Buche de Noel

When Andrea was in high school, she took French three or four years.  Her teacher really liked to cook...and to enjoy the fruits of her labors!  One assignment the kids had to do was to create a French menu/meal.  And for extra credit, the students could actually make the meal...and moms would sign a statement verify said meal.  One recipe that Andrea did and turned out to be favorite of my husband's, is Buche de Noel!  Or Yule Log.  We don't make it every year, but our Poker Pals met at our house this month so I made one to share with them.  It is one of those elegant looking recipes that is really easy to make!

Buche de Noel

Here is the recipe if anyone wants it:

Chocolate Log

1 6-oz pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

Combine chocolate chips and water in top of double boiler. Place over hot water until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda.  Combine eggs, vanilla and salt; beat until very light. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored.  Add melted chocolate and fold in gently. Fold in flour.

Turn into a greased and waxed paper-lined 15 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 1" pan (jelly roll pan). Spread out evenly.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Loosen around the edges and turn out immediately on a dish towel dusted with powdered sugar.  Remove the waxed paper. Roll cake immediately in towel starting with the long edge.  Cool thoroughly.

While cake is baking, make the filling and frosting;

• 1 6 oz pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 3oz pkg. cream cheese-room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• dash salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Melt semisweet chocolate chips in top of double boiler over hot (not boiling) water.  Combine brown sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and salt; beat until creamy.  Beat in egg yolk, blend in melted chocolate; fold in whipped cream.  Cover and chill until thick enough to spread.

(I do all the above one day, and construct the cake the following day.)

Take cake roll and gently unroll from the towel. (It is best to complete it on the tray you plan to serve it on. As my tray is not long enough, I cut off part to create the branch log)

Spread the filling in the tightest part of the roll first then gradually fill all the interior, roll back up, place seam side down and cover the rest of the cake with filling/frosting.  I will cut the smaller log at an angle before frosting the exterior and place it next to the larger log.  Chill for several hours or freeze.  Then wrap and store in the freezer if not to be eaten in the next couple of days.  If frozen, allow dessert to stand approximately 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.  I "garnish" mine with plastic greenery and berries....not edible!

Zentangle Challenge #30-String Theory V:Initialize

 This week our challenge came from a very talented lady...Christina Vandervlist.  She is a CZT who is the host artist for this week.  When I first saw the challenge...I thought "cool, I can get this done in no time and not be last!"   Then I got busy and kind of didn't get it finished until this morning!!

Challenge #30-Initialize

And this challenge was to take your first and last initials and create a ZTA with tangles of your choice.

A couple things that got in my way this week were guild meetings...This month our guest speaker was Carol Morrissey.  She does beautiful art quilts with wonderful color and stitching...very enjoyable meeting.


Another thing that has been keeping me busy is working on my entries for our quilt show which will be the end of September, but we were to get our entry applications in by the end of this month.  Fortunately, we don't have to have them finished until showtime, but have to have enough done to include an identifiable picture with our applications!


And then we did have our monthly poker meet with our "Poker Pals"!  Last month my hub and I both won!  This month...not to be...but still had a hilarious time.  They say laughter is the best medicine so we six must be very healthy!!!

Some of my favorite triip pics!

I have more pics to show...and will continue to do so if noone is too bored with looking at them! Just say so if you are! We had such a great time and would highly recommend this trip to anyone that I just want to spread the word as much as I can!


We made a stop in Ketchikan AK on our way to Juneau...a pretty good sized town for those parts. Dick and I decided to pass up the opportunity to shop...mostly tourist traps! and took a hike up this really steep hill in a neighborhood near the docks. There was this really pretty little park. We had learned in one of the ranger talks that we were in the Tongas Rain Forest....very temperate weather during part of the year...and very moist. So this kind of vegatation and moss were very common....very different for us so we found it fascinating!

This is the Kennicott, the second ferry we traveled on...also a very wonderful experience..each ferry we were on had rangers on board who gave little talks about nature, the animal life, the topography of where we were traveling etc. We really enjoyed those and it help make the time just fly especially on those days that were kind of rainy...not many of them though!

Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau AK..we had an over night stay in Juneau while waiting for out second ferry on up to Whittier AK. It was raining the day we were in Juneau...typical weather...they say that the locals get nervous if it doesn't rain for three days!!! This is a fabulous glacier...one of the largest in the world. From this view point we are over a mile away from it...maybe farther!

We had our poker bunch in for a slide show and dinner. tonight..always fun!! And now time for bed....tomorrow I HAVE to work on my quilts for the show...it is getting close!