Bûche de Noël

A fatless sponge rolled while it is still hot inside a cloth, then unrolled to fill, which is what stops it cracking.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (double cream).

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 4 eggs, separated
• 120 g caster sugar
• 90 g plain flour
• 20 g cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• caster sugar, for the cloth

To fill and cover

• 300 ml double cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 batch ganache, as on its own page, at room temperature

Method

1. THE SPONGE IS ROLLED WHILE IT IS HOT, IN THE CLOTH, AND UNROLLED AGAIN TO FILL. Rolled hot it sets into a curve and remembers it; filled and rolled cold for the first time, it cracks right along the outside of the bend and nothing hides that. So it is rolled empty, left to cool curled up, then opened, filled and rolled again -- the second time it goes willingly.
2. THERE IS NO BUTTER OR OIL IN THE SPONGE, which is why it can be rolled at all. A fatless whisked sponge stays flexible; any fat in it makes it short and it will break. It also goes stale in a day, so this is made the day it is eaten.
3. THE CLOTH IS DUSTED WITH SUGAR, NOT FLOUR. Sugar dissolves into the surface and disappears. Flour stays as a raw white film on the outside of the finished log, which is then covered in ganache and still somehow noticeable.
4. IT IS BAKED BRIEFLY AND MUST NOT DRY OUT. Eight to ten minutes, and the test is a surface that springs back, not a skewer. Overbaked by two minutes it will crack however carefully it is rolled.
5. Oven to 200C. A 33 by 23 cm tray lined with baking paper.
6. Yolks whisked with 90 g of the sugar until pale, thick and leaving a ribbon.
7. Whites whisked with the salt to soft peaks, the remaining 30 g of sugar added, and whisked to firm but not dry.
8. Flour and cocoa sifted over the yolks and folded in, then a third of the whites beaten in to slacken, then the rest FOLDED through in two lots.
9. Spread in the tray to an even layer, right into the corners, and baked 8 to 10 minutes until it springs back when pressed.
10. A clean tea towel laid out and dusted generously with caster sugar. The sponge turned straight out onto it and the paper peeled off.
11. The short edge scored lightly 2 cm in, then ROLLED UP HOT with the cloth inside it. Left to cool completely, rolled.
12. The cream whipped with the icing sugar to firm peaks.
13. The sponge unrolled gently, the cream spread over it leaving 2 cm clear at the far edge, and rolled up again WITHOUT the cloth.
14. Set seam down. A slice cut off one end at an angle and stuck on top as a branch.
15. Ganache made as on its own page, at spreading consistency, covered over the log and forked along its length into bark. Chilled 1 hour and eaten the same day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes