Pistachio Raspberry Yule log recipe (Bûche de Noël)

There is no Christmas without a beautiful Yule log and today I decided to share with you a super delicious one, my signature Pistachio Raspberry Yule log (Bûche de Noël)! Yule log is always a showstopper, elegant, creamy log shape cake that can be the highlight of the Christmas dinner, in fact, any dinner!

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• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
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• Pistachio Raspberry Yule log recipe (Bûche de Noël)

📝 Ingredient notes

For the Choux pastry sponge

1. Milk: Whole milk is the best to make the sponge for this Yule log, definitely avoid using milk substitutes unless you are aware of how to reformulate the recipe
2. Sugar: This choux pastry sponge is made using a small amount simple granulated sugar. The flavour and sweetness will come from the filling of the Yule log so no need to use a lot of sugar here.
3. Salt: An essential ingredient in most of the dessert recipes. Salt balances the flavour and enhances other ingredients, make sure salt fully dissolves while heating it up with butter and milk
4. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. While in most of the recipes butter needs to be on room temperature, this is an exception. Since butter will be heated, it is fine to use it straight out of the fridge
5. Flour: While tradition choux pastry eg. eclair has to be made with high protein content bread flour, in this sponge recipe simple AP flour is totally fine. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my flour guide
6. Egg: Room temperature as always. You will need 4 egg whites and yolks separately + 1 extra whole egg. Make sure no yolk goes into the white part as it is impossible to whip the egg white up with any sort of fat in it

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the pistachio whipped ganache

1. White chocolate: It is worth to remember that not all chocolate are created equal, in fact the quality of the chocolate goes way beyond taste. In this recipe I am using Callebaut White chocolate (callets), this  is a high-quality chocolate (yet affordable) that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter than the average supermarket chocolate.
2. Whipped Cream / whipping cream: Also known as heavy cream or double cream, has a fat content between 36% and 40% , the one I am using has 36% fat content. Avoid substitutes like vegetable based “whipping cream”
3. Gelatin: It´s an odorless, tasteless and colorless thickening agent, very often used by pastry chefs particularly in mousse cakes. Powder or sheet versions are available, in my recipes I always use sheet (1,7 g / sheet), which I found easier to handle. For details on how to use gelatin or how to replace it, please read my gelatin article
4. Pistachio paste: Make sure that you use 100% pistachio paste (that has one single ingredient: pistachio) as many spreads claim to be pistachio paste with less than 50% pistachio in it. Check this homemade pistachio butter recipe or purchase 100% pistachio butter.
5. Food colouring (optional): depending on the pistachio paste you are using you might or might not achieve the desired green colour in your cream. A very small amount of food colouring (gel or powder) can be always handy to fine tune the green color.

If you love pistachios as much as I do, don´t forget to check out my pistachio desserts collection.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the white chocolate star decoration

1. White chocolate: Same applies as above, even more important that you use high quality white chocolate as it will need to be tempered and cut into a star shape (I am using a cookie cutter to do that). You will need couverture chocolate if you want to replicate those beautifully chocolate decorations you see on Instagram or in professional pastry shops! In this recipe I am using Callebaut White chocolate (callets), this  is a high-quality chocolate (yet affordable) that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter than the average supermarket chocolate.
2. Freezed dried raspberry: this is optional but I think it gives a nice texture and colour to the overall design of this Pistachio Raspberry Yule log

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. How to make cake roll that does not break

The choux pastry sponge starts with making classic choux pastry so heating up milk, butter, salt and sugar then flour goes in at one go forming a thick paste. You will then need to add egg yolks and whole egg into the mixture pretty similarly as making eclair.

Lastly, unlike classic choux pastry, egg white need to be beaten up to meringue and need to be folded into the mixture. With the help of a Rubber spatula fold ⅓ of the meringue into the rest of the mixture and mix throughout then fold the rest of the meringue in carefully. The batter consistency before baking is a sponge like cake batter, somewhat runny but also increased in volume and somewhat fluffy, but not too much.

Bake it in a large tray, I was using my new silicone 33x33cm (12,8inch) baking tray that is called Silicone roulade mat from Silikomart. It´s brilliant, spreading the cake batter in it is super easy (use a Offset spatula) and the cake bakes evenly. I can warmly recommend this silicone baking tray however if you have a different one, calculate the quantity of the batter according to the size of your tin. Mine is 33x33=1089cm2. If yours is for example 23x23cm=529cm2 then it means you will need 529/1089=0.48 , so about half of the ingredients. Hope you like math!

Make sure you do not over bake the sponge, mine was done in 20 minutes. Over baking would mean making it too dry that will result in cracks while rolling. After baking, the sponge stay elastic and easy to roll.

Let it cool to room temp in the Silicone roulade mat before filling and turning into a beautiful Pistachio Raspberry Yule log. Make sure, you do not leave the sponge out overnight as it will dry out and again, it will result in not being able to roll it up without breaking it.

💡 Top Tip: Make sure, you do not overbeat the egg white, it should be beaten only until the early stiff peaks stage. If the meringue is too stiff, it can form lumps that are difficult to fold into the rest of the cake batter and can result in cake cracking while baking

2. How to make raspberry coulis

As fancy it sounds (like the word Bûche de Noël!!) it is literally cooking raspberry, sugar, lemon juice until the mixture thickens, about 30 minutes. Make sure you cook the mixture long enough so the coulis won´t be too runny to fill the Yule log, however bear in mind that the mixture will further thicken as it cools.

The amount of sugar will depend on the sweetness of the raspberry you are using. I was using frozen one and with the sugar I state in the recipe the coulis turned out to be rather tangy, that in my view goes super well with the creamy pistachio ganache.

💡 Top Tip: Feel free to run the mixture through a sieve to get rid of raspberry seeds. I prefer to keep some seeds in, but get rid of most of it

3. How to make pistachio whipped ganache

This Pistachio Raspberry Yule log will be filled with a super light and fluffy pistachio whipped ganache.

So whipped ganache is a mixture of cream, chocolate and gelatine. I recommend to chose a high quality brand when it comes to chocolate with high cocoa content to avoid disappointment. I am using Callebaut White chocolate (callets), that is creamy and has a natural taste so when I add flavour to the ganache, in this case pistachio paste, it will come through really strongly.

Regarding the cream, I am using heavy cream that has 36% fat content. Do not make ganache using low fat creams or vegetable creams.

Regarding the gelatin, I am using sheet gelatin that is super easy to work with, please see my note about gelatin above. For gelatin conversions and substitutions read my gelatin article

How does the process look like to make pistachio whipped ganache

1. Place finely chopped chocolate into a bowl
2. Pour pistachio paste on top of chocolate
3. Soak gelatin into cold water
4. Heat some part of the cream until simmering. If it’s boiling, the cream is too hot and could burn the chocolate. If the cream is not warm enough, it won´t melt the chocolate properly and won’t emulsify
5. Mix gelatin into warm cream
6. Pour warm cream over the chopped chocolate & pistachio paste
7. Let the two sit for a minute then stir together or use a blender to emulsify
8. Once slightly cooled, pour the rest of the cold cream into the mixture and fold
9. Cover the surface of the ganache with plastic wrap and refrigerate for min. 4 hours
10. 4 hours later or oven better if the next day, take the ganache and gently whip it in a stand mixer (the quantity of the cream will be quite a lot to fill the cake roll and cover also the outside ) It will reach a fluffy, pipeable consistency in a minute or two. Make sure, you do not over beat the mixture after this point

💡 Top Tip: The color of the whipped ganache will depend on the quality of the pistachio paste you are using and can go anywhere from bright green to almost yellowish, or brownish. If unhappy with the color, use a very very small amount of green food coloring

4. How to assemble

Assembling this Pistachio Raspberry Yule log is so easy, quick and rewarding if you have done all the elements correctly

• the choux sponge should be elastic and not dry so it will be easy to roll
• the raspberry coulis should be thick enough so it won´t make a mess
• the whipped ganache should be perfectly light, airy but pipable, not runny so it will be keeping its structure

The Yule log can be rolled either directly from the actual Silicone roulade mat you baked in or if you are more comfortable with parchment paper, then move it onto parchment once Yule log cooled to room temp. With a quick and confident move, flip the sponge onto a parchment paper, then flip again onto another parchment paper so eventually the side that was on the top stays on the top.

While applying the filling on the sponge leave at least 1-2 cm around the side. First apply the raspberry coulis and spread it all over with a large Offset spatula. Then pipe the pistachio whipped ganache on top and again, spread it evenly with a large Offset spatula.

Try to work as neat as possible without mixing the raspberry coulis with the pistachio whipped ganache too much. The amount of pistachio ganache stated in the recipe is enough to fill the cake and also to make the frosting on the outside part so make sure you leave some cream to frost the outside.

After you are happy with the filling, start rolling the cake tightly and neatly from up to down with the help of the parchment paper or Silicone roulade mat. The cream should stay firm during rolling and you can start decorating immediately however if in doubt and you feel the roll is more on the soft side, place it into the freezer for 30 minutes.

For frosting the outside use the ramaining pistachio whipped ganache, pipe it on top and spread it evenly over the top and side as well with an Offset spatula.

💡 Top Tip: You can either leave the cake rustic or for an extra smooth look use a small piece of parchment paper and while holding it with your fingers quickly run it over the cake roll - the parchment will smooth the frosting. Repeat the movement a few times until the frosting looks smooth.

5. How to make chocolate decoration for Bûche de Noël

The chocolate star decoration is what turns a simple a cake roll into a true celebration Yul log or Bûche de Noël! Making this chocolate starts is actually not super hard once you learn how to temper chocolate!

There are various methods to temper chocolate, for home bakers and with small batch of chocolate, I recommend the “seeding method” that is super easy and can be achieved with a microwave and thermometer, eg. Infrared thermometer gun.

Please check my hot chocolate bomb tutorial where I go in much more detail about chocolate tempering topic.

So once you have tempered your chocolate, spread chocolate over a Silicone baking mat in an even layer with the help of a large Offset spatula. Not too thin, not too thick, sort of 1-2 mm thick then sprinkle with freezed dried raspberries and wait.

You will need to wait for the perfect moment to cut out the stars, the exact moment when chocolate starts to set but not too hard yet. Visually the chocolate will go from shiny to mat however deciding on the exact moment will obviously will require some practice.

Since my kitchen is rather hot, I personally like to put the chocolate into the fridge for 2-3 minutes and check every 30 seconds. It is a good idea to check the side of your chocolate with your finger and see how hard it has set already. Then when chocolate already firm enough but not too hard cut out the circles with a cookie cutter.

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