Bûche de Noël – a Christmas/Yule Log Recipe

Baked to perfection with Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper, this delicious Bûche de Noël, or Christmas log recipe, is a real showstopper. It is a white swiss roll sponge filled with decadent chocolate cream and frosted with a rich dark chocolate icing; a festive recipe in collaboration with Bacofoil®

Bacofoil® – for all your festive cooking needs!

I love this time of year! I love getting creative with Christmas recipes, and I love the heavy scent of cinnamon spice and hot chocolate that wafts through the house. The fire is on all the time just now and it’s oh so cosy inside while the gales rage outdoors.

There’s a lot of baking happening right now!

Bacofoil® have sent me a bundle of products to take the hassle out of my Christmas cooking this year. Bacofoil® make life in the kitchen a little bit easier for us all with their range of Non-Stick and Turkey Roasting products.

This Christmas, they’ve got us covered with their Non-Stick Baking Paper – perfect for all my festive bakes, The Non-Stick Kitchen Foil for easy Christmas sides, keeping dishes warm and reheating them, as well as their The Turkey Roasting Tray and The Turkey Roasting Foil. 

I’ve used their Non-Stick Baking Paper to make a delicious Bûche de Noël.

What is a Bûche de Noël?

A Bûche de Noël, aka Yule log or Christmas log, is a French sweet roulade traditionally served at Christmas-time. It consists of a sponge cake, either plain white or chocolate, filled with a sweet icing or cream filling and then decorated on the outside with chocolate frosting made to resemble the texture of a log.

Sometimes, as I’ve done, the end of the cake is cut off and stuck to the side of the cake to look like a chopped-off branch.

It’s a traditional Christmas dessert often served in Canada, but it also makes an appearance on Christmas dessert tables in Belgium, Switzerland, Lebanon and here in the UK too.

Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper

A key component of making the best sponge cake for a Yule log like this is to use a good quality non-stick baking paper, like the one made by BacoFoil®.

The innovative non-stick structure of Bacofoil®Non-Stick Baking Paper, visible as little dimples on its surface, reduces the amount of surface area in contact with your bake, meaning that everything from cookies, cakes and doughs will bake evenly and slide effortlessly off the paper.

We always use Bacofoil®Non-Stick Baking Paper for cooking pizzas at home with a pizza steel – we’ve tried many other brands over the years, but Bacofoil® is the one we know we can trust not to stick to the pizza dough!

Bacofoil®Non-Stick Baking Paper is unbleached, made from responsible sources and its fully compostable too.

For this recipe, you will need…

Equipment

• Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper
• a 9 x 13 inch Swiss Roll baking tin 

Ingredients for the sponge cake

• 80 grams plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 eggs, separated
• 170 grams caster sugar
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

Ingredients for the chocolate cream filling

• 284 ml double cream
• 40 grams dark cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Ingredients for the chocolate frosting

• 110 grams butter, softened
• 250 grams icing sugar
• 50 grams dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp double cream
• pinch salt

To decorate

• red ready to roll icing
• green ready to roll icing

How to make Bûche de Noël sponge cake batter

1. Whisk together the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Sift over a little sugar and whisk until glossy.
2. Beat the egg yolks with the remaining caster sugar.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and add the egg yolk mixture.
4. Gently fold the flour and egg yolk mixture together.
5. Add the whipped egg whites.
6. Fold together gently until well combined, keeping as much air in the mixture as you can.

How to bake and roll up a Bûche de Noël sponge

1. Preheat your oven to 190 C/ 170 C fan/ 375 F/ Gas 5 and line your baking tin with Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper. Pour in the batter and level the top.
2. Bake for 12-15 minutes, and cool slightly.
3. Turn the sponge cake out onto another piece of Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper sprinkled with icing sugar.
4. Carefully peel back the Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper.
5. Trim a few millimetres off each side of the cake, and make a 1/4 inch cut on one of the short sides about 2.5 cm from the end.
6. Using the Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper, roll the cake up, from the short cut side, into a swiss roll shape and leave to cool completely. 

How to assemble and decorate a Bûche de Noël/Christmas Log 

1. Prepare your chocolate cream filling by whipping the double cream until it forms stiff peaks and folding in the cocoa powder, icing sugar and vanilla.
2. Prepare your chocolate frosting by beating together the icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and double cream until well combined and fluffy. You might need to add more cream to make it the right consistency.
3. Roll out your cooled sponge cake and spread with the chocolate cream filling. 
4. Using a piece of Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper, roll the sponge with the filling back up and chill until you want to decorate it.
5. Cover the outside of the cake with the chocolate frosting.
6. Decorate as desired!

Yule Log Decorating tips

• use the tines of a fork to create bark-like patterns in the chocolate frosting
• cut one of the ends off the sponge roll and stick to the side of the Yule Log with a little icing to resemble a sawn-off log
• dust the entire log with icing sugar to resemble snow
• melt some dark chocolate and pour out onto a non-stick surface to harden. Break the chocolate into shards of ‘bark’ and stick to the outside of the chocolate frosting.
• use red and green coloured ready-to-roll icing to make holly leaves and berries

Bacofoil® has been my go-to brand for years

I’ll be using Bacofoil® products again this Christmas. They take the hassle out of Christmas cooking, from the prep to the cook to the washing up.

Bacofoil® has been my go-to brand for years, and I’ll be using their range of products again this festive season to make Christmas dinner and a selection of desserts. We’re planning a big get-together this Christmas and New Year with friends: there will be 9 of us enjoying the festive period together, so there will be a lot of baking involved! When you’re cooking for that many people you want to know the products you’re using are reliable.  

Bacofoil® ticks all those boxes.

Bacofoil® – The Non-Stick Kitchen Foil

Bacofoil® The Non-Stick Kitchen Foil has a unique BacoLift® Surface on the non-shiny/dull side, which prevents food from sticking. It’s perfect for any of your Christmas sides, like my favourite sticky maple-syrup glazed Brussels sprouts! The food just slides right off the foil – no sticking, no cleaning, no worries!

It’s also fully recyclable and is suitable for cooking, baking, roasting and freezing.

Bacofoil® – The Turkey Roasting Tray 

The Turkey Roasting Tray is ideal for roasting the perfect Christmas turkey, without any of the fuss. This premium strength tray is the perfect size so you don’t need to worry about tears or spills in the oven. It holds in all the juices from the turkey helping to make the deliciously crispy, golden skin you want.

In addition, it’s an easy and fuss-free solution for cooking Christmas dinner, the tray will save time and effort – there’s no washing up! It’s fully recyclable, and you can store any leftover cooked turkey in the tray afterwards. Just cover with The Turkey Roasting Foil and pop it in the fridge for later!

Bacofoil® – The Turkey Roasting Foil 

The Turkey Roasting Foil is extra wide for protecting large roasts and sealing in flavours, especially when used in combination with The Turkey Roasting Tray. There’s no need to worry about running out of foil on the big day either – The Turkey Roasting Foil is 3m long and 60cm wide, big enough for the family turkey.

It is suitable for cooking both in the oven and grill and it is freezer friendly, perfect for any leftovers!

The foil is hassle-free as it saves on washing up and it is fully recyclable – making Christmas Day that little bit easier.

For more great recipe inspiration and content you can follow Bacofoil® on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for recipe inspiration and updates!

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This is a sponsored recipe post in collaboration with Bacofoil. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipes.