French Market Recipe 2023 43
Buche de Noel
Christmas LogIngredients
Sponge cake
Buche de Noel
Christmas LogIngredients
Sponge cake
- 100gr fine sugar
- 250gr flour
- 8 eggs
Filling
- 250g Unsalted butter at room temperature
- 6 eggs
- 250gr sugar
- 500ml water
- 20 ml cognac
- 2 table spoons cocoa powder
Directions to make the sponge cake
- Preheat oven to 200C
- Sift the flour
- Separate 6 eggs – keeping the egg yolks on one side
- Whisk the 6 eggs whites until stiff
- Whisk together 2 whole eggs, 6 egg yolks and the sugar until very frothy.
- Beat in the flour until fully blended in
- Fold in the stiff egg whites, lifting mixture high as you do this
- Line a baking tray with baking paper or thick greaseproof paper
- Layer the cake mixture across the tray to a bit more than ½ cm thickness
- Place the cake mixture in the oven and bake for 8 minutes
- Place a clean dish cloth on a flat surface
- Remove the cake from the oven and turn out carefully onto the clean cloth
- Remove the baking paper and carefully roll up the cake in the cloth length ways, like a swiss roll, allow to cool
Directions to make the filling
- Cut soft butter into small pieces
- Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes, allow to cool
- Separate the eggs and whisk together the 6 egg yolks
- Slowly drizzle in the syrup to the yolks, whisking all the time
- Add the butter in bit by bit to egg mixture, whisking all the time
- Whisk in the cognac slowly
Preparing the buche:
- Carefully unroll the sponge cake
- Spread some of the butter cream filling across the surface
- Roll up the cake and cover the outside with the rest of the cream
- Use a fork to make ridged lines the length of the cake to look like the outside of a log
- Slice each end at an angle to look like a cut log
- Finely dust the outsideof a log with cocoa powder
- Decorate the log with marzipan treats shaped like mushrooms or little birds or animals
Serve with a glass of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne from the French Market shop in Cape Town or order online with us.
Bon Appétit