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Easy Yule Log Recipe – Christmas Bûche de Noël Cake

by 26 Comments

Helene D'Souza
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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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!

More Christmas Recipes! 🎄

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

Dear Reader, when are you planning to make the yule log recipe?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comment section further below!

Let us know in a comment further below!

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

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    • Easy Yule Log Recipe – Christmas Bûche de Noël Cake

    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.
    4.86 from 14 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: French
    Keyword: buche de noel, homemade french yule log
    Prep Time: 50 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour
    Servings: 12 slices
    Calories: 256kcal
    Recipe by: Helene D’Souza

    Ingredients

    For the dough:

    • 4 Eggs yolk and egg whites separated
    • 1 cup Sugar
    • 2 teaspoons Vanilla Sugar or regular sugar + few drops vanilla extract
    • 1 1/8 cup All Purpose Flour

    so that the dough doesn’t stick:

    • some Oil

    For the syrup:

    • 1/2 cup Water
    • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
    • 1 Tablespoon Rum dark variety preferred

    For the Filling:

    • 1 1/2 cups Chestnut Puree sweetened version

    For the decoration:

    • 7 ounces Chocolate baking more then 65% cocoa
    • Raw marzipan/Almond paste to create little figures and food coloring optional
    US Customary – Metric

    Instructions

    • Separate your egg yolks and egg whites, keep the egg whites at the side at first. First, mix and beat your egg yolks with the sugar, vanilla sugar and all-purpose flour until the content is almost light pastel yellow in color. 
      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
    • Then beat your egg white stiff until you have a stiff snow. Test that the egg whites are stiff enough by turning the bowl with the snow upside down, the snow shouldn’t fall out. Fold the egg whites carefully into the previously prepared egg yolk mixture. The aim should be that the mass remains fluffy to a certain extend and that the content is well incorporated. Don’t mix the egg whites in but fold it in, this is important to keep the airiness in the mass! 
      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
    • Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius/390 Fahrenheit.
    • Keep a large rectangle baking tray ready with a baking sheet/parchment. Oil the baking sheet a bit with a kitchen brush. Add the whole mass on the parchment and spread it out evenly with a baking spatula. Bake the roulade dough for more or less 10 minutes golden brown at 200 Celsius/390 Fahrenheit. 
      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
    • While the dough is baking prepare a syrup with the water, sugar, and rum. Mix and heat it up until the sugar is molten. Then once the cake mass is baked but still warm pour the syrup equally all over the cake mass. This will help to keep the yule log nice soft and juicy from the inside. 
      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
    • Next spread the chestnut puree equally all over the mass and roll in carefully to create the roulade/swiss roll. 
      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
    • At last keep cooking chocolate to melt and cover the whole roulade evenly with the molten chocolate. Then cut off both ends diagonally and place on top of the chocolate on the yule log. This will give the impression of a log stump on both ends. 
      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
    • Add the rest of the chocolate on all ends so that the yule log is completely covered in chocolate.
      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
    • At last you can add decoration such as marzipan figurine and icing sugar deco pieces. I made a mushroom and a snail of raw marzipan and painted them with some red food coloring. You can get creative at this point.

    Notes

    1. In this yule log recipe, the filling is with a chestnut paste. You can make your own or use a store bought ready made a chestnut paste. You can also use jam as a filling or flavored whipped cream or even chocolate!
    2. Decorate with Marzipan figurines by shaping your own raw marzipan paste into little cute shapes. I made once creepy looking marzipan figurines for Halloween, but you can use the same tips and recipe to make cute looking Christmas marzipan figurines.

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Facts
    Easy Yule Log Recipe – Christmas Bûche de Noël Cake
    Amount Per Serving (96 g)
    Calories 256 Calories from Fat 63
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 7g11%
    Saturated Fat 3g15%
    Cholesterol 54mg18%
    Sodium 24mg1%
    Potassium 167mg5%
    Carbohydrates 45g15%
    Fiber 1g4%
    Sugar 26g29%
    Protein 3g6%
    Vitamin A 85IU2%
    Vitamin C 7.2mg9%
    Calcium 17mg2%
    Iron 1.4mg8%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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    Comments

    3. Monica | Nourish & Fete says

      5 stars
      I really was intrigued by all of the lovely yule log videos going around this year – just a little intimidated to try it, especially with a toddler underfoot. Maybe next year with a good tutorial like this! 🙂 I hope you had a very lovely Christmas!

      Reply

    5. lauren says

      5 stars
      I’ve always been so intimidated by this sweet treat! I love your step by step photos. I’m a visual girl so I think that’s super helpful. It looks positively delicious and festive!

      Reply

    10. Meenakshi J says

      4 stars
      Oh my my….
      I am exposed to so many new recipes through your blog posts!
      The only rue most of the times is that they contain eggs in them.
      I have managed a workaround with mashed fruit purees replacing eggs though the taste may vary a bit.
      Will try out this roll with the substitute and shall let you know 🙂

      Reply

    17. Tara says

      5 stars
      Such a beautiful Yule log cake! I love that swirl. I have always wanted to make one, but haven’t tried yet. Definitely need to start with yours!

      Reply

    20. Anu says

      5 stars
      You are introducing me to the world of baking. I never knew there can be so many of options out there.

      Your blog is celebrating Christmas in style – may you have a season full of happiness and joy,

      Reply

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