Buche de Noel

[Risa]

What's your favourite version (flavours, decorations, etc.)?

I usually make a couple of yule logs each Christmas: one to bring to a pot luck and another to bring to work or to give to someone. I've used pretty much the same formula (inspired by Canadian Living or Chatelaine) with variations for the last five years or so. It's a chocolate genoise filled with a mascarpone mousse and covered with a dark chocolate ganache. I decorate with marzipan mushrooms and holly, icing sugar and real ribbon. I think I'll probably do meringue mushrooms this year because it's cheaper, but I do love playing with that marzipan. The flavours of the cake and filling tend to change each year depending on my budget and what liquers I have available. My faves have been Frangelico and Grand Marnier (not in the same cake). For whatever reason, this cake always has a light, melt-in-your-mouth quality even if I use different recipes for the genoise and the filling. I can easily eat half on my own!

[angrychef]

I usually use a dark chocolate chiffon sheet or plain yellow chiffon and fill with chocolate mousse or French coffee buttercream. Finish with ganache and the usual trimmings of meringue mushrooms, moss and poinsettias.

[W.DeBord]

I tend to make the same cake and filling each year (on of the few traditions for me)....chocolate chiffon sheet with light rum buttercream filling, chocolate rum buttercream frosting (but always very light on the rum). To decorate, marzipan pine cones and meringue mushrooms.

Although most of you hate this name (Martha) she did a white version of the yule log last year (I think>)...that looked rather nice.

Also someone (maybe Medrich's new book) had mocha mushrooms, thought that looked wonderful!...got a mental bookmark on that.

[shroomgirl]

chocolate sponge with whipped cream filling and ganauche
frosting....piped on Happy Holidays and scored with a cake comb

I've done a pecan roll with hard praline broken into the bourbon hinted butter cream, soft cream cheese added to the buttercream for the frosting...sugar strands and meragine shrooms as garnish

I always make a branch.

[bakerchik]

last year was the first year i made a buche de noel. It was part of my senior project and my French teacher gave me her recipe, a little skeptical that I could accomplish it myself. It was a chocolate sponge cake with a mocha buttercream and whipped cream filling. I put more mocha buttercream on the outside with the fork tines to represent tree bark. On the buttercream I sprinkled chocolate sprinkles, which was a nice touch. And when I brought in the log of christmas to school, everyone loved it and my teacher was jealous because it looked twice as good as hers do! Merry Christmas...11 more days!

[Shimmer]

Where I work, we have a lady who makes the Buche de Noel from spongecake, and makes several varieties. The one I want is white sponge cake, spread thinly with chocolate ganache and a mocha icing. She also makes a cute stump thing by slicing about an inch off the end and sticking it on the top before icing the whole thing.

Yum!!

~~Shimmer~~