For many families, there are different types of holiday traditions that get passed down from generation to generation. Some families leave Christmas cookies out for Santa Claus, while others build and decorate gingerbread houses. And then there’s the tradition of eating a cake shaped like a log on Christmas.
What is a Yule Log?
Yule logs, also known as bûche de Noël, are rolled sponge cakes filled with cream and covered in chocolate buttercream to look like tree bark. People often decorate these sweet logs with meringue mushrooms, marzipan holly and more.
Why Do We Make Yule Log Cakes on Christmas?
The roots of this tree-inspired dessert can be traced back to before the medieval era in Europe when families would burn actual logs decorated with holly, pine cones or ivy during the winter solstice to bid goodbye to the previous year and welcome spring. The log’s ashes were then kept for medicinal purposes and to help guard against evil. Fast-forward a few centuries, and people’s hearths were smaller and better suited for baking cakes than burning huge logs….