Saturday, December 25, 2010

Buche de Noel recipe

So every year there's a recipe that I have to search everywhere to find. This year I thought it was lost and gone forever but at the last minute I found it. I thought I would type it up and post it as a just in case.

I got this recipe from my french teacher way back when I was in high school over 10 years ago and I've been making it ever since. My teacher said that this is an authentic french recipe and because of how it is worded I believe her because it sounds like a direct translation, the kind that you get if you go to google translate and type in whatever.

But I'll translate it into regular English in case anyone wants to try it.

The cake:

Preheat oven to 375.

You need either a cookie sheet that has sides, or a rectangle cake pan. First you need to grease the pan with shortening or butter, then you need to line the pan with wax paper, cut it to size if needed. Then after you put the wax paper on the pan you need to grease the wax paper.

After that you need a clean counter to lay out some kind of cloth or another piece of wax paper. Today I used cheese cloth but you can use a clean towel if you want. I find the towel leaves behind fuzzies. Wax paper works well but takes longer to cool. After you have your towel/paper in place, you need to sift powdered sugar onto it. The recipe calls for 3/4 a cup but I usually just sift until it is almost completely covered. Don't skimp on this, it is important.

When that is set up you are ready to mix. Beat 4 eggs until very light and foamy (the recipe says one at a time but I didn't realize this until today and I couldn't tell the difference between that and doing it all at once), at least 3 minutes.

Add 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and beat for 2 more minutes. It will be thicker and pale yellow. Then stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Sift together 3/4 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Spoon it a little bit at a time into the egg mixture. Fold slowly because you want to keep the air bubbles. Then spread evenly into pan, making sure you get the corners.

Bake for 12-13 minutes, cake will be done when toothpick (or in my case a fork) comes out clean.

Remove cake and turn pan upside down on top of sugared towel/wax paper. Lift pan away, and remove the wax paper. Trim away the stiff outer edge, usually about 1/4- 1/2 inch (you don't have to do this if your edges didn't get too hard. Then roll the cake like you would a poster and let it cool rolled up.

I usually make 2 cakes so I can have one for the main part, and one for the "branches."

While it is cooling you can start the frosting.

There are 2 frosting recipes that you can use. The first one I used because I never remembered to buy the ingredients for the original.

Chocolate glaze

Combine 2/3 cup sugar, 3 table spoons of milk, and 3 tablespoons of butter in pan, bring to boiling and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

I found that I had to double this recipe to get enough for one cake. You also have to let it cool for a while before frosting, but don't cool too much because it will get hard.

Mocha buttercream frosting.

 Put 3 ounces (3 squares of bakers chocolate but I find chocolate chips work fine)  into double boiler until it melts. Set aside to cool slightly.

Mix 2 teaspoonsful of vanilla and 1.5 teaspoons of instant coffee granules together in a cup until the coffee dissolves and set aside.

Use electric mixer to beat 3/4 cup of room temperature butter until creamy. Add chocolate and mix, then add vanilla/coffee mixture. Beat for 3 minutes. You need 3 cups of sifted powdered sugar. Add one cup at a time into chocolate mixture, beating slowly. Finally add 3-6 tablespoons of cream (milk works too) until frosting is at a spreading consistency.

I usually don't mix the milk in and leave out about 1/4 of a cup of powdered sugar. It ends up being the same consistency but not quite as sweet. This recipe makes enough for a cake, so don't double it unless you're making 2 cakes, and even then you'll probably only want to do 1.5, if you know what I mean.


Now when you're done with the frosting you'll unroll your cooled cake. Put a layer of frosting (usually about half of it) on the inside of the cake and roll it back up. You can either put the cake on a serving platter, a board with foil, or you can do like me and just stick it on a plate.

If you made two cakes, do this to both except cut the second piece in half. I usually cut at an angle so it looks like the branches are growing out of the log instead of forming a cross. Arrange your branches however you want them then add the frosting, cover the entire cake. If you're using the glaze, wait until the frosting is almost cooled and use a fork to make it look like bark. If you're using the buttercream, wait until it is almost dry and use a spoon to make it look like bark.

The original recipe says to get sticks and leaves and rocks from outside to decorate but I don't do that. I usually just put a little powdered sugar into the sifter and sift it over the cake to make it look like snow. This year I got some cherries and used green frosting to decorate.

You're done! If you don't end up with frosting and sugar all over yourself, you're doing something wrong.

So here's my cake that I made today and have probably eaten more than I should have. It is worth it though.



Happy cooking and Merry Christmas!

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