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La Bûche de Noël : A French Christmas Tradition

Updated: Dec 20, 2019



A traditional French dessert served after the main Christmas dinner is the Bûche de Noël, a roll of light sponge cake, filled with chocolate whipped cream and covered in chocolate ganache, textured to resemble bark as an evocation of the ancient tradition of burning the yule log.


Sometimes made more elaborate by molding the frosting to resemble a cut branch and decorating around it with meringue mushrooms, fresh berries, sprigs of fresh herbs, and chocolate truffle pine cones made with sliced almonds.


The origin of this tradition comes from the rather enormous and very dense log that was burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Christmas celebrations. It sometimes consisted of an entire tree trunk with one end burning inside the hearth while the rest of the trunk stuck out into the room. The log was specially selected for the occasion, originally to mark the winter solstice, and carried in the main room to provide maximum lasting and reassuring warmth. It must have been quite an event.


Nowadays every French home will have its Bûche de Noël in the form of the traditional cake made from a sponge cake, generally baked in a large, shallow pan, then rolled into a cylinder, frosted and decorated.


This week, Sister Myriam's French 3, 4 and AP classes were inspired to try making their very own creation? Here is their version of this traditional French dessert:


Click on the link below for a complete detailed recipe. to try at home.


Joyeux Noël



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