Every holiday season, I bake treats for various UBS community partners, and I thought it would be fun to make a yule log for one of the organizations that supports my everyday work. It's been about 15 years since I have rolled one of these, and I wasn't quite sure how it would go.I baked a lovely chocolate genoise, soaked it in a simple syrup made with Pimm's, then filled it with a luscious vanilla buttercream and cranberry compote.
The cake rolled beautifully--it didn't crack, and the finished log was satisfyingly solid. 
Once it was chilled, I slathered on a gorgeous chocolate buttercream (seriously stuff!). A true buche de noel wouldn't be complete without meringue mushrooms, so I whipped up a batch and nestled them among some freshly cut rosemary from the garden. A light dusting of powdered sugar 'snow' finished the woodland look.
