Have you ever wondered why chocolate Yule logs are eaten at Christmas? Over the years the Yule log has become staple Christmas fare alongside the mince pies and Christmas cake. Although it is now more commonly thought of as a cake for children, in the past the Yule log played a significant role in the Christmas festivities.
Chocolate Yule logs are, as the name suggests, chocolate cakes that are rolled up to replicate the shape of a log. A slice is taken from one end and placed on the cake to form a branch. It is then covered with swirls of chocolate icing to create the texture of bark, before being finished off with decorative holly leaves or other festive symbols. Normally a butter cream filled Swiss roll is used as the basis of the log. However, a more sophisticated version can be made using a dark chocolate roulade filled with whipped cream and sweetened chestnut puree. A ganache made with dark chocolate, cream and Brandy can be used to create the bark effect.
The custom of the Yule log originates from Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe, but it was a real log, not a cake. As part of the Nordic winter celebrations a tree branch was ceremoniously burnt to appease the god Thor. Back in Britain, the Druids celebrated the winter solstice by creating a perpetual fire out of oak logs. In the years following the Viking invasion elements of these two traditions merged and the burning of the Yule log became entrenched in Christmas festivities. It was considered unlucky to buy a log so it had to be either received as a gift or found nearby. Collecting the Yule log was a ceremonious event which was celebrated with singing and dancing. The log, which was usually lit on Christmas Eve, was elaborately decorated with holly and other evergreens. It was kept burning until Twelfth night, purifying the house of all misfortune as it burned. Embers from the log were kept throughout the year as a talisman and would be used to light the following year’s Yule log.
So, if the custom was originally to burn a real log where did the chocolate Yule log come from? The answer is from Paris, where one legend tells that Napoleon I ordered that all chimneys must be blocked up because he believed that the cold draughts coming down them caused illness. This meant that the traditional burning of the Yule log could not take place so some resourceful French bakers created the chocolate Yule log, or Bûche de Noël, as a symbolic substitute. Even now, long queues still form outside Parisian bakers on Christmas Eve, as people wait to collect their Bûche de Noël. Elsewhere, the tradition of burning the Yule log became less and less popular as the large open fires necessary to hold the huge log, were no longer used. The chocolate log became the contemporary adaptation of the ancient tradition.
© Suzie Banks 2009
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