“…you will find it quite easy to do, for a bûche de Noël is merely a spongecake batter baked in a jelly-roll pan, rolled with a filling, and decorated log-fashion with…various woodsy trimmings.”- Julia Child (page 192, The French Chef Cookbook(1968) New York: Alfred A. Knopf)
At age 15, I saw Julia Child create this masterpiece on a rerun of The French Chef. I watched The French Chef as often as Sesame Street when I was a tot. Julia inspired my love of all things French- my fluency in conversational French by my senior year of high school, croissants, pâté, escargots, Pascal, pirouettes, pas de chats…
From my mother’s 1968 edition of The French Chef Cookbook, my first bûche de Noël was born.
Ever tried to follow a Julia Child recipe?
It’s a back-and-forth dance across many pages and recipes. With total devotion to my idol, I followed Julia’s recipe from the 73rd show.
But first, chocolate cake from the 68th show, not “merely spongecake”. Whip the egg whites, cool to tepid the chocolate melted in espresso coffee, then cut the batter into the egg whites.
Then meringue Italienne, ¼ cup for meringue mushrooms, the rest for crème au beurre à la meringue for frosting and filling.
Finally, “…an oiled broom handle between two chairs and plenty of newspapers on the floor” both draped with hot caramelized sugar which Julia suggests to form spun-sugar moss?
Not “quite easy to do”!
Over the years, my bûche has evolved.
Goal: slightly easier, less sweet version (just slightly!) with a more visually pleasing white filling.
Solution: orange ricotta filling and chocolate ganache top coat of the Italian cassata cake, and marzipan mushrooms.
My apologies for the deviation, Julia, but it is delicious!
Photo by SAM Steiner December 2020
