Buche De Noel
A beautiful, elegantly delicious cream-filled rolled cake - my favorite!
When pressed I proclaim this to be my favorite dessert and when I taste it each year at Christmas it is verified by my palette. But then the months come and go and there are so many wonderful desserts to be eaten that I lose sight of this champion and wonder why I only make it for Christmas Day! Remove the holly leaves and branch and swirl the buttercream design into a fanciful pattern that fits your mood or the season and it would still melt you into submission.
What is it about the buttercream, other than rich dark chocolate, smooth velvety butter that simply enrobes your taste buds with luxury?
I don't remember when I first made this - perhaps in a French cooking class I took many years ago, but that first taste of buttercream clasped me in its clutches and I was hooked. I have since used the buttercream recipe for the Chocolate Buttercream Brownies featured on this site. This is a French buttercream, not to be confused with Swiss or Italian and certainly no relationship to American buttercream. The difference is the use of egg yolks that serve as the basis for the creamy texture. Swiss and Italian buttercream use the whites.
But this dessert is more than just the buttercream - the combination of the soft sponge cake with the mild vanilla and cream notes of the pastry cream with the buttercream is a match made in French culinary heaven. The year our family spent Christmas in the Alsace region of France I was pleased to think that I could just buy our Buche de Noels there, which is a tradition on our Christmas day dinner table. The local bakeries featured dozens of them in their shop windows, decorated with whimsical characters skiing down the length of the cake. or Santa with elves skipping along the center of the rolled cake laden with gifts.
One we bought was filled with hazelnut mousse the other a cherry vanilla combination - but the cakes were dry, the buttercream too little and somewhat brittle and I thought something must have been lost in translation - or that I had translated it differently. I like my version of French though my French-speaking husband finds my French humorous. But he does prefer my Buche de Noel!
Christmas may be over and gone, but I think most would agree, there are always occasions for a delicious, show-stopper, chocolate dessert. The steps are many but the results are.....C'est merveilleux et tres, tres bon!
Buche de Noel (Cream Filled Rolled cake)
CAKE:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
-Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 15 x 10 inch baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper and grease well then sprinkle with flour.
-Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
-In mixing bowl, beat eggs about 5 minutes until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar. On low speed, blend in water and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until batter is smooth. Pour into a baking sheet, spreading batter evenly to edges.
-Bake 12 - 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cake sit for 5 minutes then loosen from edges of pan with a knife and invert onto parchment or waxed paper, sprinkled generously with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the paper cake was baked on. Trim off stiff edges if necessary.
-Let cake sit 5-10 minutes then roll cake together with paper from long end to form a long roll. Cool on wire rack until completely cool, about 30 minutes. (If it helps, you may roll the cake up around a rolling pin sprayed with baking spray.)
VANILLA PASTRY CREAM:
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup boiling milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
-Place the 3 egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat until light and mixture ribbons when the beater is lifted. Add the flour and blend together. Pour the hot milk in a stream into the egg mixture stirring with a wire whisk until smooth.
-Transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan set over moderate heat. Stir constantly until the mixture just reaches a boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and pour into a plastic or glass bowl. Cover and cool to room temperature.
-Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the custard. Chill until ready to use.
FRENCH BUTTER CREAM:
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 egg yolks
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks) softened
glaceed or maraschino cherries, holly leaves or twigs of pine and (optional) meringue mushrooms for garnish
-Place the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each until chocolate is melted.
-Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Boil until the syrup reaches 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
-Place the 3 egg yolks in a mixing bowl and begin beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Pour the hot sugar syrup over the yolks a few drops at a time while beating at medium speed, to temper the eggs. Then increase speed to high and beat for 5 minutes until mixture is thick and pale yellow.
-Reduce speed to low and add the butter, a tablespoon at a time. Beat until the mixture is smooth. Add the cooled melted chocolate to the butter cream and beat until smooth, about 5 minutes. Set in refrigerator for 10 - 15 minutes.
TO ASSEMBLE:
-Carefully unroll the cake. Place vertically on a work surface in front of you. Spread the pastry cream over the cake to within 1/2 inch of each edge and an inch from the opposite short edge. Roll the cake up rather tightly from the short edge closest to you to form a log, pulling the paper from the bottom away as you roll.
-Cut a 3-inch long diagonal piece from one end of the cake roll. Transfer the large piece of the cake roll to a long platter. Arrange the shorter piece against the long side of the cake to form a branch.
-After rolling the cake with the filling inside, set seam side down on baking sheet and keep it covered tightly to help keep the shape and chill for at least one hour before frosting.
-Using a spatula, spread the chocolate buttercream over the log, covering all the cake completely. Spread a small amount over the cut ends. Pull the tines of a fork gently down the full length of the cake roll, creating swirls and "knots" to simulate bark on a tree branch. Pull the fork tines to create circular patterns on the cut ends of the cake.
-Decorate the cake with the cherries, holly leaves, pine twigs and/or meringue mushrooms to create a woodsy effect. Dust lightly with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from fridge 15 minutes before serving to allow the buttercream to soften and cut into slices
-Serves 12 - 15
Spread cake batter to edges of parchment lined baking sheet.
Roll cooled cake with paper into roll.
Roll cake around rolling pin, if desired.
Stir pastry cream over heat until it comes to a boil and thickens.
Cut off piece of filled roll and place alongside the large piece to create a branch.
Cover cake completely with chocolate butter cream.
Run tines of fork through buttercream to create a bark effect.
Cover the cut ends of "log" with buttercream and with fork tines create a circular pattern.
Run fork tines through the buttercream with swirls to make it look like a wood branch.
Garnish log with pine twigs, cherries, holly leaves & sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Allow to sit at room temperature before slicing.
PERSNICKETY NOTES:
**At times I find it difficult to peel off the baking paper from the cooked cake, but realize that the outside surface of the cake will not be seen. Your cake may crack as you roll or unroll it but once again, realize that the cracks will not be seen. Take a deep breath and proceed being patient and finding joy in creation!
**Although you do chill the buttercream after making, let it sit at room temperature until it is easy to spread. Fluff it up again with a fork and it should spread easily to cover the cake and then decorate with the tines of the fork. The buttercream recipe makes plenty to have a thick layer of chocolate cream.
**To give the decorative cherries an extra sparkle, dip in slightly whipped egg white and then in granulated sugar and chill for 1 hour.
**There are many variations the Buche de Noel can inspire for different occasions. I will feature some of these in future posts. For example:
*For Spring: leave the chocolate out of the cake to create a vanilla sponge. Fill with pastry cream flavored with strawberry or raspberry extract with whole fresh berries slightly macerated and placed down the center length of the cream. Then frost with white chocolate buttercream, which is made the same as the chocolate, but with white chocolate instead. You can create a branch and a bark look and place edible or real edible flowers to decorate, chocolate robin eggs, in a nest made of dyed coconut and held together with whipped egg white, etc. Alternatively, you can make the roll without the branch and decorate with frosting flowers or real edible flowers and twigs made of piped tempered chocolate. (Stripes of chocolate piped horizontally on the branches will give the cake the impression or a birch tree.)
*For Fall: Make a spiced cake sponge by leaving the chocolate out and using 1/2 brown sugar and half white and adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves to the cake mixture (or 1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese 5-Spice powder). The pastry cream could be the vanilla or you might switch it up by filling with cream cheese frosting instead. For the buttercream I would recommend the white chocolate version and add 2-3 tablespoons real maple syrup. Create a fall tree by creating the extra branch and running the tines of the fork down its length or keep it to one roll. Decorate with white chocolate leaves dyed to fall colors, chocolate twigs, pumpkin candies, etc.
