Christmas chocolate buttercream Yule log / Buche de Noel tutorial & Vanilla Swiss Roll Recipe

Yule Log / Buche de Noel cake tutorial - buttercream tree bark, pinecones, mushrooms & more | ffeabysawsen

Nothing says “Christmas” more than a beautifully decorated Yule log.  This year I decided to take it a step further than the well-known Swiss roll cake covered in chocolate frosting, dusted with icing sugar and at most graced with a sprig of holly… I’ve gone all-out, and piped a full festive log cake version of my most popular tree stump cake video.  As well as the mini piped mushrooms and toadstools, I’ve added pinecones, spruce needles and some festive red berries for that Christmas feel.  The result is a super cute and unique take on a much loved favourite, I hope you’ll like this as much as I do 🙂

You can see the video below here:

You can see the original tree stump cake video here, if you haven’t already:

Buttercream recipe:

If you’re a home baker or hobbyist, you can use my super easy & delicious Simple Buttercream recipe below. Serious foodies or pro’s should use my original SEBC buttercream recipe, beneath the simple version (you can find the chocolate version at the end of this blog post).

Sawsen’s Simple Buttercream recipe – smooth, easy, delicious & less sweet!

Sawsen’s Egg Free Swiss buttercream (SEBC) recipe – vanilla, chocolate, caffe latte, maple syrup, strawberry milk, cream cheese flavours & more!

Piping tips:

  • Wilton #8 for mini toadstool/ mushroom caps
  • Wilton #12 for mini mushroom stalks
  • Wilton #21 open star for tree bark
  • Wilton #4 tip for branches and large pine needles
  • Wilton #1 for small pine needles and berries
  • Wilton #81 for pinecones
  • Piping bag cut straight across at the tip for pale brown tree mushrooms & log ends


 

Colourings:

Watch my DIY food colours video for more details.

  • Pine needles: Spirulina powder
  • Tree bark: melted chocolate mixed into buttercream (or brown gel colour)
  • tree mushroom colour: a little melted chocolate
  • berries & toadstool caps: red gel colour

Take a look at my all new “recommended tools & products” list if you’d like to see which natural and gel colours I used.  I know my previous Amazon store was horrendous to use – I couldn’t even figure it out myself so I’ve listed everything on my own site for your convenience 🙂  Please do check it out.

Products I Recommend

 

Instructions:

  1. Bake a swiss roll, or use a store bought one.  See the end of the post for the recipe I used.
  2. Prepare half a batch of my buttercream, links above, and colour using natural or gel colours.  The recipe for chocolate buttercream is in the “flavour variations” section of the second post.
  3. Divide the buttercream into piping bags fitted with the appropriate couplers or tips.
  4. Pipe toadstool caps and pine cones as shown in the video onto parchment paper and freeze solid.
  5. Prepare some cake dough using pound cake, Victoria sponge or store bought cupcakes, using my video tutorial (the link is here)
  6. Mould the cake dough into small branches as shown and adhere with buttercream.  Coat the ends with light brown buttercream, and use a fork to give a wood grain effect.
  7. Pipe tree bark on the cake using your star tip as shown in the video.  Chill the cake until the buttercream is solid.
  8. Pipe toadstools, tree mushrooms, branches and pine needles as shown.  Add the piped pine cones then accentuate with berries.
  9. Dust the cake with coconut flour (or powdered sugar if you prefer) prior to serving.

 

Swiss Roll cake recipe:

I used Michael Lim’s recipe from YouTube.  Here are the ingredients:

6 medium size Egg Yolks
60 grams Milk (that’s 1/4 US cup)
60 grams Oil (1/4 cup again)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
120 grams Plain Flour (about 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons)
6 medium size Egg Whites
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
120 grams Fine Sugar (about 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon)

Pan size: 37cm x 24cm (about 14″ x 9″)

Baking temperature & time: 120°C ( 250°F)for 20 minutes then 150 °C (300°F) for 8 minutes

You can watch the method in Michael’s wonderful video here:

Allow the cake to cool fully and frost with a thin layer of buttercream prior to rolling.  Chill before using in my tutorial.

That should be all you need to know to make your own super cute and festive Yule log cake 🙂  Thank you for watching, have a great Christmas & stay tuned for more tutorials to come!

 

*please note I get a little ad revenue if you click on any of the pictures of amazon products above, so if you’re going to buy anything I’d really appreciate you supporting my channel at the same time by using these links.  It doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only link to products I’ve used or close equivalents, and would recommend.  Thank you.

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