As you might already know I love a good culture mix. So today I present to you a recipe of a traditional French Christmas dessert – Christmas Log (Buche de Noel), but with an Italian touch. I love hazelnuts but what I love even more is chocolate. And of course Italians created a solution to this dilemma called Gianduia. In this recipe I tried to recreate its creamy chocolaty texture with a hazelnut aftertaste. This recipe has moderate amounts of sugar and is healthier than classic versions of Buche de Noel especially due to its richness from hazelnuts, yet it tastes even better!

I have to be honest with you, a Buche de Noel is not easy or quick to make (add 1h in the fridge to the preparation time minimum) but with my tips you will manage to make a perfect Christmas dessert. Let’s do it!

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6

local_dining

Hard

Ingredients

For the sponge cake:

  • 5 eggs
  • 80 g sugar (I use brown sugar)
  • 100 g all-purpose flour
  • 50 g raw hazelnuts

For the filling and topping:

  • 60 g dark (70%) chocolate
  • 60 g milk chocolate
  • 100 g hazelnuts (raw or toasted): 90 g for the cream and 10 g for decoration
  • 90 ml milk
  • 90 ml cream
  • 50 g butter
  • 70 g sugar
  • Mixer and blender

Preparation

  1. Hazelnuts will be used for the cake, the cream and the decoration. So if you use toasted hazelnuts for the cream, you’ll just need to blend 90 g if hazelnuts, set the other 10 g aside for decoration Also blend your raw hazelnuts for the cake part and store them separately/If you use raw hazelnuts, you’ll need to toast them first. I did it on a regular pan on light heat for about 5 minutes mixing them regularly. Then you put them in a kitchen towel and rub against the surface to peel off the skin, then blend them. You blend only 90 g for the cream, keep 30 g of roasted hazelnuts aside for decoration. On this stage, also blend raw hazelnuts for the cake.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
  3. We start the sponge cake by separating egg yolks from whites. First, we mix yolks with sugar, then add sifted flour and raw hazelnut meal. Mix everything, you should get a gooyey but thick ball.
  4. Whip egg whites with a help of mixer until stiff peaks.
  5. Slowly incorporate yolk mixture to the eggs whites. Start by adding a few spoons of egg whites into the yolk part to soften it, then mix everything carefully with a help of a spatula. The dough has to be homogenous with no lumps.
  6. Prepare a baking sheet and put a foil sheet + a sheet of baking paper on top. Lift the edges making a mold like on the picture. Add the batter and even it out with a help of a spatula.
  7. Bake for 18 min. Meanwhile prepare a kitchen towel and parchement paper on top, it’s very important. Because once the cake is ready you’ll have to roll it super quickly when it’s still hot. Each second counts.
  8. Now you have time to make your hazelnut cream. Mix all the ingredients except hazelnuts and put in a pan on a medium heat until it starts boiling, mixing constantly. Add ground hazelnuts and cook for 2-3 more minutes until getting a texture like down below. Set aside.
  9. When the cake is ready, transfer it on the towel+parchment paper. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and roll super quickly with the towel inside. If it breaks, no worries, it shouldn’t be visible once it’s rolled. Put it in the fridge for 30 min.
  10. At the same time let the cream cool.
  11. Take the cake out of the fridge, unroll it carefully and put about 2/3 of the cream with the help of a spatula, like on the picture. Roll in back without towel and baking (parchment), and let it soak in the fridge for at least 30 min. You can it leave up to several hours.
  12. Cut the sides of the Log, put the rest of the cream on top and decorate with the rest of hazelnuts.
  13. Enjoy!