Chocolate and Pumpkin Bûche de Noël

A few years ago, I didn’t know much about the bûche de Noël, or Yule log. Since then, I've found out that the bûche de noel is a rolled sponge cake covered in chocolate, typically served around Christmas. While the traditional logs are truly log shaped, anything goes for modern ones. The closest thing I ever had to a bûche while growing up were the Little Debbie Chocolate Swiss Rolls or Hostess Ho Hos that were packed in my lunch box.  

In a bid to learn more about the sophisticated cousin to the Ho Ho, I happened upon this catchy video showcasing the 2011 collection of bûches available from Paris bakeries. And that was the start of my pastry obsession.

If you do a quick search on the internet, you’ll find a lot of recipes—all of which seem a bit tricky. There are warnings of cracking and collapsing cakes, and various tricks like rolling your cake in dish towels.  I’ve found that a lot of these are unnecessary.  Just stay calm—there’s nothing that copious amounts of icing can’t fix!

For the past several years, I’ve been using Dominique Ansel’s recipe-- before he became famous for the cronut—with a pumpkin buttercream filling (because I like pumpkin flavoured anything). You can go all fancy with the decorations—adding meringue mushrooms or a Santa, but usually at this point, I’m exhausted and a chocolate ganache coating is all I can manage.

Chocolate and Pumpkin Bûche de Noel

Adapted from Food and Wine

Ingredients

7 egg yolks

7 egg whites

¾ cup sugar (12 Tbsp, divided)

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted to remove clumps

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Line an 11x17 inch (28x43 cm) rimmed cookie sheet with a lightly greased parchment paper. 

2.       In a large bowl, whip egg whites and salt until soft peaks form at high speed. Add 6 tbsp of sugar and cream of tartar and beat until stiff and glossy. When you lift the beaters, the egg whites will form a “beak” (this is called “bec d'oiseau”) at the tip of the beaters. Set aside. You don’t need the cream of tartar, but it stabilizes the egg whites and helps them whip up. Be patient, this takes about 10 minutes with a hand mixer. 

3.       In a large bowl, beat yolks with 6 tbsp of sugar at high speed until the mixture becomes pale yellow and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). When you lift the beaters, a thick ribbon trail should drip off. Some people will do this stage over a water-bath, but I’ve found that it doesn’t make that much difference. 

4.       Add cocoa powder and vanilla to the egg yolk mixture. Cocoa powder can create quite the dust cloud, so gently mix everything together with a spatula until everything is moistened, then give it quick whirl with the mixer.

5.       Using a spatula, fold the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture, add 1/3 of the egg whites at a time, and folding well until no streaks remain. The chocolate-yolk mixture is pretty thick and sticky, so make sure you scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

6.       Spread the batter evenly on the lined cookie sheet. Drop the tray on the counter a couple of times to remove the larger bubbles.

7.       Bake for ~15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway, until the cake is completely set and feels springy to the touch.

8.       Let the cake cool slightly, about 5 minutes on a cooling rack. 

9.       While the cake is still warm, lightly dust the surface with cocoa powder. Just sprinkle a little bit over the cake and brush it around with your fingers. You want a light dusting, this will prevent it from sticking when we roll and unroll the cake later.

10.   Place another sheet of parchment paper on the cake. Place another baking sheet, or any flat and firm surface of the same size (cooling rack, cutting board, cardboard if desperate) on top. At this point you should have your cake sandwiched between parchment paper and baking sheets. Firmly grasp the ends of this “sandwich” and flip the whole thing upside down.

11.   Remove the top cookie sheet and peel off the used parchment paper from the cake. Peel slowly and gently so as not to tear the cake.

12.   You should now have an upside down sponge cake sitting on top of a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Lightly dust the new exposed surface of the cake with cocoa powder.

13.   Starting at one of the short ends of the cake, use your fingers to slightly flatten the first 1.5 inches or 4 cm of the cake. This will make it a little easier to roll up. 

14.   Roll the cake starting with the short, flattened end. Make sure you roll the cake and the parchment paper together. This will keep the cake from sticking to itself. It’s important to do this while the cake is still warm and flexible. Place the parchment wrapped roll in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until cooled. This is the pre-roll, and helps the bûche keep its shape later.

15.   When the roll has cooled. Gently unroll the cake and remove the parchment paper. Fill with the filling of your choice and roll it back up. Try to make a fairly tight and snug roll—but don’t overdo it as the cake will crack.

16.   Wrap the whole thing back up in parchment paper or plastic wrap and throw it back in the fridge for an hour (or freezer for about 15 minutes if you are in a rush) to chill and firm up. This will make it easier to cut for the final shaping.

17.   Once the cake is chilled and firmed, you can begin to sculpt your log. You’ll notice that the ends are ragged. Take a sharp knife, I like to use a serrated bread knife, and trim both ends, so you can see the swirls of icing.

18.   The branched stump is made from one of the trimmed ends. Make one of the trimmings a little bit longer, depending on how long you want the branch.  Level off both ends of the stump to make it easier to attach to the main log. You can angle your cuts to make the branch appear to have grown at a slight angle or leave it flat. I like to unroll a bit of the cake so that the branch has a smaller diameter than the main trunk.

19.   Attach the branch with chocolate ganache.

20.   Transfer the bûche to your serving platter before decorating. Spread chocolate ganache over the remainder of the log. Drag the back of a small spoon along the trunk to simulate the texture of bark.

21.   Place the cake in the fridge for at least an hour to harden the chocolate. You can serve this the same day, or store covered in the refrigerator overnight. I think the flavours improve the next day.

Pumpkin Buttercream

Adapted from Kitchen Confidante

1 cup of canned pumpkin

¼ cup of all-purpose flour

8 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ginger

¼ tsp cloves

1 ½ to 1 ¾ cup of powdered (confectioner’s sugar)

Directions:

1.       Add the pumpkin filling and flour to a small pan and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture becomes thick and darker in colour, about 5 minutes. There should be some small bubbles that form at the edges.  Remove from the heat and cool completely.

2.       In a medium bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. You can adjust the levels of the spices to suit your own tastes, or use pumpkin pie spice mix.  Add the sugar to the butter and continue beating until everything is well mixed. 

3.       Add the pumpkin mixture to the butter and mix well. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

½ cup of bitter-sweet chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli Chocolate 60% Cacao Bittersweet chips)

½ cup of whipping cream

Directions: 

1.       Place the chocolate chips and whipping cream in a microwave container.

2.       Heat in the microwave for 1 minute.

3.       Mix well with a spoon. At first the chocolate will look all grainy, but if you continue to stir, it will melt into the cream and be smooth.

4.       Let this cool to room temperature before decorating the cake.