25 Days of Christmas Recipes - Buche de Noel

uring high school, I was an exchange student in Challans, France. I took 5 years of French, and I because of all of this, I have a love for French culture. This next recipe is a French Christmas one. It's called Buche de Noel, or Yule Log. It is a flourless cake, rolled jelly style, that resembles a log. We made it each year in my French class, and it is so delicious!

Buche de Noel

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
6 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
confectioners' sugar for dusting


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whip cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until thick and stiff. Refrigerate.
3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale. Blend in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and salt. In large glass bowl, using clean beaters, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until whites form stiff peaks. Immediately fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Dust a clean dishtowel with confectioners' sugar. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and turn the warm cake out onto the towel. Remove and discard parchment paper. Starting at the short edge of the cake, roll the cake up with the towel. Cool for 30 minutes.
5. Unroll the cake, and spread the filling to within 1 inch of the edge. Roll the cake up with the filling inside. Place seam side down onto a serving plate, cut a slice off of each end and place randomly off of each side of the cake , so it looks like a log with stubs. Refrigerate until serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. You can also make extra frosting to frost the outside of the buche, score it with a fork to make it look like bark, and then dust it with confectioners sugar to make it look like snow.