A Yule log or bûche de Noël () is a traditional
Christmas cake
Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.
British variations
Christmas cake is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. A traditional English Christmas cake is made with moist Zan ...
, often served as a dessert, especially in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Vietnam, and
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada. Variants are also served in the United States, United Kingdom, Cambodia, Scandinavia, Portugal, Spain, and Japan.
Made of
sponge cake
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during ...
, to resemble a miniature actual
Yule log, it is a form of sweet
roulade. The cake emerged in the 19th century, probably in France, before spreading to other countries. It is traditionally made from a
genoise, generally baked in a large, shallow
Swiss roll pan,
iced, rolled to form a cylinder, and iced again on the outside. The most common combination is basic yellow sponge cake and
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods.
Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...
buttercream
Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing (food), icing or butter frosting, is used for either filling (cooking), filling, coating or cake decorating, decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar.
Buttercream is ...
, though many variations that include chocolate cake,
ganache
Ganache ( or ; ) is a glaze, icing, sauce, or filling for pastries, made from chocolate and cream.
In the broad sense of the term, ganache is an emulsion between (melted) solid chocolate (which is made with cocoa butter, the fat phase) and ...
, and icings flavored with
espresso
Espresso (, ) is a concentrated form of coffee produced by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Originating in Italy, espresso has become one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods worldwide. It is cha ...
or
liqueur
A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...
s exist.
Yule logs are often served with one end cut off and set atop the cake, or protruding from its side to resemble a chopped off branch. A
bark
Bark may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick
* Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...
-like texture is often produced by dragging a fork through the icing, and
powdered sugar sprinkled to resemble
snow
Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
. Other
cake decorations may include actual tree branches, fresh
berries
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...
, and
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom.
The standard for the n ...
s made of
meringue
Meringue ( , ) is a type of dessert or candy, of French cuisine, French origin, traditionally made from Whisk, whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acid, acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or potassium bitartrate, cream of t ...
or
marzipan
Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract.
It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and ...
.
The name ''bûche de Noël'' originally referred to the Yule log itself, and was transferred to the dessert after that custom had fallen out of popular use. References to it as ''bûche de Noël'' or, in English, Yule Log, can be found from at least the Edwardian era (for example, F. Vine, Saleable Shop Goods (1898 and later).
Gallery
File:Yule Log Cake.jpg
File:Bûche de Noël facile (2014-12-23).jpg
File:Bûche de Noël with marzipan mushrooms, December 2008.jpg
File:Bûche de Noël in Colomars.jpg
File:Buche de Noel (Yule Log).jpg
File:Yule log cake.jpg
See also
*
Christmas cake
Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.
British variations
Christmas cake is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. A traditional English Christmas cake is made with moist Zan ...
*
List of desserts
A dessert is typically the sweet Course (food), course that, after the entrée and main course, concludes a meal in the culture of many countries, particularly western world, Western culture. The course usually consists of sweet foods, but may ...
*
Nut roll
*
Pionono
*
Swiss roll
References
Citations
General references
* "la Bûche de Noël" in: ''Le Calendrier Traditionnel'', ''Voici: la France de ce mois'', vol. 2, no. 17–21, Voici Press (1941).
* Albert Goursaud, Maurice Robert, ''La société rurale traditionnelle en Limousin: ethnographie''
pp. 471, 474* Claude Seignolle, ''Traditions populaires de Provence''
pp. 84-87*
Arnold van Gennep, ''Manuel de folklore français contemporain'', pt. 2, ''Du berceau à la tombe'' (1946)
External links
Buche de Noel(via
foodtimeline.org)
*
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2024
Belgian desserts
Chocolate desserts
Christmas in Canada
French cakes
Chocolate-covered foods
Sponge cakes
Swiss cuisine
Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
Yule
Christmas cakes
World cuisine