Of all the desserts linked to holiday traditions, my favorite to make is the b?che de no?l. In France, the Yule log cake is traditionally served at the end of Christmas Eve dinner. A simple jelly roll, filled, frosted and decorated to look like a log; it references traditions much older than Christmas. Along with ham, holly, mistletoe, pine boughs, candles and the decorated tree, this cake references pre-Christian northern European practices related to the winter solstice. Yule, related to the word for yellow in many Germanic languages, is derived from the old English word ‘geol.,’ and a cognate of the Old Norse, ‘jol,’ a winter festival that in some areas lasted twelve days. This is also where the word jolly comes from. The large bonfires of modern pagan festivities commemorate ancient celebrations of the longest night of the year and the cycle of the sun. Burning a very large log during the 12 days of Christmas was a longstanding French tradition that waned sometime during the nineteenth century. I’ve found references to Napoleon making it illegal in order to preserve people’s health in apartment buildings in Paris and to the fact that the French had by then cut down most of the very big trees from which this type of log could be cut. I’ve also seen lamentations over the fact that once people weren’t so dependant on fire anymore and alternate methods of heating one’s house and cooking one’s food were available, people no longer had the same respect for fire. Whatever the reason, once the actual logs and rituals related to the hearth were no longer widely practiced, a simulacrum in the form of a pastry was invented. With this dessert, the winter solstice is incorporated into the Christmas feast and the log is consumed not by fire, but by one’s party guests.

Bring up the b?che de no?l with a group of French people and a discussion inevitably ensues. If there happens to be a person from Provence in the group, they will explain cacho fio, proven?al for ‘light the fire.’ A real log in a real fireplace is still at the center of Christmas Eve tradition in that area of the country. French people from other areas will have an earnest discussion about what fillings are the best, which pastry shops make the best b?che, and there is inevitably debate about whether or not to use cr?me de marron, chestnut cream, as the filling, and discussion about the new fad for yule log ice cream cakes. All the French people I know agree that the latter is a modern abomination, invented for lazy people who would rather buy something in the freezer section of the grocery store than make special trips to the bakery to first pre-order their cake and then to pick it up on Christmas eve. This part of the discussion can turn into the lamentation over loss of culinary knowledge, the lack of respect for traditions and general grumbling about modern life. Americans gripe about not having enough time. The French whine about not having enough time to cook, eat and drink. The French people I know who live in the U.S. complain that you can’t find these cakes in the pastry shops in the United States. “Why not make one?” I ask. In return, I get bemused smirks or outright open eyed stares. My French friend and colleague, Mercedes, asserts, “French people don’t have to make cakes, that’s what the p?tisserie is for, we could never make things as good as the pastry chefs, they spend their lives learning how to make things like that.” She has a point. And she has a large collection of gu-gus, the plastic people (Santa Claus, gnomes), animals (mostly reindeer) and objects (trees, a saw, a hatchet, etc.) that the b?che is usually decorated with and she is happy to share them with me.

My own b?che making began when I first started my career as a French professor. I wanted to have a party at the end of the Fall semester to thank my students for all of their hard work, to cook them some food that would be better than what they ate in the cafeteria and to share some of my knowledge about the importance of food in French culture. When I talked about the b?che to my husband, Erik, he handed me his copy of Julia Child’s, The French Chef Cookbook, where I got the decorating ideas and an amazing recipe for chocolate meringue butter cream that can be modified with different flavors and fillings. This frosting is plush and silky and can be made with semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, depending on your preference. Cook’s Illustrated published a very good jelly roll cake recipe in January/February 1994 as the base for their Raspberry Charlotte Royale that I have modified somewhat over the last few years. It’s a moist, light sponge cake with very little flour and no butter, the perfect contrast for the richness of the frosting that holds up well when rolled.

The ingredients and procedure in this recipe are fairly simple. There are several components to the cake, though, and the directions for the cake itself, the frosting and the decorating might seem too long and complicated, but don’t let this throw you off. You can make the frosting while the cake is in the oven and do the decorating a couple of hours later when they’ve both had a chance to cool. I’m giving here a fairly plain version and suggestions for alternate flavors and fillings at the end. Once you see the idea behind the decorating, you can imagine all sorts of different fillings and flavorings. One piece of advice, don’t try making this with anything other than a chocolate frosting. I tried a vanilla butter cream one year, because that’s what I like, and I decorated it with a heavy dusting of cocoa powder. The overwhelming consensus was against anything other than chocolate. I find it easier to let chocolate lovers proselytize their chocolate love and make like I have converted to their side. Now when I make this cake, I just fiddle with flavorings that go with chocolate. Besides, it’s easier to believe in the cake as log when the color is such a nice velvety brown.

Jelly roll cake

• 5/8 cup cake flour
• 1/8 cup cornstarch
• 4 large eggs at room temperature, separated
• Pinch of salt
• 10 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 T all-purpose flour for pan
• Parchment paper
• Cooking spray

Place oven rack at low position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a jelly roll pan with cooking spray, line it with parchment paper, spray again and flour it. Sift flour and cornstarch together into a small bowl. Beat the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer with the whip attachment, or in a bowl using electric beaters, at moderate speed for about 2 minutes until they begin to foam. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of the sugar, beating mixture constantly until it is stiff.

In another bowl, beat yolks with remaining 4 tablespoons sugar until thick and light in color, stopping to scrape down the bowl once or twice. Add vanilla. Beat on medium-high until mixtures forms flat ribbons, about 5 minutes.

Fold 1/3 of egg whites into yolk mixture. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup dry ingredients over batter and fold in gently. Repeat until all of the egg whites and dry ingredients are incorporated to form a light, smooth batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth batter with a rubber spatula and bake until just golden and edges of cake pull away from pan, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not over bake or cake will dry out and fall apart when you try to roll it.

Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar over a kitchen towel large enough to hold the cake. When you remove the cake from the oven, immediately turn it out onto the towel and peel away the paper. Use a serrated knife to cut away any crisp edges from all four sides of the cake. Fold one end of the towel over a short end of the cake and roll the cake up in the towel. Set the cake rolled up in the towel on a rack to cool.

Meringue italienne: sugar-syrup meringue

• 3 egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 t cream of tartar
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water

Place sugar and water in a saucepan over high heat, swirl pan gently, do not stir, until sugar has dissolved and liquid is clear. Cover pan and boil rapidly without stirring for a minute or so. The condensing steam will wash down the sides of pan and prevent the formation of crystals. Uncover pan when bubbles begin to thicken and boil until the soft ball stage, about 238 degrees.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer with the whip attachment, or in a bowl using electric beaters, at moderate speed for about 2 minutes until they begin to foam. Add salt and cream of tartar and beat on high until egg whites form stiff peaks.

Beat egg whites on low pouring hot sugar syrup in a thin stream. Once all the syrup is added, turn mixer to high and beat until the bowl is almost cool, about 5 minutes. It will be shiny smooth and form stiff peaks. Reserve 1/2 cup meringue for the mushrooms.

Cr?me au beurre ? la meringue: meringue butter cream

• 2 cups (12 oz.) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli), melted
• 2 T rum or whisky
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 2 sticks (1 lb.) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

Beat melted chocolate into meringue mixture. Gradually beat in butter. Add rum or whisky and vanilla. Chill for about 45 minutes until it is spreadable. You can make this a day ahead of time and bring it almost up to room temperature before using.

Meringue mushrooms

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup reserved meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a large tip with a round hole. Pipe out rounds for mushroom caps and longer pointed cones for stems. Bake in 200 degree oven for 50 or 60 minutes until mushrooms are dry but still white. To assemble, use a small paring knife to carve out the bottom of the mushroom caps. Using a toothpick, put a little of the frosting and then insert a mushroom stem into the hole. Decorate around and on the cake. Use a wire mesh sieve to sprinkle a little cocoa on the mushrooms to make them look more real.

To fill, frost and decorate the log

• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 t cocoa powder

Unroll the cake and spread half of the butter cream over it in a thin layer. Roll up the cake. You can do this step up to one day ahead of time and wrap and chill the cake.

To frost the cake, place it on your serving dish seam side down. I use a cutting board covered in aluminum foil or red or green foil wrapping paper. Cut off one end at a diagonal to make it look like a sawed off log. Stick the cut off piece on top of the cake with frosting to make it look like a sawed off branch. Place strips of parchment paper under all four edges of cake to keep the frosting from getting on the serving dish. Use an icing spatula to cover the cake with frosting. Drag a pastry comb over the entire cake to make the frosting look like bark. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Decorate cake with meringue mushrooms and use a wire mesh sieve to sprinkle powdered sugar over everything to make it look like snow.

Variations

Apricot: instead of rum or whisky, add 2 T apricot brandy to frosting and spread the cake with 1/4 cup warmed apricot preserves before filling the cake. This is my favorite flavor with chocolate.

Pear: instead of rum or whisky, add 2 T poire William to frosting. Peel two very ripe pears and pur?e them in a food processor until smooth. Cook the pear pur?e with 1 T sugar and the juice of 1/2 lemon until it thickens slightly. Let cool before spreading on cake before filling. This may sound like a strange combination, but it is excellent.

Chestnut: instead of rum or whiskey, add 2 T cognac to frosting. To one cup of frosting, add 1/2 cr?me de marron or chestnut spread and use it to fill the cake. Bonne Maman brand is the best.

Chocolate mousse filling: whip 1/4 cup heavy cream until very stiff and fold it into one cup of frosting to use as the filling.

Chocolate mousse filling: whip 1/4 cup heavy cream until very stiff and fold it into one cup of frosting to use as the filling.

Cake recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated January/February, 1994.
Meringue and butter cream adapted from Julia Child, The French Chef Cookbook