The easy Yule Log/Bûche de Noël cake is based on a roulade fluffy dough. Swiss rolls are made the same way but the difference with the yule log is the decoration. The yule log is best enjoyed within 48 hours of its inception as it tends to remain soft during that time.

Total Time: 1 hour

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Yule Log Recipe is a Christmas Roulade cake, common in French-speaking countries and it's neighbors.

The Yule Log is better known as Bûche de Noël in French and both names will tell you that the cake looks like a wooden tree branch.

So, how do you easily make a Yule Log look like a tree branch?

See further below the Yule Log recipe and how I and my mum prepared if from scratch.

Easy Yule Log Recipe - Christmas Bûche de Noël Cake [French] with step by step picture tutorial to make the yule log easily at home. decorate the buche the noel to your liking with icing sugar and marzipan almond paste. This is our french family recipe! www.MasalaHerb.com #christmas #cake #yulelog #french

We, my mother and I, actually prepared this yule log recipe last year and if you have been following me on Instagram from the beginning, because I have an Instagram account since last year only, you will know that I posted the very same Yule log end result picture.

See here what I mean...

A post shared by Helene D'Souza (@real.masalaherb) on Dec 24, 2016 at 10:49am PST

So while that picture was rather mediocre and because the beautiful yule log, aka Bûche de Noël, was prepared a day before Christmas, I decided to keep the yule log recipe ready for you this year.

Including a better picture! 😀

The yule log recipe is our family recipe and we add chestnut paste for the little aha effect!

What is a Yule Log/Bûche de Noël?

The yule log is a roulade cake aka swiss roll decorated into a gorgeous looking log of wood.

Often while the filling is cream-based and flavored with chocolate, however, this depends on the regional tradition.

We, for example, tend to fill it with chestnut cream, which lends the Bûche de Noël all the more flavors!

But you can fill your yule log with a jam too and I recommend my Merry Christmas jam for that purpose.

Where do the names Yule Log and Bûche de Noël come from?

The name Yule Log apparently comes from the old Scandinavian and Germanic winter solstice festival known as "Yule".

A tree would be burned to celebrate the darkest time of the year and the people would celebrate their pagan gods.

At some point in the different regions in France, the Catholic belief must have merged with the old beliefs or the yule log tradition may be derived from the fact that peasants had to pay tribute to their overlord with a gift of a log for Christmas.

That's where the name Bûche de Noël must have come from.

At the same time, the log was still popular later in time because in a region in France they would place gifts under the log.

Does that somehow sound familiar to you?

Think, a Christmas tree!

I highly suspect that the traditions merged, or in some cases separated from each other so that pastry bakeries started to prepare Bûche de Noël for Christmas.

After all, a wonderful cake roll as a gift does sound delicious. Don't you think?

How to prepare a Yule Log/Bûche de Noël from scratch?

To prepare a yule log recipe from scratch you will need to follow the basic roulade recipe, which in some countries is known as a swiss roll.

A roulade dough is prepared by separating the egg whites from the yolk and beating the egg whites to stiff snow and adding sugar and flour to it.

The fluffy mass is then spread on a square-shaped large baking tray with baking paper and baked for a short time.

A filling is prepared and a thin layer is spread onto the baked cake mass, all this while it's still hot.

Then everything is rolled in to create the roulade (rolled in cake aka swiss roll).

Then, to turn the roulade into a beautiful yule log you need to cover and decorate the outer cake wall with a chocolate layer.

Tip: Use shape-able Marzipan (Almond Paste) to create little forest mushrooms, insects and greenery to place and decorate the yule log with.

We usually prepare the Yule log just a day before the 25th December and that for a few good reasons, including...

the yule log is our Christmas dessert cake so it's served on the 25th
the yule log is best enjoyed when still fresh, that means within the 24 hours frame of its inception. This is because it tends to get dry and hard in a dry indoor environment.
the yule log can be stored in an airtight container but the flavors are not the same so making it ahead is not recommendable. That doesn't matter anyway because...
...the yule log is easily prepared and it's fun to decorate it too!