Bûche de Noël

This year I will be making a Bûche de Noël for my family. For those of you who do not know what a Bûche de Noël is, it is a cake shaped like a log. It is served in France and certain francophone countries before Christmas.

"Buche de Noel.--Gateau symbolique qu l'on prepare chez tous les patissieres de France, a l'occasion de la fete de Noel. Cette buche se fait generalement avec des abaisses de genoise fine, qu l'on fourre avec des cremes diverses (le plus souvent, une creme au beurre), qu l'on faconne en forme de buche, et que l'on decore a la poches munie d'une couille cannellee, avec une creme au beurre aux chocolate ou au moka qui cimule l'enorce de al buche. Nota: Pour le Noel, on fait aussi un autre gateau symbolique auquel on donne l'aspect d'un sabot. Ce gateau, qu l'on fait ordinarement en nougat, se garnit de petits fours divers."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prospere Montagne [Librarie Larousse:Paris] 1938 (p. 528)



'Genois fine' means very thin sponge cake. The cake is filled with assorted creams, most often with a type of butter cream. One shapes it in the form of a branch. One decorates it with little pockets of cinnamon  The cake represents the traditional Yule log burnt in the past at the winter solstice.

Joe Pastry has a great blog showing us how to assemble this traditional French cake.

I have not made this cake yet. When I do, I will publish my own instructions and show you all how it turned out. In brainstorming my recipe, I see chocolate, butter cream, and cinnamon. I am not sure exactly how I will do it yet. It looks like a wonderful treat.