CHOCOLATE AND HAZELNUT YULE LOG / BÛCHE DE NOËL YIELD | ONE 16-INCH YULE LOG, SERVING 10 TO 12 PEOPLE Bûche de Noël is the traditional French Christmas cake It represents the giant log (bûche) that families customarily lit in their fireplaces on Christmas Eve, a log so big that it was meant to burn until the first of January Families used the ashes from their Yule logs for medicinal purposes and as a fertilizer for their crops Yule logs thus symbolized hope for a good harvest At my family’s bakery, my parents would make hundreds of bûches de Noël for the holidays The entire family—aunts and uncles and cousins—would come over to help make them The logs were usually filled with vanilla, coffee, or chocolate butter cream and frosted with ganache Parchment paper not being readily available at the time, bakers cut their flour sacks down to sheet- ... my parents would make hundreds of bûches de Noël for the holidays The entire family—aunts and uncles and cousins—would come over to help make them The logs were usually filled with vanilla, coffee, or chocolate butter... Bûche de Noël is the traditional French Christmas cake It represents the giant log (bûche) that families customarily lit in their fireplaces on Christmas Eve, a log so big that it was meant to burn until the. .. Eve, a log so big that it was meant to burn until the first of January Families used the ashes from their Yule logs for medicinal purposes and as a fertilizer for their crops Yule logs thus symbolized hope for a