A French Christmas Yule Log Recipe: Bûche de Noël

Christmas yule log cake slices laid out on a table, also known as bûche de Noël, in French.

The bûche de Noël, or French yule log cake, is a thin sponge cake that is rolled around a sweet filling and topped with a chocolate topping to create the appearance of a log.

The yule log cake has its origins in an actual log—a dense, large piece of wood that was chosen, decorated, and then burned on the night of Christmas Eve. This log was meant to last all the way through Christmas and into the New Year to keep the frigid winter at bay. As times changed and wood-burning fireplaces became less necessary, a cake was made to symbolically replace the traditional yule log.

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For the cake:

4 eggs
140 grams (⅔ cups) sugar
100 grams (¾ cups) flour
11 grams (2½ teaspoons) baking powder

For the topping:

250 grams (½ pounds) chocolate
200 grams (¾cups) butter, softened

Directions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
Separate the yolks from the egg whites.
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar, adding 3 tablespoons of warm water to make it foam. Gradually add the flour and baking powder into the batter. Set it aside.
In a different bowl, whip the egg whites. After doing so, gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter that was set aside.
Pour the batter into a long, flat baking pan lined with baking paper. Spread the batter to 1 centimeter (0.5 inches) high.
Place the batter in the oven and bake it for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove the baked cake from the oven, and place a clean damp cloth over it. Remove it from the baking sheet, and roll it up. Allow it to cool.

For the chocolate topping:

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. After doing so, mix in the softened butter.
Unroll the cake to spread two-thirds of the melted chocolate on it. Roll the cake again, and top it with the remainder of the chocolate, using a fork to streak it to give the cake the appearance of a log.
Keep the cake refrigerated until serving.