Happy Solstice! - Chocolate Roulade Recipe for Bouche de Noel

Happy Winter Solstice! I made a yule log (Bouche de Noel) for the first time as part of my celebration, and while I was initially intimidated, I found the entire process really simple. I'm pretty sure I could make this entire recipe--start to finish--in an hour. Amazing, since this was met with rave reviews at my solstice celebration.

I found the recipe the day before in the cookbook Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home--my new favorite cookbook! It's full of amazing recipes, including Julia Child's brilliant country apple tart recipe which I saw her make on her television show with Jacques Pepin. I'll never forget her arguing with him about how much sugar to add to the apples, saying, "Oh, Jacques, desserts are supposed to be sweet!" Hah. Awesome.

I made my own milk chocolate frosting for this Bouche de Noel after discussion with my friend Jesse, and used purple basil flowers and mint I had growing in my porch garden for decorations. I also used flower petals from my weekly salad mix from Happy Boy Farms. Finally, I used some chipped and grated single-source Colombian chocolate I had in the cupboard for the dusting of wood shavings. Enjoy!

James' Milk Chocolate Frosting

1 package organic cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 stick of organic butter, at room temperature

6 ounces milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

2 Tbs heavy cream

1 Cup (approximately) organic powdered sugar

Heat the cream to a simmer and add the milk chocolate pieces, stirring to until smooth and completely melted. Remove from heat. Mix cream cheese and butter in a food processor until smooth. Add the melted chocolate (it should be cool enough that it doesn't melt the cream cheese and butter), and mix again. Next, begin adding powdered sugar, about a quarter cup at a time. Taste after adding a half cup, and add more sugar slowly until you reach the desired sweetness, mixing again with each addition.

Jacques's Chocolate Roulade

A ganache is a combination of cream and fine bittersweet chocolate from which chocolatiers and pastry chefs make truffles and glaze cakes. Here the rich mixture is combined with egg whites to make a flourless batter which is baked into a tender, thin sheet cake. It is then spread with softly whipped cream--creme Chantilly--and rolled up jelly-roll-style, into a delectable roulade.

Rich though it may sound, a slice of roulade is light, moist, and full of chocolate flavor. this is also a large dessert you can literally whip up by hand in about 10 minutes--and the sheet cake takes less than a quarter of an hour in the oven.

The roulade needs no garnish other than a dusting of cocoa powder, but would be delicious served with our creme anglaise or chocolate sauce, or just an extra dollop of creme Chantilly

Yield: a 15-inch cake roll, serving 10-12

For the souflle:

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, in small pieces

7 egg whites, at room temperature

2 Tbs granulated sugar

For the creme-Chantilly filling

1 cup heavy cream, well chilled

1-1/2 Tbs granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbs cognac

1 Tbs butter for the pan and parchment

1 Tbs or so unsweetened cocoa powder

For garnish

Powdered sugar

Cocoa powder

Strawberries

Special equipment

An 11-by-17-inch jelly-roll pan or 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking pan (a "half sheet"); baking parchment; a fine-meshed sieve; a large oval or rectangular serving platter (at least 15 inches long)

Getting ready

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the baking sheet with buttered parchment paper.

Making the ganache and batter

Heat the cream to the simmer in a medium saucepan (1-1/2 quarts). Add the chocolate pieces all at once, lower the heat, and stir briskly with a small wire whisk to melt the chocolate thoroughly. As soon as the ganache is completely smooth and a uniform dark color, remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Whip the egg whites and the 2 tablespoons of sugar either by hand or in an electric mixer until they have formed stiff peaks with a glossy sheen--don't let them become dry or grainy-looking.

Scoop about one-fourth of the beaten whites into the saucepan of ganache and stir briefly with a wire whisk to blend. Pour the lightened ganache back onto the remaining egg whites in the mixing bowl and fold them together gently with a rubber spatula. Work quickly, breaking up any large lumps of egg white until the ganache is thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it in an even layer with a rubber spatula.

Baking the souffle sheet

Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven to bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When done, the cake should be nicely set and puffy. Remove the pan from the oven to a wire cooling rack, and allow the cake to cool, still in the pan, to room temperature.

Filling and forming the roulade

Whip the cream with the sugar, vanilla, and cognac to make the creme-Chantilly filling.

Lift the parchment to remove the cake from the pan, which should be cool, and set it on a flat work surface, with a long side facing you. Using a fine-meshed sieve, lightly dust the top with cocoa powder, then spread all of the whipped cream over the cake evenly, covering the entire surface.

Lift up the near edge of the cake and parchment, fold it away from you about 2 or 3 inches over the whipped cream, and begin to peel the paper off the cake. Roll the cake another few inches, pressing against the parchment to make a tight spiral, and then gently peeling it off as the cake layer rolls away from you. Complete the roll, keeping it just on the far edge of the parchment sheet. Cover the roll by tucking the loose parchment around and underneath so that the cylinder is well wrapped and can be moved easily. The roulade can now be refrigerated in the paper for 3 or 4 hours or transferred immediately to a platter for serving.

Serving the cake

When ready to serve, transfer the roulade to the serving platter. Remove the parchment paper, gently rolling the cake into the center of the platter, with the seam on the bottom. (If the roll has slumped or twisted, lay a piece of plastic wrap over the top and sides and reshape with your hands).

With a sharp knife, trim both ends of the roll with neat crosswise or diagonal cuts and discard (meaning, eat them yourself). Dust the top of the roulade with powdered sugar and cocoa, and garnish with strawberries.

To serve, cut the roll into 1-inch-thick slices and lay them flat on dessert plates. Top with additional creme Chantilly if you like.