Traditional and Chocolate Cookie Mocha Bûche de Noël
(Apologies for the photo; it was taken just after 6 am, held on a shaky arm in the dark of the kitchen. It was destined for the CBC studio.)
I’ve made a Yule Log (Bûche de Noël) only once before, for a friend who was visiting from Toronto and acting as a spokesperson for Betty Crocker, promoting their then-new Christmas cookbook. I was her food stylist, and as such made and hauled a chocolate log (among other things) garnished with chopped pistachios and little meringue mushrooms to BT, then ran home to do some switching around before the noon news. Not wanting said log to freeze in the car (I can only assume this was my motivation), I brought it in the house. Or rather tried to; I must have set it down when I went for the keys, because when it came time to leave again I couldn’t find it. How does one lose a chocolate pistachio-covered Yule Log? After half an hour or so of frantic searching I opened the front door and found it on the front porch, massacred… around it, squirrel footprints in chocolate icing. They must’ve thought they hit the jackpot – a log, only chocolate, and covered in pre-opened and chopped nuts?? Hello! I scrambled to pretty it up again with frosting and made sure none of the CTV crew dove in after the show.
So that’s the story of the Bûche de Noël ravaged by squirrels. I’ve not made one since, until last night, and it was just as simple of the first. This time it was consumed by media types, not rodents.
Chocolate Bûche de Noël
Cake:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. saltFilling:
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. instant coffee or espresso powderFrosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups icing sugar
1 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. vanilla1/2 cup chopped green pistachios (optional)
Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 15″x10″ (or similar – I used a half-sheet) rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale yellow; beat in the water and vanilla. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and beat just until blended. Spread into the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly into all corners. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until springy to the touch. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan.
Invert the pan onto a tea towel that has been generously sprinkled with icing sugar; peel away the parchment and roll the cake up gently (you want to do this while it’s still quite warm) starting from a short end. Leave the cake to cool completely, rolled up in the towel.
Meanwhile, beat the whipping cream with sugar and instant coffee until stiff; unroll the cooled cake, spread it with the cream and roll it back up. Place it on a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up; freeze for a couple hours or up to a few months.
Beat the butter, cocoa, icing sugar, water and vanilla until smooth, adding a little extra icing sugar or water as needed to produce a spreadable frosting. When the log is frozen, slice about 1/5 off the end at a diagonal, then set it alongside the log, as if it were a branch coming off. Spread the whole thing with frosting, not covering the cut ends; run the tines of a fork through the surface to make it look like bark. If you like, sprinkle with pistachios.
Serves 10.
And I probably shouldn’t have done this; opened the door wide when those little chocolate wafer cookies layered with whipped cream came a-knocking. Remember those logs made with chocolate cookies spread with whipped cream, then stuck in the fridge for hours until the previously crisp cookies softened to something sliceable? Genius. I turned one into an easy Bûche de Noël (Yule Log) by spiking whipped cream with sugar and instant coffee to add a log-ish hue, but to be perfectly honest the coffee cream was almost better scooped straight from the bowl with a chocolate wafer. There was a lot of moaning going on, let me tell you. I’m sorry I missed the boat on photographing the finished product; I dragged a fork along the surface and it looked exactly like a little log you’d throw on the fire. Only don’t.
Chocolate Cookie Mocha Bûche de Noël
1 pkg. chocolate wafer cookies
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. instant coffee or espresso, dividedchopped toasted hazelnuts and pistachios, for garnish (optional)
In a medium bowl, beat half the whipping cream, half the sugar and half the coffee until stiff. Line a long plate with a piece of plastic wrap and spread about a teaspoon onto each cookie, stacking about 6 at a time; once they are assembled start gluing each stack together with more cream to make a log. Wrap the plastic wrap around it and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
When you’re ready to serve it, whip the remaining cream, sugar and coffee and spread over the outside of the log, dragging the tines of a fork down the length of it to simulate a log. If you like, slice a piece off the end at an angle and set it on the side, then add the whipped cream, just like a traditional Bûche de Noël. Sprinkle with nuts, if you’re using them.
Serves 8. (Or 2, if it’s just my sister and I.)
One Year Ago: Mincemeat Cake (and look how cute W was!)
December 22 2009 10:55 pm | cake
robin on 22 Dec 2009 at 11:09 pm #
i was just googling recipes for these cakes last night! thanks :O)
Laurie on 23 Dec 2009 at 12:13 am #
Oh, thank you, Julie! I grew up in the south pacific where Christmas is a mid-summer festival. The only Yule logs we ever knew were rolled chocolate cakes with meringue mushrooms. It wasn’t until I arrived in Canada that I realised Yule logs were supposed to be wooden logs that you burned (not a lot of fire lighting in the summer, except for the fire to heat the stones in the earth oven, and to bbq)
This takes me back. We are going to have it this year, I’ve decided, instead of pumpkin pie.
And thank you, too, for the easy version, which will be fun to make with my younger grandchildren.
Have a truly happy and merry Christmas!!
Traditional and Chocolate Cookie Mocha Bûche de Noël | dinner with … | Compar Index on 23 Dec 2009 at 12:54 am #
[...] original here: Traditional and Chocolate Cookie Mocha Bûche de Noël | dinner with … Tags: a-tea-towel, been-generously, cream-came, door, fridge, parchment, spread-with, [...]
Manon from Ontario on 23 Dec 2009 at 7:44 am #
Hello Julie!
Your story about the log and the squirrels crack me right up this morning, thanks! I’m sure having had a bakery and all, you have plenty other funny “moments” to tell us about, don’t be shy, please share.
About the second log, with the chocolate wafer cookies, do you just line up the entire pack, or am I missing something here?
Have a great Christmas
MFO
Jen T on 23 Dec 2009 at 7:49 am #
The cake looks delicious! But I am not a coffee fan, so what would be a great addition to the filling of whipped cream – that can still roll up nice and go great with chocolate icing? Any suggestions…..
Terri on 23 Dec 2009 at 7:58 am #
OMG…that is just so funny. Those squirrels must have thought all their Christmases came at once! I am wondering about the long term effects of laughing that hard this early in the morning! (And W is as cute now as he was one year ago! )
Carol SB on 23 Dec 2009 at 8:08 am #
Oh, Manon– you EAT a bunch of them while you’re making it… so you couldn’t use the whole pack
And I second your suggestion (*sits beside Manon, looking at Julie expectantly*)
But speaking of squirrels… this also cracked me up; I can just picture their excited little faces! I’ll bet they hung around your yard for quite a few days after that. This year, for my (adult) daughter’s birthday, I planned to surprise her with Crave Cupcakes. At the time we were taking a class together, so I deviously emailed our instructor, and got her in on the plan. I dropped the cupcakes off at our instructor’s back door, on her patio table: she was to bring them along, for us all to enjoy during our break. When she came to class, she had only 8 of a dozen cupcakes, all nicely presented on a platter. I thought, fair enough, they are *crave* after all… but after class, she had a quiet word with me. The squirrels had discovered this amazing peanut outside her back door! Julie, you know how tough those plastic shell-type boxes are. Can you imagine? the little rotters just mangled their way through the bag and the top box (luckily they were stacked!) and got at the end cupcakes.
Not quite, perhaps, as traumatic as the yule log: but I still feel your pain. (pun intended)
thepinkpeppercorn on 23 Dec 2009 at 9:40 am #
Oooh lovely! Certainly a great way to celebrate the holidays…in case anyone needed an excuse
Sue (London, ON) on 23 Dec 2009 at 9:52 am #
Oh Julie! That squirrel story is hilarious!
I love the sounds of the chocolate wafer cookie log but I, like Carol SB & Manon are not quite sure I get it! But I think I’ll make the other version for sure. Thanks, as always and have a Very Merry Christmas!
Erica B. on 23 Dec 2009 at 10:13 am #
OOh you’re evil hehe I have nabisco chocolate wafers left from making chocolate ganache sandwich cookies. Now I have to make a Bûche de Noël.
For Manon and others… google icebox cakes – the base whether it’s a cake, log, wreath etc is all the same: cookies and whipping cream. Stack one with the other til you reach the desired size – this recipe breaks down each step (although I wouldn’t use a food processor to crush the candies they’d be dust in no time.):http://www.grouprecipes.com/sr/27150/icebox-peppermint-yule-log-cake/recipe/
Merry Christmas All!
Manon from Ontario on 23 Dec 2009 at 12:25 pm #
Hey thanks Erica, I found this link with procedure and pictures….enjoy gang.
http://www.chow.com/stories/11724
Have a Merry Christmas all
MFO
Debbie on 23 Dec 2009 at 12:30 pm #
That squirrel story is priceless. I always worry about this, as I often put baking sheets out on the back deck to freeze food during winter. Bunnies…
Andrea on 23 Dec 2009 at 2:58 pm #
I LOVE the whip cream and chocolate wafer “cake”. In fact, much to my mom’s sheer joy, it was my birthday cake request for many years. She really thought she hit the jackpot for the “easiest cake ever”.
Barb on 23 Dec 2009 at 3:32 pm #
I wish I would try to make a Yule Log one of these years but I never have. Mom used to make the chocolate wafer/whipped cream one once in a while and, as kids, we loved it. She never spiked the cream that I know of. That’s a really good idea.
malithi on 23 Dec 2009 at 5:05 pm #
I made a yule log this weekend! by the way…if anyone is looking for a yule log recipe on epicurious, you won’t find any unless you search “buche de noel.” It took me a while to figure out why the entire epicurious database had no “yule log” recipes =P
Saucy Cherie on 23 Dec 2009 at 5:44 pm #
[...] had already ordered weeks in advance and forked over our credit card when Dinner with Julie proposed the idea of tranforming an old fashioned wafer roll into a quick yule log. We nearly [...]
Anonymous on 24 Dec 2009 at 5:24 am #
just made around 4 different Yule Log’s ..love them for christmas… nice recipe..i did one with parline hazelnut with milk chocolate
Nice blog!!
Merry Christmas to All!!!
Hélène on 24 Dec 2009 at 12:29 pm #
Merry Christmas!
Robyn in Mountain (Ontario that is) on 24 Dec 2009 at 12:35 pm #
Julie, your stories are the best! And so are your recipes!! I love the coffee addition to the chocolate cookie log.
Merry Christmas!
ilovealbertabeets on 24 Dec 2009 at 3:59 pm #
hey julie,
I was given some of your sourdough starter as a Christmas party hostess gift, lol. I love that it is slowly oozing its way across the city.. so thanks for the Christmas present!
c
Natalie (Georgia) on 25 Dec 2009 at 3:15 pm #
Merry Christmas! Hope you and yours have a great celebration. Made your recipe for hummus and naan. I make the hummus all the time, but first time for naan – yummy! Also had my mom make your sugar cookies after her’s called for a 100 lbs of butter (well almost). They were crunchier than usual, but oh so good. And I figure I can eat more since they are lower in fat!
Lucy on 26 Dec 2009 at 10:02 am #
Merry Christmas! That log looks absolutely delectable (for people as well as squirrels
)!! Taking a non-traditional path, my family ended up eating berry crumble and playing poker on Christmas, good times 
Sarah G on 26 Dec 2009 at 7:05 pm #
Jelly roll was one of the first things we made in my high school home ec class. It is only a slight deviation to make a Yule Log. I haven’t made one since!
Logan on 29 Dec 2009 at 9:20 am #
This yule log looks delicious! We bought one (gasp!) around Christmas and it was quite dissapointing. I will have to try this, even though Christmas has passed. Thanks!!
Ashley on 03 Jan 2010 at 6:50 pm #
Hahaha love the squirrel/cake story!! The yule log looks so yummy.