Spell Crafts - Bake a Yule Log Cake

Copyright © 2011 Gray Seal
A Yule log Cake is a traditional dessert served near Yule/Christmas, especially in Belgium, France, Quebec and several former French colonies. Made of sponge cake to resemble a miniature actual Yule log, it is a form of sweet roulade.

The original Yule log cake recipe emerged during the 19th century. It is traditionally made from a genoise, generally baked in a large, shallow Swiss roll pan, iced, rolled to form a cylinder, and iced again on the outside. The most common combination is basic yellow sponge cake and chocolate buttercream, though many variations which include chocolate cake, ganache, and icings flavored with espresso or liqueurs exist.

A Yule Log Cake

Yule log cakes are often served with one end cut off and set atop the cake, or protruding from its side to resemble a chopped off branch. A bark-like texture is often produced by dragging a fork through the icing, and powdered sugar sprinkled to resemble snow. Other cake decorations may include actual tree branches, fresh berries, and mushrooms made of meringue or marzipan.

The name bûche de Noël originally referred to the Yule log itself, and was transferred to the dessert only after the custom had fallen out of use, presumably during the first half of the 20th century. By 1945 it referred to the cake:

Prep time: 40 minutes with assembly.
Bake time: 10 min.

Ingredients:
* 4 eggs (these have to be at room temperature)
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup cake flour (sifted before measuring)

Cake Directions:

Butter a 10 X 15 inch jelly roll pan. Line with parchment paper and butter that as well. Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a mixer (a hand mixer and sturdy deep bowl work as well), beat the eggs until they are very thick and light colored (this takes about 7 minutes). Continue beating and add the sugar in 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each spoonful to mix in before continuing with the next. Beat in the vanilla as well.

Stop the mixer and sift 1/2 cup sifted cake flour on top of the batter. Using a spatula, gently stir the flour into the batter. Sift the final 1/2 cup flour on top and then very gently fold this into the batter. You want to stop as soon as all the flour is integrated into the batter. This will give you a light and airy cake.

Pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for just 10 minutes. Do not overbake or the cake will be too stiff to roll witout breaking.

As soon as you take it out of the oven, turn the cake out onto a clean dishtowel (I've seen people recommend that you put powdered sugar on the dishtowel so that it doesn't stick, but I don't find this necessary). Remove the parchment paper and allow the cake to cool for a couple of minutes. While it is still warm, roll the cake up from one of its short ends with the dishtowel inside (this way the cake gets used to being rolled and won't tear when you fill it and roll it back up). Allow the cake to cool completely.

Unroll the cake, and spread about 1/2 of the chocolate buttercream (recipe below) evenly on top. Carefully roll the cake back up and neatly place on your serving dish, seam side down.

Optional: To enhance the yule log effect, cut off the ends at an angle and use these to create stubs on the log (they're supposed to look like cut off branches), attaching them with some buttercream.

Frost the outside of the log and, using a fork, trace irregular lines in the frosting to give it a woody effect. Refrigerate the cake for 20 minutes to set the frosting, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow it to "age" in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Before serving, decorate your cake however you wish. I'm sure you have some cute little Yule ornaments that will do the job. In France you might find Santa Claus, an ax or a saw, mushrooms (made from meringue), or elves dancing on the cake.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
* 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting Directions

Whip the butter in your mixer until it is light and creamy. Sift together the sugar, cocoa and salt and add this to the butter. Beat until well mixed then add the vanilla and buttermilk. Beat until very smooth. This makes just the right amount of buttercream for the yule log cake recipe above.

Gemstone and Crystal Magic: A Modern Witch's Guide to Using Stones for Spells, Amulets, Rituals, and Divination by Gerina Dunwich.

A witch-friendly guide to working magic with gemstones and crystals.

The energy contained within stones is a mysterious and invisible power as old as the earth itself. It is also an energy that, when properly harnessed, can enable a person to create powerful magic and reconnect with energies that animate the natural world.

Gemstone and Crystal Magic is a practical and comprehensive guide to the magical world of crystals and gemstones, including both precious and semiprecious stones. Written by a modern witch with firsthand knowledge of the occult properties of stones, this book is filled with numerous spells and rituals, folklore, and magical correspondences. It also explores gemstone curses and cures, and the many ways in which gemstones can be utilized as amulets for magical workings, as oracles for revealing the future, and as tools for healing one's body, mind, and spirit.

Gemstone and Crystal Magic: A Modern Witch's Guide to Using Stones for Spells, Amulets, Rituals, and Divination by Gerina Dunwich

Often Bought With This Item:

* You Can Be A Kitchen Witch: Embrace the Magick of the Kitchen and Awaken Your Inner Witch by Earl LeMaster
* Green Witchcraft Grimoire: A Practical Resource for Making Your Own Spells, Rituals, and Recipes by Amythyst Raine.

* Green Witchcraft: A Practical Guide to Discovering the Magic of Plants, Herbs, Crystals, and Beyond by Paige Vanderbeck.
* The Door to Witchcraft: A New Witch's Guide to History, Traditions, and Modern-Day Spells by Tonya A. Brown.

Bake a Yule Log Cake

Have a Yule Log cake as the highlight of your Yule festivities.

More Like This Can be Found Here:

Gemstone and Crystal Magic: A Modern Witch's Guide to Using Stones for Spells, Amulets, Rituals, and Divination by Gerina Dunwich.

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