How to Bake Buche de Noel
Makes: 1 cake
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients needed to make Buche de Noel:
For the cake:
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small bits
- 6 large eggs, separated while they are still cold
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp granulated white sugar
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp cream of tartar
For the chocolate whipped cream:
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp granulated white sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipped cream
Cooking instructions for Buche de Noel:
- Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F with the rack placed at the middle of the oven.
- Grease a 17’’ x 12’’ baking pan with cooking spray and line it with a sheet of parchment paper; dust with some flour and set aside.
- Bring the separated egg whites and yolks to room temperature; it will take about half an hour.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Add the egg yolks to a bowl attached to the electric mixer and empty ¼ cup of sugar into it.
- Beat the mixture for about 5 minutes or until they become light and foamy and stir in the vanilla.
- Scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl and pour in the melted chocolate.
- Whisk it briskly until well combined and set aside.
- Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl of the electric mixer, fitted with whisk attachment, until they become frothy.
- Add a dollop of cream of tartar and whisk them together at moderately high speed until they form soft yet firm peaks.
- Whisk in rest of the sugar until the mixture forms stiff peaks and fold it into the egg yolk mixture until properly blended; avoid over-mixing.
- Pour the batter into the prepared mold and bake for about 15 minutes or until the cake puffs up.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack while keeping it covered with a moist towel.
- To make the chocolate whipped cream, whisk all its ingredients together until they form an even mixture.
- Cover the surface with a plastic sheet and leave it in the fridge for an hour.
- Whisk the mixture again until it forms stiff peaks and spread most of it across the cake.
- Roll the cake into a log, while peeling off the parchment paper at the same time.
- Trim one end of the cake log diagonally and place it on a serving plate, with the overlapping edges facing down.
- Chill the cake before serving and dust it with powdered sugar.
- Slice and serve.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
