Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Today I’m sharing with you an incredibly easy yet delicious cheat’s version of the classic French Christmas dessert – Bûche de Noël.
For a traditional pudding-hater like myself, Christmas dessert has never brought much joy. Sure, you can smother your piece of pudding in custard (which I do) and that helps a bit, but somehow the fruity-boozy flavour that I hate so much still overpowers it. Anyway, fortunately I’m not the only pudding-hater in my family and so last year Mum made this Bûche de Noël (chocolate yule log) in addition to the pudding for dessert. This yule log is sweet (but not overly so) and very light – perfect for a hot summer’s day. It proved so popular last year that we’ll be making it again this year 🙂
Ingredients (Serves up to 12)
1x 250g packet Arnott’s chocolate ripple biscuits (or equivalent)
600ml thickened cream
1 tspn caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
20g cocoa powder
Grated chocolate, to decorate
Spearmint leave lollies, to decorate
Raspberries, to decorate
Method
Using an electric mix, mix cream, sugar and vanilla together until stiff.
Fold in the cocoa until combined.
Spread a small amount of the cream along a long, rectangular serving plate to make a base. Spread 1 biscuit with 1 ½ teaspoons of cream and then top with another biscuit. Top with another 1 ½ teaspoons of cream and then place biscuits on their side onto the cream base on the serving platter.
Repeat until all biscuits have been used, to form a log.
Spread remaining cream over entire log, reserving a small amount for the branch.
Cover loosely with foil and refrigerate for at least 6 hours to set.
Just before serving, cut cake diagonally about a quarter of the way in and use that piece as a branch off the main log.
Patch it up with the remaining cream so it looks attached.
Use a fork to make some lines along the branch to look natural and then sprinkle with grated chocolate.
Decorate with some raspberries and spearmint leaves and serve. Enjoy!
Adapted from Arnott’s ‘Bake and Create’ Recipe booklet.
Bakerholics Anonymous 