Yule Log Cake (Bûche de Noël)

This Yule Log cake isn’t just for decoration. It is fantastically delicious. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was blown away by how light and delicious this dessert is. Great for Christmas when you have had a big dinner and want something that isn’t too heavy for dessert. Make this a new Christmas tradition at your house, it is amazing!

Old South Jelly Roll Cake
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

• For the cake:
• 4 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For the frosting:
• 5 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar)
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the sifted flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites into the egg mixture and pour the batter into a 15 by 10 by 1-inch jelly roll pan lined with waxed paper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cake is golden.

3. Loosen edges of cake, invert cake onto a towel dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Gently peel wax paper off cake. Trim 1/4-inch of hard crust off each long side of the jelly roll cake. Begin with the narrow side and roll the cake and towel up together. Cool cake on rack, seam side down, for 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Once cake has cooled, gently unroll and spread cake with chocolate frosting and re-roll. Cut off about 1/2 of the cake and slice that piece on a diagonal to make the exposed tree stumps. Top the cake with more frosting except for the exposed stumps. You want those unfrosted so you can see the pretty swirls of cake and frosting. Drag a fork through the frosting over the top and sides to get a tree bark effect and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Recipe from Food Network

Frosting Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

2. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Add the cocoa powder and mix until incorporated. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough. Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Recipe from Tasty Kitchen