A Holiday Treat: Patisserie Patrice’s Buche de Noel

Happy Holidays! The halls have been decked and the jingle bells are ringing–the quaint little towns that make up our cozy Eastern Shore are aglow with holiday spirit and everyone seems to be baking up a storm!

Here in Easton, we just can’t get enough of Patisserie Patrice’s Buche de Noel! Probably one of the most adorable Christmas cakes ever, the Buche de Noel can be traced all the way back to Celtic times when burning the trunk of a large tree celebrated the rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice. By the Middle Ages, this tradition had evolved into a ceremony where a yule log was decorated with ribbons, carried into the house and burned in the fireplace all night long. And get this–Napoleon Bonaparte issued a proclamation stating that Parisians must keep their chimneys closed in winter to keep the “dangerous” cold air from entering their homes and making them sick. Unable to use their fireplaces, the French created this dessert as a reminder of the warm, welcoming hearth around which the family would have gathered during the holiday celebrations.

Now these traditional Christmas cakes can be found on the tables of families all over the world. Made using a moist sponge cake called genoise, rolled and the frosted with ganache or butter cream (YUM) and textured to produce a bark-like appearance, the cake is finally decorated with snow like powdered sugar, meringue mushrooms, and cheerful sprigs of holly to produce the charming effect of a winter woodland scene.

Get in touch with Patisserie Patrice’s very own Trish King at patisseriep@gmail.com to pick one for your holiday table! Trish’s recipe is below for any up for giving it a try!

MESW wishes you all the best of holidays, the love of family and friends and the happiest of New Years!!

Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients:

All available at Earth Origins Market in Easton

• 4 Large eggs
• 1 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 8 oz dark chocolate melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp xanthan gum (available at Acme)
• 1 cup brown rice flower
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1 tbls baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 cup milk

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Grease parchment paper with butter
• Place eggs in large mixing bowl, Beat on HIGH using electric mixer with WHISK attachment.
• Add sugar and vanilla while continuing to beat on HIGH until mixture is creamy.
• Combine Flour, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl. stir or sift ingredients for thorough mixing
• Gently fold dry ingredients into egg-sugar mixture, fold milk and oil
• Use a spatula to scrape cake batter into prepared baking sheet
• Bake in Preheated oven for 10 minutes or until cake begins to pull away from pan edges
• Allow cake to cool COMPLETELY
• Invert cake with parchment paper still on the bottom, onto a large sheet of waxed paper
• lightly dust with powdered sugar
• peel the parchment paper from cooled cake
• Your cake is ready to fill with butter cream ( spread on one side of flat cake)
• Roll the cake Jelly Roll style with the butter cream on the inside.
• Frost outside with  Chocolate buttercream and recreate bark texture using a fork or spatula