🪵 Bûche de Noël (Yule Log Cake)

Ingredients

• Chocolate sponge

• 5 Eggs, large, separated
• ¾ cup Granulated sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
• ⅓ cup All-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp Table salt
• 2 tbsp Powdered sugar, for the towel

• Filling

• 1½ cup Heavy cream
• 3 tbsp Powdered sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

• Ganache bark

• 8 oz Dark chocolate, chopped, or semisweet chips
• ¾ cup Heavy cream

Nutrition

Steps

You’ll need: 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet (jelly-roll pan), parchment paper, mixer, clean kitchen towel, saucepan, offset spatula, fork.

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Line the pan with parchment and grease the paper.
2. Beat the yolks with half the sugar until thick and pale, 3 minutes; beat in the vanilla. In a clean bowl, beat the whites to soft peaks, then add the rest of the sugar and beat to firm, glossy peaks.
3. Sift the cocoa, flour and salt over the yolks and fold gently, then fold in the whites in three parts. Spread evenly in the pan.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until it springs back. Dust a towel with powdered sugar, turn the cake out onto it, peel off the paper, and roll the warm cake up in the towel from a short end. Cool rolled, about 1 hour. Rolling it warm keeps it from cracking later.
5. Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to firm peaks. Unroll the cake, spread the cream to within 1 inch of the edges, and roll it up again without the towel. Chill seam side down.
6. For the ganache, heat the cream until steaming and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 3 minutes, then stir smooth. Cool until thick enough to spread, about 30 minutes.
7. Cut a short diagonal piece off one end and set it against the side as a branch. Spread the ganache over everything and drag a fork through it to look like bark. Chill at least 1 hour. Dust with powdered sugar “snow” to serve.