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The Buche de Noel cake comes froman old European tradition of burning a huge log at the winter solstice to end the year and bring good luck, and laterduring the Christmas season to celebrate Christmas.It’s a little unclear when exactly people started making cakes instead of burning giant logs, but it seems to beconnectedto houses and fireplaces becoming smaller. The French name and the use of thinly rolled sponge cake points to 19th century France.In any case, at some point, people started to replace their wood yule logs with delicious cakes and now everyone can enjoy them!
Whether the cakeis religious or a celebration of a season, it really doesn’t matter for most Japanese people since the majority of them are not Christian. They celebrate more of the commercial aspects of Christmas, such as food and gifts. As Christmas became popular in Japan, the Christmas cakebecamea big deal. There are so many styles of cakes to choose from, and that is an important thing for peopleto do every year. It isa big season for all the retail stores too. Cake shops of course, but department stores, supermarkets, and even convenience stores join in the sellingcompetition. They make all sorts of beautiful and yummycakes, and some are really over the top (prices, too)!
Buche de Noel may look basic compared to some of the more wild Japanese Christmas cakes. It looks like a log after all. However, it is chocolate sponge cake with tastychocolate Buttercream – what’s not to like? The decoration can be simple, like the cake we made. Here we added meringue mushrooms, cocoa powder, and powder sugar to decorate. You can also use chocolate shavings, fruits, or a marzipan Santa Claus. There is no right or wrong. You can’t fail in decorating this cake!
Note: Make Ganache ahead of time so that it can be cool and set, preferably a day before.
Print Recipe
4.67 from 3 votes
Buche de Noel Recipe
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: cake, chocolate, Christmas
*Links may contain ad. #CommissionsEarned
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 eggs
- 50 g cake flour
- 30 g cocoa
- 30 g butter
- 100 g sugar
Ganache
- 225 g chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream 240ml
Buttercream
Instructions
To make cake:
Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line an 11″ (28cm) square baking pan with parchment paper.
Divide eggs into whites and yolks. Sift cake flour and cocoa together. Melt butter. Set all aside.
Beat yolks and 1/3 of sugar until a light color and very thick.
In a different bowl, whip egg whites. When the eggs are forming into meringue, start adding the rest of the sugar in 3 parts. Whip until almost forming stiff peaks.
In the bowl of beaten yolks, add 1/3 of the whipped egg whites, and mix in carefully without deflating the foam. Add this mixture to the rest of the meringue, and carefully mix in the same way.
Add flour mixture, sifting into the egg mixture, and carefully mix. Finally add melted butter and mix again.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spread evenly, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Take out from the oven, cool in the pan completely, covered with plastic.
To make Ganache:
Chop chocolate into very small pieces and put in a medium bowl. Heat heavy cream to just before boiling. Add to chocolate and leave for a couple of minutes without disturbing. Stir well with a spatula until completely mixed. Let it sit at least 3-4 hours to set, preferably overnight.
To make filling:
In a bowl, put 1/2 of the buttercream and 2-3 Tbsp of ganache and mix well.
To make frosting:
In a different bowl, put the rest of the buttercream and ganache and mix well.
To assemble:
Remove the parchment paper from the cake. Place a new piece of parchment paper under the cake. Spread filling (leaving 1/2 cup or so) over the cake. From the one side of the cake, start rolling. Wrap the cake with the parchment end side down. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
If you like, cut out pieces of the cake with round cookie cutters to make branch stumps. Fill the holes with the frosting, and place round cake pieces on top.
Then spread the frosting (the darker cream) over the surface of the log except the surface of the ends and any branch stumps. Cover the surface of the ends of the log and of any branch stumps with filling (the lighter color cream). With a fork, make lines like the surface of trees (bark) and circles on the ends and stumps. Sprinkle cocoa powder. Decorate as you like.
Video
cakeChristmas
December 14, 2015 By JapaneseCooking101
About JapaneseCooking101
Noriko and Yuko, the authors of this site, are both from Japan but now live in California. They love cooking and eating great food, and share a similar passion for home cooking using fresh ingredients.Noriko and Yuko plan and develop recipes together for Japanese Cooking 101. They cook and shoot photos/videos at their home kitchen(s.)
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Fany
September 12, 2016 at 5:33 am
Hi, i want to ask, why most others recipe ask you to cool out the cake rolled with parchment paper inside rather than cool it completely in pan? does that make any different? thank you.
Wally
November 9, 2016 at 4:35 pm
Hi there,
Instead of making into a log, can I use this recipe to make a 7″ chocolate cake ? What will be the recipe to be?
Thanks
Wally
Rachael
December 3, 2016 at 7:14 pm
Yr ganache what kind of chocolate . U should see joybaking video she is v precise about every single words she say n even give option idea v v good n no question we need to ask
Eg if u say tin u must say how big or chocolate what chocolate etc
Cheslie Mesidor
December 5, 2016 at 1:52 pm
This is amazing! Well detailed and the video is perfect! I’m having guests for Chris dinner and will definitely make it. this size is for how many people?
