Bûche de Noël Recipe: The Pastry Chef’s Chocolate and Praliné Yule Log

MICHELIN STAR SERIES · CHRISTMAS

This bûche de Noël recipe is the Christmas cake we make every December in the pastry kitchen. A light chocolate sponge is rolled around a cloud of whipped hazelnut praliné ganache, wrapped in glossy dark chocolate ganache textured like bark, and finished with little meringue mushrooms. It looks spectacular on the table, yet every part can be made ahead — which is exactly what you want at Christmas.

A Short History of the Bûche de Noël

The Yule log cake recalls the old European custom of burning a large log through the Christmas period. In the nineteenth century, Parisian pâtissiers turned the log into a rolled sponge cake decorated like bark, and it has been the centrepiece of the French Christmas table ever since.

Bûche de Noël Recipe: Plan Your Timing

When	What to do
2 days before	Make the meringue mushrooms and the praliné ganache base (it needs a night in the fridge)
1 day before	Bake and roll the sponge, whip the ganache, fill, roll and chill. Make the ganache bark.
Christmas morning	Cover with ganache bark, decorate and keep cool

Ingredients

Serves 10–12. You need a 30 × 40 cm baking tray.

Whipped praliné ganache (make the day before)

• 110 g whipping cream, 35% fat (hot portion)
• 100 g milk chocolate
• 50 g hazelnut praliné (or smooth hazelnut paste)
• 260 g whipping cream, cold

Chocolate sponge (biscuit roulé)

• 200 g whole eggs (4)
• 100 g caster sugar
• 60 g plain flour
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 20 g butter, melted

Soaking syrup

• 60 g water
• 50 g caster sugar
• 10 g dark rum or 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Ganache bark

• 250 g whipping cream
• 25 g honey or glucose
• 250 g dark chocolate, 55–64%
• 30 g soft butter

Meringue mushrooms

• 60 g egg whites
• 60 g caster sugar
• 60 g icing sugar
• 20 g dark chocolate, melted, and cocoa powder to dust

Step 1: The Whipped Praliné Ganache

Bring the 110 g cream to the boil and pour it over the milk chocolate and praliné. Wait 1 minute, then blend until glossy. Blend in the 260 g cold cream, cover the surface with film and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. The rest is essential: the cocoa butter needs time to crystallise, or the ganache will not whip.

Step 2: Meringue Mushrooms

Whip the whites with the caster sugar to firm, glossy peaks, then fold in the sifted icing sugar. With a 10 mm plain tip, pipe round domes for the caps and small upright cones for the stems. Dust the caps lightly with cocoa and dry at 90 °C (fan 80 °C) for 1½–2 hours. Make a small hole under each cap, fill with melted chocolate and push in a stem. Store airtight.

Step 3: Bake and Roll the Sponge

1. Preheat the oven to 210 °C (fan 195 °C) and line the tray with parchment.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar at high speed until pale, tripled in volume and holding a thick ribbon — about 8 minutes.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa together and fold in gently in two additions. Fold in the melted butter.
4. Spread evenly over the tray and bake for 7–8 minutes, until it springs back when touched.
5. Immediately turn it onto a clean tea towel dusted with icing sugar, peel off the parchment and roll it up loosely from the long side, with the towel inside. Leave to cool rolled. This “memory roll” stops it cracking later.

Step 4: Fill and Roll

1. Boil the water and sugar for the syrup and cool; add the rum or vanilla.
2. Whip the cold praliné ganache on medium speed until it holds soft-firm peaks. Stop as soon as it does — it over-whips quickly.
3. Unroll the sponge, brush with syrup and spread the whipped ganache evenly, leaving 2 cm clear along the far edge.
4. Roll it up tightly, using the towel to help, and finish seam side down. Wrap in parchment and chill for at least 2 hours.

Step 5: Ganache Bark and Decoration

Heat the cream and honey to a simmer, pour over the chocolate and emulsify. At 35 °C stir in the butter. Leave at room temperature until thick and spreadable like soft butter, 1–2 hours.

Trim both ends of the roll at an angle and place one offcut on top or on the side as a ‘branch’. Spread the ganache all over, then drag a fork along the length to create bark lines. Finish with meringue mushrooms, sugared cranberries, rosemary and a dusting of icing sugar for snow.

Common Mistakes

• The sponge cracks when rolling: it was over-baked or rolled cold. Bake only until it springs back, and roll it while hot.
• Grainy filling: the ganache was over-whipped or not rested overnight.
• Ganache too runny to make bark: wait — it thickens as it cools. Never chill it, or it sets unevenly.
• Sticky meringue mushrooms: humidity. Dry them longer and store with a sachet of silica gel.

Variations

• Chestnut bûche: replace the praliné with 80 g sweetened chestnut cream — see our Mont Blanc dessert for the chestnut technique.
• Raspberry and dark chocolate: spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the sponge before the ganache.
• Pistachio: use white chocolate and pistachio paste in the whipped ganache.
• Saffron and cardamom: infuse a pinch of saffron and 3 crushed cardamom pods in the hot cream for a Middle Eastern twist.

Storage

The finished bûche keeps for 3 days in the fridge, loosely covered. Take it out 30 minutes before serving so the ganache softens and shines. The filled, un-iced roll freezes well for up to 1 month.

Planning a full holiday dessert table? See our Michelin Star Thanksgiving desserts and our Dubai chocolate bar recipe — a perfect edible gift.

---