Bûche de Noël

Bûche de Noël: Step by Step

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Line a 33 x 23 cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper.

   Mark done

2. Whisk the yolks with 100 g of the sugar for 4 minutes until pale and ribbon-forming, then whisk in the vanilla.

   Mark done Start 4 min timer

3. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt over and fold in gently.

   Mark done

4. In a clean bowl, whisk the whites to soft peaks, add the remaining 50 g sugar and whisk to firm, glossy peaks.

   Mark done

5. Stir a third of the whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two additions.

   Mark done

6. Spread into the tin, level, and bake 12 to 14 minutes until springy and just pulling from the sides.

   Mark done Start 12 min timer

7. Lay a clean tea towel on the worktop and scatter it with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Turn the hot sponge onto it, peel off the paper, and roll it up from the short end with the towel inside. Leave rolled until completely cold, at least 1 hour.

   Mark done

8. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and rum to soft peaks. Unroll the sponge, spread the cream to within 2 cm of the edges, and re-roll without the towel.

   Mark done

9. For the ganache, heat the cream to a bare simmer, pour it over the chocolate, wait 2 minutes, then stir from the middle outwards until glossy. Beat in the butter and cool until spreadable, about 40 minutes.

   Mark done Start 40 min timer

10. Cut a diagonal slice off one end and set it against the side as a branch. Coat the whole thing in ganache, drag a fork along it to make bark, chill 2 hours, and dust with icing sugar before serving.

    Mark done

Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

What Can Go Wrong

1. Roll it hot. A cold sponge will crack every time, and no amount of ganache hides the crack.
2. Cool the ganache properly. Warm ganache slides off and cold ganache tears the sponge.
3. Any crack that does appear becomes a knot in the bark. Nobody will know.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

A Little Background

A roulade cracks because the sponge sets in a flat shape and is then bent. Rolling it while hot, inside a sugared towel, forces the crumb to set curved, and unrolling it later to fill costs nothing because it has already taken the shape. The sponge itself is a whisked genoise with no butter and very little flour, which keeps it flexible; a creamed sponge would be too short to bend at all.

To Go With It

A glass of Banyuls · Black coffee · Poached pears

Storing Leftovers

Refrigerated for 3 days; bring to cool room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. It freezes whole for 1 month.

Questions People Ask

Bûche de Noël Nutrition

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted; garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. How the figures are worked out.

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Your own rating out of 5

5 stars★ 4 stars★ 3 stars★ 2 stars★ 1 star★

Your note

Save note

Private to you: notes and ratings are saved in this browser only, are never sent anywhere, and other readers cannot see them.