The Origins of the Christmas Log Cake
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The holiday season is a joyful time of the year, and it’s made even more delightful with the huge varieties of food you get to eat. Every holiday comes with its special treats like candies during Halloween and turkeys during Thanksgiving. Similarly, Christmas would be incomplete without a large and scrumptious Yule Log Cake.
This delicious cake, also called a Bûche De Noël, is a Genovese chocolate-filled sponge cake frosted with chocolate buttercream and rolled in the shape of a tree trunk. This log is then garnished with leaves, meringue mushrooms and tiny sugar spiders.
The cake is originally from Europe’s Iron Age. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festival of Scandinavia celebrated at the end of December. People would gather around to feast, signaling the days becoming longer and the end of winter season.
Over the years, the Yule Log tradition continued, although the logs and hearths became smaller. Those small hearths weren’t only good for burning logs as they also served the perfect baking purpose. No one knows who made the first Log Cake, but judging from the ingredients, it could have been as early as the 17th century as marzipan and meringue, the key choices of decorations, started appearing on medieval tables around that time.
The Log Cake was popularized again during the 19th century in France by Parisian bakers, with a variety of bakeries becoming famous for their unique decorations of the cake.
Now, if you ever face an awkward silence during your Christmas parties, you can always start a conversation about the history and origins of this cake as people munch on the delights while learning a thing or two about them. Or you can simply enjoy this delicious treat in blissful silence!