Buche de Noel Cake (Yule Log Cake)

Buche de Noel Cake (Yule Log Cake)

A Buche de Noel is a light and airy sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and frosted with ganache to resemble a yule log.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 8

Servings servings

Calories 388kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

stand mixer with metal bowl and the whisk attachment
½ sheet pan (13"x18")
Parchment Paper
tea towel
medium sauce pan
Piping Bag
#2A piping tip

Ingredients

Meringue Mushrooms

3 large egg whites about 3 ounces
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
5 ounces granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Mushroom Speckles

½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cocoa powder

Roll Cake Ingredients

8 large eggs
8 ounces sugar
8 ounces cake flour or all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream filling

4 ounces pasteurized egg whites
8 ounces powdered sugar
8 ounces unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ounce cocoa powder

Ganache Frosting

16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate good quality
14 ounces heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Buche de Noel Sponge Cake Batter Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400ºF (204ºC) with the oven rack in the center.
Line a sheet pan (13×18″) with parchment paper.
Next, fill a saucepan with 2-3″ of water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat until boiling.
Then, reduce the heat to medium or until the water is simmering.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt and blend together with a whisk.
Next, place the bowl with the mixture on top of your simmering water. Do NOT let the bottom of the bowl hit the water.
Using your whisk, stir the egg mixture slowly until the sugar granules dissolve (about 110ºF or 43ºC).
Then, remove it from heat.
Attach your bowl to your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
Add in your vanilla and whisk on high for 5-7 minutes until you reach the ribbon stage (see notes below). The mixture should triple in volume and lighten in color.
Sift in ⅓ of your flour mixture and fold (see notes) the flour in gently without damaging the structure of your egg mixture. Repeat two more times with the flour until just combined.
Spread the cake batter evenly into your parchment-lined sheet pan, and then spread it with an offset spatula or knife all the way to the edges of the pan. Do not grease your pan.
Bake the cake at 400ºF (204ºC) for 8 minutes.
Then, remove the cake from the oven and place it onto a cooling rack.
Immediately use a paring knife to carefully cut the edge of the sponge away from the sides of the pan.
Dust the surface of the cake with powdered sugar.
Next, place another piece of parchment on top of the cake, and then another cooling rack, and flip over to release the cake from the pan.
Remove the parchment paper carefully, and dust the surface with more powdered sugar.
Place a tea towel over the top of the cake and carefully roll into a spiral going lengthwise.
Finally, place it into the fridge to cool for one hour before filling it with your frosting. For more tips and tricks on making roll cakes, be sure to read my roll cake tutorial blog post.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Instructions

Start by sifting your powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl of your stand mixer to remove any lumps. The cocoa powder especially loves to clump up and make these ugly specks in the finished buttercream.
Now, add in your pasteurized egg whites (yes, they need to be pasteurized). If you cannot get any pasteurized egg whites, you can make my chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream instead.
Mix everything together on low speed with the whisk attachment to combine it.
Then, mix on medium speed (setting 2 on my Bosch Mixer, setting 4 on a KitchenAid) for 3-5 minutes to help the powdered sugar and cocoa powder dissolve properly.
Next, add room temperature butter and mix it for 5-10 minutes on high speed.
Next, you want to turn up the speed to high and begin whipping in air! I whip mine for 5-10 minutes. Once it no longer tastes buttery, it’s done.
Switch to the paddle attachment and mix it on low speed for 10-15 minutes. This is totally optional but will help to remove excess air bubbles and make the buttercream really smooth.
Finally, you will switch to the paddle attachment and mix it on low speed for 10-15 minutes (totally optional) to remove excess air bubbles and make the buttercream really smooth.

Ganache Frosting Instructions

Measure out your chocolate and chop it finely if it’s in big pieces so that it melts evenly.
Heat your cream on the stovetop until steam just begins to rise from the surface. Whisk occasionally to prevent burning. Do not walk away or your cream could boil over.
Pour your hot cream over the chocolate and push the chocolate down so it’s all under the surface of the cream. Let the chocolate and cream sit for 5 minutes.
Whisk the cream and chocolate together until it’s smooth. Start with small circles in the center until the chocolate and cream start creating an emulsion.
If you have lumps or un-melted chocolate, you can use an immersion blender to make your ganache super creamy and lump-free.

Meringue Mushroom Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 225ºF (107ºC) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a pot.
Place a clean stainless steel mixing bowl over the water. It should not touch the water.
Combine your egg whites and sugar and whisk to combine. Occasionally whisk as it’s heating to distribute the heat and dissolve the sugar.
Once your egg whites are at 110ºF (43ºC) (or when you don’t feel any grains of sugar between your fingers) you’re ready to whip.
Place the bowl on your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
Whisk on medium speed (setting 2 on my Bosch Mixer, setting 4 on a KitchenAid) for one minute.
Then, add in the cream of tartar, salt, and flavoring.
Next, bump the speed up to high and let it whip until you reach STIFF peaks.
With a round piping tip, place your meringue into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
Pipe your stems and caps (see the video in the recipe card for more tips on these).
Bake them for 60 minutes, and then turn off the oven (but do not take out the cookies).
Let them sit in the oven until they are completely cold. I like to leave mine in overnight.
Poke a hole in the base of the mushroom and add a tiny bit of ganache or melted chocolate in the hole.
Then, place the cap on the stem.
Next, combine cocoa powder and vanilla.
Splatter the tops of the mushrooms with a stiff paintbrush.

Buche de Noel Cake Assembly Instructions

Once your sponge cake has cooled for at least an hour, you can carefully unroll it and then fill the inside with a layer of chocolate buttercream.
Then, roll the cake back up nice and tight lengthwise so there are no gaps in the filling.
Place the cake into the freezer for about an hour or into the fridge overnight to chill the filling.
Cut the ends of the roll cake off to reveal the swirl of filling.
Then, cut off one more piece of the roll cake at a slight angle and place it on the side of the roll to represent a branch.
Frost the outside of the Buche de Noel with chocolate ganache.
Decorate the outside with some of your meringue mushrooms, fresh cranberries, and sprigs of rosemary.
Dust the whole cake lightly with some powdered sugar to look like freshly-fallen snow.
Finally, chill before serving.

Video

Notes

The ribbon stage is when your egg mixture triples in volume, lightens in color and when spooned onto itself, it forms ribbons of batter that stay on the surface before slowly dissolving back into itself.

Fold the batter by running the spatula around the outside edge of the batter and the bowl and then gently lift the batter onto itself. This allows the batter to mix without damaging the delicate structure.

Important Things To Note Before You Start

Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card. Scaled ingredients are much more accurate than using cups and help ensure the success of your recipe.
Practice Mise en Place (everything in it’s place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.

Nutrition