Bûche de Noël, or Yule log cake, is a typical Christmas dessert in France. The outside is decorated like a log, with chocolate frosting “bark” and “mushrooms” made of baked meringue. Inside is a jelly-roll type cake, swirled with a creamy filling.
It’s kind of a fussy dessert by American standards, as it contains several recipes within a recipe. To save time, I let my students make a miniature version, using store-bought cakes and frosting. It’s a kid-friendly way to make an iconic French recipe in a fraction of the time and effort.
Ingredients
- Little Debbie Swiss Rolls snack cakes
- Can of chocolate frosting
- Candy decorations: trees, presents, sprinkles, red & green gumdrops
- Powdered sugar
Directions
- Remove a Swiss roll from the package and cover with chocolate frosting.
- Run a fork through the frosting to resemble tree bark.
- Decorate with candies of choice.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar “snow.” Bon appetit !
Gumdrop Roses
- Sprinkle a work surface with granulated sugar.
- With a rolling pin, roll out red and green gumdrops into long, flat ovals. Sprinkle the tops with sugar as needed to prevent sticking.
- Starting at the long end, roll up a red gumdrop tightly, to form the center of a rose.
- Continue adding red “petals” around the outside of the center.
- Squeeze the base of the candies as you go to make them stick together.
- Cut out pointed leaves from the flattened green gumdrops.
- Arrange the rose on the frosting and add the leaves.
