the tried-and-true rule about separating eggs. There can’t be even the tiniest drop of yolk in the whites or they won’t whip. If a yolk breaks during the process and you get yolk in the egg whites, stop and start again just to be safe.
Once the eggs are separated, use a stand mixer or electric mixer to whip the yolks with the granulated sugar, and then 5 minutes in, we add the vanilla extract. The goal here is to aerate the yolks and dissolve the sugar until very light. They’ll go from yellow to a light cream colour. This takes about 10 minutes or as one of the experts claims, “whip the yolks until you can’t stand the sound of the machine”. LOL!
FOLD GENTLY
Once the yolks are whipped, gently fold in the nut mixture. Do this in a large bowl, then wash and clean the bowl and whisk attachment of the stand mixer. Add the egg whites to the bowl and whip them until they hold stiff peaks. Takes about two minutes with the mixer running on high speed.
The last steps are to gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter and then carefully spread it out across the prepared baking tray. Once the batter is distributed across the pan in an even layer, transfer it to the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The cake will be golden in colour and will spring back when gently poked.
ROLL THE CAKE UP
As soon as the layer of sponge cake comes out of the oven, we need to roll it up. This classic technique trains the warm cake into a spiral shape without cracking or splitting. To accomplish this, lay a sheet of parchment onto a clean kitchen towel or tea towel. Then sprinkle it with icing sugar, AKA confectioners’ sugar. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert it onto the sugar-dusted parchment. Peel away the parchment that it baked on, and carefully roll the cake up into the dish towel, starting with a long end. Leave it rolled up until it has cooled to room temperature. This whole technique is shown in our VIDEO for this recipe.
CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM ICING
While the cake cools, we suggest making the remaining two components of this dessert recipe, the chocolate buttercream icing and the mocha whipped cream. The above photo shows the ingredients needed to make the chocolate frosting. We followed the classic ratio of 300g each of butter to icing sugar, to melted chocolate. Please note, the recipe calls for a chocolate with at least 70% cacao. This gives the buttercream icing a rich, chocolatey flavour.
Making the buttercream requires that the chocolate be melted first. We suggest doing this in a double boiler. We do this step old school because we don’t own a microwave, but if you do and you’d rather melt chocolate using one, go ahead.
Once the chocolate is cooled to room temperature, add it slowly to the whipped butter, alternating it with the icing sugar. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed so that the confection is creamy and thoroughly combined.
MOCHA WHIPPED CREAM
The final component of this festive yule log recipe is the whipped cream filling that gets rolled up in the cake. If this enhanced whipped cream looks familiar, you may remember us using it to top our CHOCOLATE PUDDING PIE or to layer in our BLACK FOREST TRIFLE. Combining heavy cream with cocoa, sugar, espresso powder, kosher salt and vanilla extract is brilliant.
To whip this mocha-flavoured treat, first place all of the ingredients into a medium bowl or large liquid measure. Then take a few moments to whisk everything together. This helps melt the sugar and kosher salt into the heavy 35% whipping cream while also blending the cocoa in thoroughly. Then whip until you have an airy, billowy whipped cream with soft peaks.
HOW TO ROLL A YULE LOG
The actual rolling up of a yule log is surprisingly easy. The first step is to unroll the now-cool sponge cake. We then add an even layer of the mocha whipped cream and then gently roll the log back up. Once the roll is re-rolled, take a sharp knife and make an angular cut to the last 4- or 5-inches of each side of the roll.
Transfer those two slices to a side plate. We’ll be placing them against the main cake, giving the appearance of branches from the main log.
ICING A BÛCHE DE NOËL
We’re going to once again suggest you watch the VIDEO attached to this recipe to see how we lift the long part of the log to a pretty plate or platter. We then tuck strips of parchment beneath it to prevent icing from going everywhere (LOL!). Then, we begin applying the buttercream across the surface of the yule log. It’s easy to coax the icing into long swipes so they resemble the bark of a tree. You’ll be able to replicate our look using an offset spatula, a rubber spatula or a fork. Once the main log is completely iced, we then add the two offcuts to the sides of the BÛCHE DE NOËL and ice them too.
We always mention the importance of making a finished recipe look appetizing. In the case of this BÛCHE DE NOËL recipe or festive yule log, we figured adding some real natural garnishes worked. Instead of doing marzipan fruit or meringue mushrooms, we simply took a stroll through the woods, collecting pine boughs and a few pine cones. After giving them a rinse to clean, we positioned them on the presentation plate, making the chocolatey log look quite real.
SERVING BÛCHE DE NOËL
Right before serving this scrumptious dessert, we gave it a light dusting of icing sugar that looks like fresh fallen snow. We also took serving a chocolate log cake to a new level of excitement by bringing out a hatchet to slice. After giving the hatchet axe a good clean, we were able to cut slices in a fun and festive way.
Last reminder, send some love our way and subscribe to our monthly newsletter HERE where we share our top recipes and give a sneak peek at upcoming posts. You’ll also receive Gather, our mid-month missive focused on ideas to entertain family and friends.
This amazing BÛCHE DE NOËL delivers the sweet flavours of the holidays with every bite. Joyeux Noël and Merry Christmas to all!
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Ingredients
For the walnut sponge cake:
6 eggs, room temperature
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup walnut halves, 6 tablespoons ground
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
confectioners’ sugar
For the mocha whipped cream:
1½ cups 35% cream
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
pinch of kosher salt
For the buttercream:
300 g dark chocolate (70% cacao or greater)
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
300 g icing sugar
Directions
To make the walnut sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 18 × 13-inch sheet tray with cooking spray or butter, then line with parchment paper. Grease the paper too. Set aside.
Pour a handful of walnuts onto a second parchment-lined tray. Transfer to oven, toasting for 10 minutes. Once cool, grind walnuts. Measure 6 tablespoons into a medium bowl. Add cocoa powder and spices, whisking to combine.
Separate eggs. Place egg yolks into the bowl of stand mixer.
Prepare cake: Place bowl containing egg yolks onto stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add granulated sugar and beat on high speed for 5 minutes. Add vanilla then continue to beat for 5 minutes more. Mixture should be light and fluffy. Transfer to a large bowl. Gently fold in walnut dry mixture.
Clean bowl and whisk. Add egg whites into bowl of a stand mixer, whipping them until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the yolk and nut mixture. Spread batter evenly onto prepared pan. Bake about 12 - 15 minutes or until the cake is a golden colour and the cake springs back when gently poked. While the cake is baking, lay a clean dishtowel on a work surface. Place a piece of parchment paper in the centre and dust it with icing sugar. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert it onto the parchment. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and roll hot cake with the towel into a log, starting at a long end. Leave the rolled cake to cool completely. Make next two components while it cools.
Prepare buttercream: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. When chocolate is melted, remove from pan and leave to cool. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. With the mixer running, gradually add the icing sugar and cooled melted chocolate. Scrape down sides of bowl so that all of the butter is evenly beaten into the chocolate and sugar.
Prepare mocha whipped cream: Pour cream into a large liquid measure or stainless steel bowl. Add sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and kosher salt. Using a hand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, dissolve the sugar then whip until it becomes a light, billowy whipped cream.
Assemble dessert: Unroll cake on work surface. Add dollops of cream onto it, then spread the cream out in an even layer. Roll the cake back up to create a log. Cut off a few inches from the ends of the roll at an angle to make branches. Set the offcuts to the side for a moment. Transfer the long portion—the log—to a serving platter. Frost the main log with the buttercream, dragging the icing knife or fork to create the bark texture. Then gently press offcuts onto each side of the log to give it the look of branches. Frost the branches so that they meet the main log, icing over any seams. Dust entire cake with icing sugar before serving.
Until Cottage Season
