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Recipes
Buche de Noel recipe

Bûche de Noël (Christmas log)

Christmas log or Yule log

Serves8
Preparation40 Mins
Cooking Time10 Mins

Bûche de Noël is a French Christmas cake shaped like a log. You may know it better as a Yule log or Christmas log. Originally, the Yule log was an actual log that was specially selected to burn on the hearth on Christmas day. This dessert is intended to resemble it - the bark-like texture is created by dragging a fork through the icing, and icing sugar represents the falling snow.

Ingredients Required

For the sponge biscuit Genoise)

4
Egg whites, organic or free range
60g
Sugar, caster
4
Egg yolks, organic or free range
60g
Plain flour
15g
Butter, unsalted, melted

For the butter cream:

70g
Sugar, caster
50ml
Water
3
Egg yolks, organic or free range
240g
Butter, unsalted, room temperature
30ml
Dark Rum
200g
Candied chestnuts, roughly chopped (plus a few whole ones for decoration)

For the soaking syrup:

40g
Sugar, caster
40ml
Water
25ml
Dark Rum

Cooking Method

Chef tips

"Do not overcook the sponge as it will be dry and difficult to roll."

"You could add any flavour of your choice into the buttercream, i.e. coffee, lemon, or you can just leave it plain."

"Be sure to place the join on the underside of the log so that it doesn’t unroll!"

"You could change the Rum for Cointreau and grated Orange zest if you prefer."

Voila!

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