From Julia · 2022-2023 · Reconstructed
Bûche de Noël
Serve when
Serve once the buttercream has been combed into bark ridges and dusted with powdered sugar 'snow.'
In the series
Season 2
- S2E5 · ~00:38:00 Julia prepares a Yule log for the holiday broadcast just as Paul's twin brother Charles arrives unannounced, complicating an already fraught Life magazine interview
In the series
The Yule log arrives exactly when the Child household is at its most crowded and least composed — a family showpiece dessert built for a holiday broadcast, made in the middle of a real family complication that the cake can't quite paper over.
Ingredients
- For the sponge:
- For the buttercream:
Method
- Whip the egg yolks with half the sugar until pale and thick; fold in the cocoa, flour, and salt.
- Whip the egg whites with the remaining sugar to stiff peaks, then fold into the chocolate batter in two additions.
- Spread the batter evenly onto a lined and buttered jelly-roll pan and bake at 375 F for about 12 minutes, until just set.
- Turn the warm sponge out onto a sugared towel, peel off the parchment, and roll the cake up in the towel from the short end. Let it cool completely rolled.
- Beat the butter until fluffy, then beat in the powdered sugar, melted chocolate, vanilla, and coffee until smooth.
- Unroll the cooled cake, spread with a layer of the buttercream, and re-roll it without the towel.
- Trim the ends at an angle, frost the whole log with the remaining buttercream, and drag a fork lengthwise through the frosting to mimic bark. Dust with powdered sugar.
Substitutions
- Cracking sponge: a chocolate genoise cracks easily when rolled cold — rolling it warm, right out of the oven, in the towel is what keeps it pliable.
Beyond the recipe
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