| Level: | Advanced |
| Total: | 1 hr 59 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr 45 min |
| Inactive: | 2 min |
| Cook: | 12 min |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 2 tablespoons rum or brandy
- 1 Chocolate Genoise Sheet, recipe follows
- 8 ounces almond paste
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 3 to 5 tablespoons light corn syrup
- Cocoa powder
- Red and green liquid food coloring
- Confectioners’ sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- Pinch salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cake flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa
Instructions
- To make the buttercream: Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk gently until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are hot. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk on medium speed until cooled. Switch to the paddle and beat in the softened butter and continue beating until the buttercream is smooth. Dissolve the instant coffee in the liquor and beat into the buttercream.
- Turn the genoise layer over and peel away the paper. Invert onto a fresh piece of paper. Spread the layer with half the buttercream. Use the paper to help you roll the cake into a tight cylinder Transfer to baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until set. Reserve the remaining buttercream for the outside of the buche.
- To make the marzipan: Combine the almond paste and 1 cup of the sugar in the bowl of the electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on low speed until the sugar is almost absorbed. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add half the corn syrup, then continue mixing until a bit of the marzipan holds together when squeezed, adding additional corn syrup a little at a time, as necessary; the marzipan in the bowl will still appear crumbly. Transfer the marzipan to a work surface and knead until smooth.
- To make marzipan mushrooms: Roll 1/3 of the marzipan into a 6-inch long cylinder and cut into 1-inch lengths. Roll half the lengths into balls. Press the remaining cylindrical lengths (stems) into the balls (caps) to make mushrooms. Smudge with cocoa powder. To make holly leaves: Knead green color into 1/2 the remaining marzipan and roll it into a long cylinder. Flatten with the back of a spoon, then loosen it from the surface with a spatula. Cut into diamonds to make leaves, or use a cutter.
- To make holly berries: Knead red color into a tiny piece of marzipan. Roll into tiny balls.
- To make pine cones, knead cocoa powder into the remaining marzipan. Divide in half and form into 2 cone shapes. Slash the sides of cones with the points of a pair of scissors.
- Unwrap the cake. Trim the ends on the diagonal, starting the cuts about 2 inches away from each end. Position the larger cut piece on the buche about 2/3 across the top. Cover the buche with the reserved buttercream, making sure to curve around the protruding stump. Streak the buttercream with a fork or decorating comb to resemble bark. Transfer the buche to a platter and decorate with the marzipan. Sprinkle the platter and buche sparingly with confectioners’ sugar “snow.”
- Storage: Keep at cool room temperature. Cover leftovers loosely and keep at room temperature.
- Set rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
- Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so the water is simmering.
- Whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar together in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100 degrees (test with your finger). Attach the bowl to the mixer and with the whisk attachment, whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume.
- While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour, cornstarch, and cocoa.
- Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl on every pass through the batter to prevent the flour mixture from accumulating there and making lumps. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the genoise for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until well risen, deep and firm to the touch. (Make sure the cake doesn’t overbake and become too dry, or it will be hard to roll.)
- Use a small paring knife to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack and let the cake cool right side up on the paper. Remove the paper when the cake is cool.
- Storage: Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several days, or double-wrap and freeze for up to a month.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 583 |
| Total Fat | 31 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Carbohydrates | 73 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 63 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 153 mg |
| Sodium | 62 mg |
Reviews
Tried thjs for a new Christmas family tradition. The kids didn’t really want to help but my wife and I had a good time making it. The kids did not like the coffee flavored buttercream! My wife and I liked it but it was a pretty strong flavor. I am also not a huge fan of buttercream and the piece that I ate had a lot of buttercream. All-in-all it was a fun thing to do but if your family does not like coffee, find a different recipe.
#1 takeaway from making this twice (TOTALLY screwed up the first time):
**Take the instructions and rewrite them for yourself when you make the recipe.**
1. The order of instructions makes no sense. You should clearly make the genoise sheet first before you make the frosting. There’s also little things that newbies could screw up on. Like, it tells you to separate the eggs to get whites for the frosting, but doesn’t explicitly say, save the yolks for the cake. Read the whole recipe through and make things in logical order, not the order given.
2. It’s a reeeaaallly long recipe, so it’s very inconvenient to keep switching between quantities and instructions. Rewrite them so you have the quantity, right there with what to do.
My comments building on other reviews:
I agree with others. I baked my cake for 9 minutes and it was done.
I liked the frosting ok. I whisked the eggwhites and sugar over the bain marie quite a while – they were hot and frothy. I then whipped them in the mixer to about soft peak. Then I switched to the paddle and added the butter. My butter was soft room temperature and I got glossy fluffy frosting pretty fast. I then added brandy and coffee and mixed as little as possible. The texture was great, but I wanted more coffee/brandy flavor. I was tempted to add more, but I was afraid to mess with the recipe.
My end result cake was beautiful!
Made this cake for Christmas last year. There are some issues, but they are easily corrected. First, in terms of the dry cake issue – yes, do not overbake and also drizzle or spritz with some chocolate liquour (like Godiva), and then wrap. It will help keep keep the moisture level up. In regards to the buttercream, change the sugar up – we did 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. We skipped the coffee powder and instead used 4 oz Chestnut Puree with 2 tbsp Honey. It whipped up really lovely. Also, just buy a can of Love N Bake Marzipan and some Ameri gel food coloring. I quickly made some mushrooms, leaves, etc with this (lots of videos online). When I iced the cake, the other thing I did was melt down a 3.5 oz Lindt chocolate bar (milk or dark – I used half one each) with 2 tbsp cream. I brushed it on the log over the cool buttercream with a mini silicone spatula, which gave the effect of actual bark and then I used it to paint and attach the mushroom tops to the stems, as well as to stick the other items into place on and around the cake. So, I am giving this recipe 4 stars, because it is basically a good recipe, but it needed some tweaking.
The was a very hard recipe to follow. Everything was in a mixed up order. I thought it would be fun but it was time consuming and a waste of eggs and butter!! The video didn’t show enough and my cake was dry and fell apart when I tried to roll it and the buttercream was runny and had to be thrown out. I was very very disappointed in this recipe and will never try it again. Horrible!
will try to this item.
This cake was wonderful, and I believe pretty authentic. I made the recipe with a hand mixer that has both beaters and a whisk attachment. The frosting made plenty for frosting and rolling, but I may have over beaten it as it was a little thick rather than creamy, though still delicious! The Marzipan was easy to make, just a little harder to roll the crumbly mixture into a dough. Almond paste was much cheaper than prepared Marzipan at my grocery, and the decorations completed the cake and made it so beautiful! I used Kahula coffee liquor and added 1.5 tbsp of cocoa to darken the color. I also increased the cocoa in the genoise by maybe 1.75, and I wonder if this contributes to the cake drying out quicker? My layer was a little dry but not unmanageable, I believe 7 minutes would have been a good cooking time. Overall, a very impressive, delicious, beautiful french cake that is not too hard to make and perfect for Christmas!
I carefully watched the video and I just did it two days ago and the buttercream turned out to be lumpy or churned looking. I don’t know why the recipe said switch to using the paddle when whipping in the butter when the video shows using the same whisk. Although I only whip butter at room temperature in a short time, it turn out to be so churned looking not shiny and smooth, and as soon as I added the brandy and coffee in, it turned out even more lumpy. It tasted too buttery. I will find other techniques. I don’t like when chefs are not being true as they act like they do.
This cake is really a treat. It has become an essential part of Christmas in our house (and its preparation now defines my Christmas eve. I add a bit of cocoa and some extra instant espresso to the buttercream frosting to intensify the flavor and darken the color; some “streaks” of extra cocoa on the log make it even more visually appealing. I do buy the marzipan pre-made; it’s much cheaper and easier than starting from almond paste.
My husband wishes it didn’t have to be Christmas for me to make this cake.
I thought this recipe was pretty good. The cake had a good texture and flavor, but it’s not a rich, dark chocolate. The coffee buttercream was REALLY strong and flavorful, which kind of over-powered the more delicate chocolate flavor of the cake. Overall, I liked it, but told everyone who ate it that it was a coffee-flavored cake and not the chocolatey, mocha-y flavor I had expected. It was still a big hit at the Christmas dinner table!
Flavor was solid. However, don’t make the buttercream. It’s a lot of work for something that’s not really so worth it. The color isn’t dark enough. Just sub for your favorite chocolate icing and add some mocha powder or espresso.
The cake was gone in the blink of an eye.