La Bûche de Noël.

[pamsblau]

Merry Christmas, guys!!!

May you have the most wonderful time ever. I wish you to be healthy, wealthy and wise! Hee, hope you find lots of presents under the Christmas tree .

 I have some presents .I'll post one now and the other one tomorrow( i have to open my gifts first, no offence).
I made a little something for my beta abriata .
I think you love nature just guessing from your lj and i think you like cats as well because you have one. Sorry if i am wrong. Hope you like this as well.




Anyway, i was busy all  day, making La Bûche de Noël. Whoa--?  You ask. Yeah, that was my first initial reaction too. Well, no, actually it wasn't because i'm learning french.

Some of you might have not heard of it. I, myself found about it this month. It's a french dish and it looks yummilicious. I'll post some pictures of what i came  up with tomorrow ( again after i open my goodies). Here's a receipt and some history. If you want just skip the history part and jump right into the chocolaty goodness. I know, i did.

Applauded as one of the best traditional French desserts, Buche de Noel, also known as Yule Log serves a great alternative for Christmas cake. An easy to make at home, this creativity from French bakers can make an excuse for party time. Here are the few recipes of Buche de Noel…

Christmas holidays are occasions to enjoy, occasions to celebrate with delicious cake. Buche de Noel also known as Yule Log, a cake, is one of the best served traditional French desserts.

History:
One of the famous stories behind this French dessert is that the great Napoleon Bonaparte of France issued a proclamation stating houses in Paris to keep their chimneys closed during the winter because of the cool air that caused medical problems. This prohibited Parisians to use their fireplaces. But ingenious French bakers then invented this dessert as a symbolic substitution around which the family could gather for story-telling and other holiday happiness.

The origins of this most well-known French pastry can be found in the ancient Celtic tradition of celebrating the winter solstice. On this shortest day of the year, the Celts would search for a large trunk of either oak, beech, elm or cherry and burn it as a symbol of the rebirth of the sun, they also offered their thanks to the sun for recurring to the earth.

During the middle Ages the logs and the ceremony of the burning log became more detailed. The logs themselves would be decorated with ribbons and greenery. Then the youngest and the oldest member of each family would carry the log to the hearth and set it in flames for the whole night. The vestiges would be collected the next day to be used for the whole year. They were thought to help cure various sicknesses and protect the house from the wickedness of the evil spirit. As days past it changed to small logs and then served as a dessert to the guest.

Buche de Noel is well garnished and so well presented like a log just to be ready for the fire. This traditional desert is generally made from other sponge cake, filled with butter cream. Sometimes, even chocolate cakes are also cherished. Bûches are often served with cake cut off from one side, set on top of the cake to resemble a chopped off branch and bark-like texture is often produced in the butter cream for further realism. Tree branches, chorus, mushrooms made of meringue, fresh berries, and powdered sugar to have an effect of snow are most commonly used decorative style with traditional value.

Ingredients:
4 separated eggs, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, a pinch of cream of tartar, 3/4 cup cake of sifted flour.
For the frosting: 1 cup of whipping cream, 10 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate, 2 Tablespoons of rum.

Preparation:
The shelf in the middle of the oven should be preheated to 375°F. And apply smear to the bottom of a 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan and stripe with parchment paper. Place the eggs yolks into a big bowl. Take away 2 tablespoons of sugar from 3/4 cup measure and set to one side. Thrash the remaining sugar and eggs mutually until pale. Again thrash in vanilla.

In another clean bowl, thrash the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until they seize spongy peak. Add the set aside sugar and continue thrashing until the whites are lustrous and seize rigid peak. Segregate the flour in semi and smoothly crease it into the egg mix in 2 batches. Add 1/4 of egg whites into the batter to ease the mix. Crease the lasting whites. Pour the batter into the pan and spread it consistently into the corners with a metal off-set spatula and then bake 15 minutes.

At the same time as the cake is baking, spread a dishtowel flat and place a piece of parchment paper, on top of the towel. Spray the paper with some sugar. Turn upside down the cake onto the paper and carefully unwrap off the lining paper. Gradually, roll up the cake with the paper inside, and starting from a short side. Wrap the towel around the cake, set on a rack and let cooling.

Filling:
Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer and pour it above the chocolate. Beat until it melts. With an electric mixer, hit the chocolate until it is downy and has thickened to a scattering reliability. Take 1/3 of chocolate into another bowl and beat in with the rum. While the cake is cooled, unroll it. Spread the rum-flavored chocolate consistently above the surface.

Roll the cake up again, using the paper to help go it forward. Cut off about 1/4 of the cake at a slant. Lay it alongside of the larger piece of cake, to look like a branch from a tree trunk. Spread the remaining chocolate mixture over the rest of the cake. Using a fork, press the back side of the tines against the chocolate and evenly drag from side to side to look like bark.

Serving:
The cake can be prepared and stored with an enclosed in the refrigerator. Add some decorations of sprigs of holly, or other figurines, before serving. Powder it with confectioner's sugar to look like snow.

So, this Christmas, enjoy the cake with French traditional value and satisfy your tantalizing buds!