Bûche de Noël and a Giveaway!!

Bûche de Noël. You’ve probably heard of it before. A traditional French log-shaped Christmas cake. Everything about this cake is just delicious, beautiful and fun. If you've ever been curious about making this cake, hopefully this recipe will encourage you to go ahead and do it. Is it hard? well, not really. It just has several elements and also depends on the decoration. The crazier you go, the longer it will take. I do this cake once a year for Christmas so YES, I go crazy but what I do is I divide the work in 2 days. One day I make all the mushrooms and the snowman, which is really the most meticulous part and the next day I do the jelly roll and the filling.

 A lot of people like to fill it with ganache which is delicious but I choose to fill it and cover it with dulce de leche and chocolate buttercream. It came out really delicious and a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine goes really well with it!   

Now onto the giveaway! 

Sneakpeeq is giving away 20% off your next purchase just for entering, plus a chance at the Grand Prize: two winners will be picked to receive a $25 sneakpeeq gift card to use on your favorite food, style and home products. Five runners-up prize winners will receive a $10 gift card—that goes a long way in sneakpeeq’s amazingly low-priced boutiques!

Come see all the things you love but haven’t discovered.

Enter the giveaway by doing two simple things: click HERE and join sneakpeeq and answer the following question: What's your favorite dessert? 

All winners will be announced on 12/26/2011

Good Luck! 

Winners Announced  
$25 winners:

Nico Le
Kristen Seikaly $10 winners: Audris Lau Jesica Juventia Edisanto Kaylie Kinney Michaela Dunajská Kiko Hernandez

Congratulations! Please claim your prize at deliciousshots@gmail.com

For the cake:

4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar 

3/4 cup cake flour, sifted

2 once butter, melted and cooled slightly 

cocoa powder

Preheat the oven 350 F. Grease a jelly roll pan (17 by 12 inches) and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and flour the bottom and sides of the pan, knocking out the excess.  We first need to make a meringue. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whip attachment, beat the egg whites on low, gradually add the sugar and raise the speed to high, beat for about 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and using a rubber spatula, carefully fold them into the meringue. Fold the cake flour into the meringue and last fold the cooled melted butter. Carefully pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out into an even layer. Bake the cake for 5 minutes, rotate the pan and continue to bake for another 7 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly touched. While the cake is baking, place a clean kitchen towel on a work surface. Place coco power in a sieve and generously dust the kitchen towel evenly. 

When the cake is done, immediately flip it into the prepare kitchen towel. Remove the pan and gently peel off the parchment paper. Carefully start rolling the cake from the long end into a tight spiral. Keep the cake rolled until it's completely cooled and really to be filled.

Dulce de leche Buttercream:

1 sticks of butter, softened 

8oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup dulce de leche

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese together until creamed. Add the dulce the leche and mix until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and salt and mix for 3 minutes more.  

For the mushrooms find recipe HERE and for the snowman, just stack 3 mushroom meringue caps and insert a toothpick in the center to hold the three together. 

To assemble:

Gently unfold the cake and using an offset spatula, lightly coat the surface of the cake with a thin layer 

of buttercream. With the help of the kitchen towel, carefully re-roll the cake into a tight roll. Transfer the cake to a serving platter before continue with the decoration. Using a serrated knife, cut 1 inch off one of the ends of the log and place the end end piece cut side up on top of the log ("glue" it to the log with some buttercream) to resemble cut brunch. Using the offset spatula, cover the entire log including the ends with buttercream. With the help of a fork, score the log in long even lines to resemble tree bark. Decorate the cake with mushrooms meringues and the snowman (this is the fun part so enjoy it!) and last but not least, let it snow!! dust the cake with confectioners' sugar!!