A French Christmas Recipe

I learned at a young age that starting international or multicultural holiday traditions can be fun (and delicious). Every Christmas, my Russian great-aunt, who taught high school French in New York City for years, used to bake a bûche de Noël, the traditional French “Yule log” cake. Starting back in the 12th century, the French burned a hefty Yule log

all through Christmas night on the fire. As stoves were popularized, the French kept the tradition going by placing a candle-lit log on the table for decoration. Today, it has become a log-shaped cake eaten after the traditional Christmas meal, or réveillon. 

As cakes go, it is pretty easy and lots of fun to decorate. Here are two recipes for the bûche. A tip from my mother, who carries on the tradition, is to use angel food cake mix. She says:

(1) Take two pans with half-inch sides (a jelly roll pan) and line them with tinfoil. Grease and

flour the tinfoil. (2) Make a package of angel food cake and pour into the jelly roll pans and bake. (3) Turn the baked angel food cake onto a moist towel and carefully pull off the foil. (4) Frost the entire flat pieces of angel food cake (with your choice of chocolate frosting) and roll them up like a jelly roll. If you want, you can cut the “log” at an angle to make it look like a piece of cut wood. (5) Cut your second log into pieces for the branches that come off the cake. (6) Ice the entire cake, and streak it with a fork to make the frosting look like bark. You can also create knotholes by making a circular design with the fork. (7) Shape marzipan into mushrooms and dot with cinnamon or cocoa powder to look like dirt. (8) Place them strategically on the log.

Apparently Austria and Germany have their own versions of the bûche, called a baumkuchen, or “tree cake” that is roasted on a spit over the fire. Chances are you don’t have a spit or an open fire, so here are two more recipes we found for a more practical version. Bon appétit, and have a wonderful time making those marzipan mushrooms — I think my aunt loved this part the best. She used to pick wild mushrooms and actually eat them, much to everyone’s shock! As these Flickr photos show, the bûche allows you to get really creative.

Happy Holidays from IT!

Photos:  distopiandreamgirl, bredlo