Bûche de Noël

Heather Poirier and I both decided to have a go at a Bûche de Noël this year. We tossed ideas and recipe links back and forth before I chickened out and went pretty faithfully with Johnny Iuzinni’s recipe on Martha Stewart’s site. (I think I only made three changes: 1) I swapped Frangelico for rum; 2) used “chestnut spread” instead of unsweetened chestnut paste because I couldn’t find the latter anywhere in town; and 3) I made the ganache in a double boiler instead of bringing the cream to a boil because… well, because that’s the way I’m used to doing it. I wonder if bringing the cream to a boil alters the flavor or makes it set up better…? Other than those three things, I followed the directions to the letter.)

Heather’s cake is super cute and she posts many details about its construction in the link above.

Mine is as pictured. I am INORDINATELY pleased with it. It was also crazy delicious. I see this becoming a DeFraction family tradition.

(Fraction added the godzilla figure, which was brilliant. Duh.)

Thanks, Heather! That was fun.