Une recette de cuisine : bûche de Noël au chocolat

Nr 10 – December 2007-January 2008
Une recette de cuisine : bûche de Noël au chocolat
(English version)
The inspiration for this delicious cake shaped like a log and eaten especially during the
Holiday’s comes from a real log. The original custom was to burn a big log while people
recited prayers. According to the number of sparks it produced, people made predictions
about the number of chickens that would be born during the year or about future marriages.
In 1879, a confectioner made a rolled cake decorated in the form of a log in memory of the
old custom, and thus the bûche de Noël became the traditional Christmas dessert in France. It
can be prepared from many ingredients, such as praline cream, fruit, or chocolate – like the
recipe below.
Ingredients
200 grams (7 ounces) dark chocolate
6 eggs
3 tablespoons hot and strong coffee
1 tablespoon rum
150 grams (5 ounces) sugar
1/4 litre heavy (whipping) cream
50 grams (2 ounces) icing (powdered) sugar
100 grams (3,5 ounces) cocoa powder
Preparation
Break the chocolate in small pieces and melt it in a double-boiler. When it is melted, add the
coffee and mix until it becomes smooth. Separate the egg yolks from the whites and blend the
yolks with the sugar. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Add a pinch of salt and beat the
egg whites until stiff. Add the egg whites to the chocolate-flavoured preparation and blend
them delicately with a wooden or plastic spatula until you get a homogeneous mixture. Pour
this preparation into a flat oven tray lined with buttered baking paper. Bake for 12 -15 minutes
in an oven preheated to 180°C (350 °F). Once it’s baked, remove it from the tray and place on
a dishtowel and let it cool off.
Whip the cream and add the icing sugar and rum. Remove the baking paper from the cake
delicately and spread the whipped cream on the entire surface of the cake. Then, roll the cake
in the shape of a log. Once rolled, cut ends on a bevel, sprinkle generously with cocoa, and
place the log on a serving dish and decorate it with various Christmas ornaments: Santa, axe,
saw, mushrooms, gremlins… in sugar or plastic. Keep refrigerated until served.
Merry
Christmas!
(French version)
Ce gâteau délicieux, qui a la forme d'une bûche et que l'on mange surtout pendant la période
des fêtes, a pour origine une vraie bûche. L’ancienne coutume voulait qu'on fasse brûler une
grosse bûche et les gens se mettaient à en réciter des prières. Selon le nombre d’étincelles, ils
pouvaient faire des prédictions sur le nombre de poulets qui allaient naître pendant l'année ou
sur les mariages à venir. En 1879, un pâtissier a fabriqué un gâteau roulé et décoré en forme
de bûche en souvenir des anciennes coutumes. C’est ainsi que la bûche est devenue le dessert
traditionnel de Noël en France. On peut la préparer à partir d’ingrédients très divers, comme
de la crème pralinée, des fruits, ou du chocolat – comme la recette ci-dessous.
ngrédients
200 g de chocolat noir
6 œufs
3 cuillères à soupe de café corsé chaud
1 cuillère à soupe de rhum
150 g de sucre
1/4 de litre de crème fleurette
50 g de sucre glace
100 g de cacao en poudre
Préparation
Casser le chocolat en petits morceaux et le faire fondre au bain-marie. Lorsqu'il est fondu,
ajouter le café puis mélanger pour lisser. Séparer les blancs d’œufs des jaunes et mélanger les
jaunes d’œufs avec le sucre. Ajouter le chocolat fondu et bien mélanger. Mettre une pincée de
sel dans les blancs d’oeufs et les monter en neige. Ajouter ces blancs d'œufs à la préparation
chocolatée et les incorporer délicatement à la spatule en bois ou en plastique jusqu'à
l'obtention d'un mélange homogène. Verser cette préparation sur une plaque recouverte de
papier sulfurisé beurré et faire cuire pendant 12 à 15 minutes à 180°C. Une fois la cuisson
terminée, démouler sur un torchon et laisser refroidir.
Monter la crème fleurette bien froide en crème fouettée et ajouter le sucre glace et le rhum.
Ôter délicatement la feuille de papier sulfurisé collée au biscuit et verser la crème fouettée sur
toute la surface du biscuit au chocolat. Rouler le biscuit en forme d’une bûche. Une fois roulé,
couper les extrémités en biseau. Saupoudrer de cacao sur toute la surface. Mettre la bûche sur
un plat de service et la décorer avec diverses décorations : Père Noël, hache, scie,
champignons, lutins etc., en sucre ou en plastique. Réserver au frais jusqu'au moment de
servir.
Joyeux Noël !
Vincent Anthonioz
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Christmas in France
Last year we described a few typical French customs for Christmas, such as the Christmas
markets all over the country, the crèches and santons de Provence, the traditional calendar
that the firemen and postmen deliver to your home (expecting a tip of some 20€ in exchange),
or the papillotes, these funny Christmas candies. Below are a few other French traditions
taken from an interesting, recently published book, Fêtes de Noël et Nouvel An autour du
monde (Horay, 27 €). This beautifully illustrated book also presents some very interesting
comparisons of Christmas traditions in many different countries.
The Christmas Tree
In France, it was Marie Leszczynska, the Polish wife of King Louis XV, who is supposed to
have decorated the first Christmas tree in France in 1738 in the Versailles château. The
tradition continued in 1837 at the Palais des Tuileries, in Paris, at the instigation of the
duchess of German origin Hélène de Mecklembourg, the wife of the Duke of Orléans, the
eldest son of King Louis-Philippe. It was only in 1871, as a consequence to the massive
immigration of Alsaciens and Lorrains (following the annexing at the end of the FrancoPrussian war of a large part of Alsace and a part of Lorraine by the Germans), that this custom
of having a Christmas tree became a common practice in private homes all over France.
Le Réveillon
The French usually celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th. The dinner event is called
the Réveillon (the same as on New Year’s Eve). Traditionally, for Christians, the Christmas
Réveillon took place after the midnight mass, but most French nowadays start dinner much
earlier, at 8:00 or 9:00 pm. It just lasts much longer, as all the gifts for the family are
distributed before, during or after the main meal – except that when there are small children
who still believe in Père Noël (Santa), the presents are given in the morning of the 25th,
because, of course, Santa is supposed to come during the night. Usually, the Christmas
Réveillon is more a family dinner, while the New Year’s eve Réveillon is an evening with
friends, and starts later in the evening so that everybody can still be wide awake at midnight…
For the Christmas Réveillon, the traditional French meal usually includes:
– Huîtres (oysters)… Yes, if you are invited for Réveillon by a French family you cannot
escape the view of these very special creatures looking at you, alive, of course, until they are
opened, and… delicious, if you have the courage to try them. One can find three major
varieties of oysters: claires, fines de claires and spéciales, and they all come from the Atlantic
Ocean. They are served with buttered pain de seigle (rye bread), lemon, and sometimes an
échalottes (shallots) sauce. And, of course, a very good dry white wine.
– Foie gras. Another nightmare for the British. You’ll have to say ‘no thank you’ a second
time… And the French are not ready to change. There was a rather strong protestation early
in December by the French producers to the British campaign trying to promote faux gras
(fois gras made without forced feeding the geese).
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– Saumon fumé and crevettes à la mayonnaise (smoked salmon and shrimps with
mayonnaise), and sometimes homard or langouste (2 varieties of lobsters): finally something
you can eat!
– Boudin blanc, a white sausage made from poultry liver. Looks much nicer than the black
one made from blood…
– Dinde aux marrons (turkey with chestnuts), or any other poultry, something you will
definitely like.
– La bûche de Noël (see our recipe page 36), with Champagne, of course !
Annick Stevenson
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