Caramel Buche de Noel (French Christmas Dessert)

This amazing caramel Buche de Noel is a holiday Yule log cake made with chocolate sponge cake, salted caramel chocolate mousse, and covered with a glossy caramel glaze. It is the hottest Christmas dessert in Europe and French Canada!

Do you like a challenge? I do. In December 2018, I decided to challenge myself by making a traditional French dessert Buche de Noel each week.

That is why my blog is full of Christmas log cakes (aka Buche de Noel), rolled cakes, and roulades.

And many of my readers joined me in that Buche de Noel challenge to bring a beautiful European tradition to their Christmas table.

Caramel Buche de Noel recipe

The original recipe for Caramel Buche de Noel was created by French pastry chef Arnaud Larher.

I adapted and simplified his recipe and made some changes to facilitate its preparation.

It takes time, but you will be rewarded with an amazing French cake, a winner of the Christmas table.

The most challenging part of making this holiday log is to succeed with dry caramel.

I highly recommend reading about what dry caramel is, how to make it, and how to know when the caramel is ready.

The chef decorated his Buche de Noel with spun sugar, but you can simplify this step. You can made caramel threads and arrange them on top of the dessert. Make sure the glaze is set.

Caramel decorations are optional. Decorate your Buche de Noel as you desire.

To be inspired, look at decorating a Yule log cake and decorating traditional Buche de Noel.

Making meringue mushrooms might be the best decision. It is easy to fix them while the glaze is fresh.

Why you should try this recipe

This salted caramel Yule log (aka Buche de Noel) is the perfect way to make your Christmas truly special. It becomes a centerpiece once served.

The sweetness of chocolate and the saltiness of caramel are unbeatable, with more chocolate on top for good measure.

Finally, this traditional French Christmas dessert brings an unforgettable experience that will warm your memories for a long time.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Eggs: the recipe calls for large eggs. Separate egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are chilled. Use an egg separator to facilitate this step.

Sugar: use granulated or caster sugar to make the caramel. Use superfine baker's sugar to make the meringue.

To make the superfine sugar at home, process granulated sugar for a few seconds in a food processor.

Flour: use all-purpose flour to make the cake.

Cocoa powder: use unsweetened cocoa powder.

Whipping cream: use your favorite brand of whipping cream with at least 30% fat content.

Heavy cream: it has higher fat content (at least 36%) compared with whipping cream. You can replace it with whipping cream if desired.

Butter: use unsalted butter, better in the softened form.

Dark chocolate: use top-quality dark chocolate such as Scharffen Berger dark chocolate, Valrhona dark chocolate, or Lindt Excellence dark chocolate.

Salt: it enhances the flavor of the cake. Replace it with fleur de sel if you desire.

Hazelnuts: use store-bought roasted hazelnuts or roast nuts in the oven at 355 F/180 C for 12 minutes. Replace hazelnuts with toasted almonds or a mix of hazelnuts and almonds.

Glucose is a thick, colorless, and odorless syrup with a lower sweetening power than sugar.

It prevents the crystallization of sugar while making caramel. Ensure glucose near the sides of a saucepan to help "melt" the glucose syrup. 

Replace glucose with honey (2.5 oz./70 g honey for 4.6 oz./130 g glucose) or inverted sugar syrup (2.5 oz./70 g inverted sugar for 4.2 oz./120 g glucose). Be careful: honey can give a specific taste to the cake.

White chocolate: use Lindt or Callebaut white chocolate.

Gelatin: use gelatin sheets with a strength of 200 bloom.

How to make Caramel Buche de Noel

To make the chocolate biscuit, preheat the oven to 340 F/170 C. Sift all-purpose flour and cocoa powder three times using a flour sifter, and set aside. 

Whisk egg whites with an electric mixer or a stand mixer until firm. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and continue beating.

Gradually add the rest of the sugar one spoon at a time until the meringue becomes glossy (photo 1). Incorporate egg yolks with a rubber spatula.

Then add the sifted dry ingredients, and using the spatula, mix, lifting the mass from the center outwards. You might find it easier to turn the bowl to facilitate this step (photo 2).

Spread the biscuit dough on a parchment paper sheet or a silicone non-spill baking sheet to the thickness of 25/64 inch/1 cm (photo 3). Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool before taking off the biscuit.

To make the chocolate-caramel mousse, chop dark chocolate with a serrated knife. Place sugar in a saucepan and bring over medium heat.

Once the sugar starts to caramelize, low the heat (photo 4). The caramel must get a gold color, but not burn!

Remove the saucepan from the heat and gradually pour 120 g of very hot heavy cream (photo 5). Be careful: it might splash! Add salt and then butter (photo 6).

Mix caramel well and pour it over the chopped dark chocolate (use a metal bowl to keep the heat). Stir gently until the ganache becomes smooth and shiny (photo 7).

In a separate bowl, whisk 300 g of whipping cream to get the whipped cream with soft peaks.

Add ⅓ of the whipped cream to the chocolate-caramel ganache and mix well with a hand whisk.

Then add the remaining whipped cream and incorporate it with the whisk, starting from the center, towards the edge (photo 8).

To assemble the cake, peel the biscuit out of the parchment paper or baking mat and cut it into a rectangle of 11 x 11 inches/28 x 28 cm with sharp outlines.

Cover the biscuit with the chocolate-caramel mousse and even with a bent spatula. Sprinkle with toasted chopped hazelnuts (photo 9).

Roll the log tightly, starting from the top end, with the help of parchment. The end of the biscuit can break; it does not matter.

Squeeze the rolled log (photo 10) covered by paper, pushing it with a grid or baking sheet. Refrigerate it wrapped in parchment for at least 2 hours.

To make the caramel glaze, soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 10 minutes. Chop dark and white chocolate and set aside.

Place sugar and glucose in a saucepan and bring over medium heat until a nice color is obtained.

Add hot whipping heavy cream (watch for splashing), and then pour over the mixture of chopped white and dark chocolate.

Mix with the spatula to homogenize. Add the drained gelatin sheets and mix again (photo 11).

This glaze is ready when the temperature reaches 82 to 86 F /28 to 30 C. If the glaze has bubbles, it can be homogenized using a hand immersion blender.

To glaze the cake, place the rolled log on a wire rack and cover it with the caramel glaze (photo 12). It takes a few minutes for the glaze to settle.

To make caramel decorations, place sugar and glucose in a saucepan. Heat the mixture to 320 F/160 C (use a cooking thermometer), swirling the pan on top of the cooker.

Once the temperature is reached, take two forks in one hand (close to each other), dip them in sugar, and shake them over the parchment.

Collect the sugar with a small offset spatula and arrange it on top of the cake. The rolled log can be served immediately or refrigerated until serving.

Expert tips

1. Read more about dry caramel in the post for hazelnut praline paste.
2. To roast hazelnuts, bring them in the oven at 355 F/180 C for 12 minutes.
3. Read about how to master rolling a cake log and watch this short video about tightening a Christmas log.

Frequently asked question

Love Christmas desserts? Try these next!

• Christmas Banana Bread
• Chocolate Raspberry Yule Log
• Mini Gingerbread Men Cookies
• French Gingerbread Cake

Or browse all the Christmas recipes.

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from https://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.fr/ and http://www.cookismo.fr/. It was originally published on November 12, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.