Featured Wine

Coffee Buche de Noel

3 sticks of Folder's instant coffee

4 eggs, yolks and whites separated

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup cake flour, or all purpose

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar, plus a bit more for dusting

1 container chocolate frosting (yes i cheated, feel free to make from scratch)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a deep sided baking pan with parchment paper. I used the smaller pan that usually has a rack in it to hold tenderloins and roasts).

Put the egg whites in a stand mixer and whisk until soft peaks form, which should take 2 to 3 minutes. Don't whisk to the point they start to harden like you would for a meringue.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar together until they're incorporated and a pale yellow. In another bowl mix cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking powder, and one of the packets of instant coffee. Combine the dry mixture into the egg yolks. It will be super hard to mix, i found a rubber spatula worked best. Once it's as mixed as you can get it, add in half the egg whites. Gently stir it in to loosen the batter. Once it's well blended, add in the rest of the egg whites and very gently fold it into the batter. You want to keep as much air in it as possible. Pour the batter into the lined baking pan & smooth the top with the spatula.

Bake until it springs back after being touched, between 6 & 7 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 2 minutes (you still want it warm for the next part). Take a clean tea/kitchen towel and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Flip the cake onto it and gently peel of the parchment paper off the bottom. Once the paper is off, roll the cake in the towel starting on the short side, making a towel & cake burrito. Let sit until it cools.

While the cake cools, pour the whipping cream into a stand mixer & whisk until you get folds appearing. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla and a stick of the instant coffee. Keep mixing until you get a frosting like texture.

Once the cake is cool, unroll & spread the coffee whipped cream over the surface, keeping some space around the edges so it isn't as messy when you roll it.

Roll the cake up like you did before, but this time will look much nicer since it looks like a giant Swiss cake roll.

If you use premade frosting like i did, I suggest whisking it with a hand mixer until it lightens in color & texture. Sprinkle in about half of your third packet of instant coffee to add flavor & get a speckled look. Frost your cake, using the tip of your spatula or a fork to make ridges for a tree bark texture, then sprinkle  with powdered sugar for a more Christmas/snow look.

Refrigerate for half an hour to let the whipped cream center set, making it easier to cut & keep it's shape. I did do that before this picture so it was still very soft. It looked better once it cooled and i tried again.