Bûche de Noël (Christmas yule log)

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Step 2

   Put the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water. Beat the eggs and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. This will result in a cake with a finer texture. Remove the bowl from the heat.

3. Step 3

   With a mixer at high speed, beat for 15 minutes until the mixture is very pale.

4. Step 4

   Sift the flour, and fold into the egg mixture. Stop mixing as soon as all ingredients are well blended.

5. Step 5

   Line an 11-inch-by-16-inch jellyroll pan with wax paper, and butter and flour the paper. Spread the mixture over the wax paper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cake shrinks slightly from the sides of the pan.

6. Step 6

   When it is done, remove the cake from the baking sheet and turn it upside down onto a flat surface that has been covered with wax paper or parchment. Cover the cake with a damp cloth and let it cool. This will keep it flexible enough to roll.

7. Step 7

   To make the dessert syrup, combine the corn syrup, Grand Marnier and water. Mix thoroughly.

8. Step 8

   To make the butter cream, simmer the sugar with the water in a small saucepan until it reaches 250 degrees on a kitchen thermometer.

9. Step 9

   Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks at medium speed in a mixing bowl. Then add the boiling sugar little by little. Continue beating until the mixture is cool, about three to five minutes.

10. Step 10

    Add the butter and continue to whip the mixture at low speed for seven minutes. Then add Grand Marnier.

11. Step 11

    With a pastry brush, brush the dessert syrup on the side of the cake to which the paper was attached. Spread three-quarter of the butter cream over the surface of the cake. Roll the cake very tightly and refrigerate for one hour.

12. Step 12

    To decorate, cut two one-inch slices off one end of the cake. Place them on the log to simulate two sawed-off branches. With a pastry bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle, cover the top of the log with the reserved butter cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.