Bûche de Noël

If you want to THRILL your family this holiday season whether it’s for Christmas OR Yule OR Solstice make this fancy (but easy!) Bûche de Noël or Yule Log. Chocolate cake, whipped cream, and chocolate buttercream rolled together in a simple cake roll will take your holiday table to the next level!

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What kind of cake?

Yule Logs or Bûche de Noël are cake rolls made with delicious chocolate cake is wrapped around a whipped cream filling and frosted with chocolate buttercream and topped with simple little meringue mushrooms.

The traditional yule log cake is a dessert representation of the old-fashioned yule log. Historically a huge yule log was brought into the house and burned over 12 days for Christmas, Christmas Eve over the New Year, and Epiphany. There are many traditions and ceremonies surrounding the burning of the yule log, including what kind of wood you should burn, spilling wine over the log before burning, and reading fortunes in the sparks. Yule log cakes showed up in the late 1800s when burning an actual log fell out of popularity, or possibly need.

Cake Rolls

Cake rolls or Swiss Rolls OR Jelly Rolls, they’re all basically the same thing, are flat cakes baked in an 11×17 pan or jelly roll pan.  Instead of cooling it in the pan you flip it out on a dish towel and roll it up while it’s still warm. Then let it cool while rolled up. Then you fill it with jelly, frosting or whipped cream, frost it if you want to, and slice off big swirled pieces of cake to serve.

To make a cake roll into a Bûche de Noël we’ll cut off one end to make a yule log branch off the side of the cake. Frosting with chocolate buttercream and score it to look like tree bark. We’ll add some simple meringue mushrooms to make it look like it’s been lying in a forest for a while.

What you need

• all-purpose flour or cake flour
• cocoa powder
• baking powder
• salt
• eggs
• granulated sugar
• vanilla extract
• heavy whipping cream
• gelatin (if you want stabilized whipped cream)
• softened butter at room temperature
• powdered sugar
• chocolate chips
• egg whites
• 11×17 rimmed baking sheet
• parchment paper
• offset spatula
• large bowl
• rubber spatula
• stand mixer OR hand mixer
• clean dish towel
• saran wrap
• fork

The components of this recipe

• A cake roll. DON’T WORRY, I have a video on rolling up a cake RIGHT IN THE RECIPE CARD!! If it worries you, watch the video and you’ll be able to do it!
• Meringue Mushrooms. Easy whipped eggs and sugar piped to look like little mushrooms.
• Stabilized Whipped Cream. Perfect for the Buche de Noel! Full recipe included!!
• Chocolate Frosting, again, full recipe included

What is Stabilized Whipped Cream?

I use stabilized whipped cream in this cake roll because I want it to sit at room temperature on the table for several hours if needed. Regular whipped cream will melt away if that’s all you use.

Adding a small amount of bloomed gelatin to the whipping cream is how you get it to last longer at room temperature AND to last several days in the fridge. You can’t taste it, and if you follow my easy directions below, no one will know it’s in the whipped cream.

Need to make an Easy Bûche de Noël Recipe?

Need something easy to finish your holiday meal? Here are a few tips to make the Yule log easier. It will require canned frosting or cool whip, if you’re good with that, you can make this Christmas Cake easier.

Make the cake as described in the recipe, roll it, and cool it completely. Use either cool whip OR white canned frosting as the filling. As long as it’s white, it will look pretty when the end of the cake is cut off to show the swirl. Contrast is good, so use what you want in the swirl as long as you have that color difference.

Use canned chocolate frosting to frost the outside of the cake. Choose any chocolate frosting, milk, or dark, again, as long as you can see the swirl differentiation. Just skip making the frosting in this recipe and sub in two cans of chocolate of your choice!

Use more canned white frosting to make little round mushroom caps and stem on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment. Freeze the tray, then pop off the mushroom caps and stems and poke them into the frosting. Dust with cocoa powder to make them look more mushroom-y.

There are so MANY ways to save time and energy making a Yule Log Cake. But you can totally go old-fashioned too!

Or try making this BEAUTIFUL White Forest Cake for different kind of showstopper cake.

OR make these NO-BAKE Mini Yule Log Cakes!

How to store

You can put this cake on your holiday table for several hours so everyone can admire it. This cake will last up to three days in the fridge. After that time, your stabilized whipped cream might start to falter.

Storing leftovers

For best results with leftovers: slice the remaining log and place slices in an airtight container, and store them in the fridge.

Bûche de Noël

5 from 60 votes

This stunning Buche de Noel or Yule Log Cake will make ANY holiday table more festive this holiday season!

Course: Dessert, Holiday

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 2 days days

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

assembly time: 3 hours hours

Servings: 10 Servings

Calories: 545kcal

Author: Laura

Print Recipe

Equipment

• stand mixer
• hand mixer
• offset spatula
• rimmed baking sheet

Ingredients

Cake Roll

• 1/2 cup cake flour sifted
• 1/4 cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Meringue mushrooms

• 1/4 tsp Lemon juice or a ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar

Stabilized Whipped Cream

• 2 TBSP water very cold
• 2 tsp powdered gelatin
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting (feel free to use any frosting you like)

• 1 cup softened butter
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cocoa powder use a little less if you like a light color
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 TBSP heavy cream

Decorations

• 1/4 cup graham crackers crumbs
• greenery
• frosted cranberries

Instructions

• To make the cake roll:
• Preheat the oven to 375°
• line a a baking sheet, 11×17, with parchment paper and then grease it
  
• In a large mixing bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together several times and set aside
  
• beat the eggs in a stand mixer until fluffy
  
• add the sugar slowly and beat until very light and thick
• beat in the vanilla
• Then fold in the flour
  
• pour into the prepared pan, spread evenly with a rubber or if you have a offset spatula
  
• bake 9-12 minutes, watch out for over cooking you don’t want crisp edges
• While it bakes dust a clean dish towel with confectioners sugar
  
• after it comes out of the oven let it set for a minute
• Then flip the cake upside down on the towel, peel off the parchment
  
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar
• starting from the short end roll the cake with the towel to keep it from sticking to itsel
• leave it to cool overnight, I like to wrap it lightly in a plastic wrap to keep t from drying out too much
• To make meringue mushrooms:
• preheat the oven to 250°
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
• Beat two egg whites until frothy, then slowly add the sugar Tablespoon by Tablespoon until fully incorporated
• Beat until stiff peaks form
  
• Use a disposable piping bag and snip off the end of the bag, about ½ inch or so
  
• Fill with meringue, make meringue stems and mushroom caps on the prepared baking sheet
  
• use a wet finger to smooth the pointy tops as needed
  
• Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes and then let them cool in the oven undisturbed for an hour or so
• Dust with a little cocoa powder for a mushroom look, set aside
  
• To Fill:
• Put water in a small saucepan sprinkle with the powdered gelatin, let it sit for 2 minutes
• Heat over low heat JUST until the gelatin is liquified, let it rest
• Beat the heavy cream with the sugar until its thick but not full set up
• With the mixer on low drizzle in the gelatin
• Beat until it’s thick, add vanilla and beat again
• unroll cake
• Fill it evenly with the whipped cream
  
• Roll it back up gently Lay it seam side down on a baking sheet and cover it
• Chill it while you make the frosting
• to frost:
• beat the butter until soft and fluffy, 2-3 minutes
• add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth
  
• if the frosting is too thin add more powdered sugar OR more cocoa powder
• if its too thick thin it down with a little extract cream or vanilla extract
• Lay the chilled cake roll on a serving platter, lay two pieces of waxed paper or parchment along either side to keep it clean(you might keep it cleaner than I did)
  
• Then trim off one end to reveal the swirl, if your swirl shows up you do not need to trim it off
• Then cut off a chunk to use as a branch, set it to the side of the cake as the branch
• Generously frost the cake roll
  
• dip a fork in water and score the frosting to look like bark
  
• Use extra frosting to glue the mushroom stalks to the caps
  
• Place the mushrooms all over the log, wherever you like
  
• Decorate as desired, sprinkle some graham cracker crumbs around the tray and add some greenery, or frosted cranberries, or anything your heart desires

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 545kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 143mg | Potassium: 199mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 67g | Vitamin A: 709IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 2mg

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Old Photos from when this post was brand new. For context, the baby is now 17!

Before kids

BOYS!!