Bûche de Noël (Christmas Log/樹幹年輪蛋糕)

This is my last post for 2012, so I want to introduce to you a traditional French holiday dessert that they have here in Quebec: bûche de Noël (Christmas log). My friend, who's a local, told me that he and his family have it every Christmas, and that it's an old French tradition. If you walk around Quebec, you'll see that all the bakeries and supermarkets offer them during this time of the year. 

We were in the Vieux Quebec (Old City) a few days ago and saw many different kinds of bûche de Noël in this bakery and café. 

 

聖誕節前夕在城裡閒逛，正好看到這家咖啡廳販賣很多種的樹幹年輪蛋糕

(閱讀中文請看續文)

The bûche de Noël is a log-shaped cake roll that resembles the Yule log that was traditionally burned on Christmas. It's usually filled with chocolate buttercream, though occasionally you'll see it made with ice cream. It's often decorated with little Christmas branches, axes, snowmen, Santa figures, meringue mushrooms...etc, and powdered sugar that looks like snow. 

I've seen it in the States, but it's not as common there to have bûche de Noël for Christmas. Since I've never had it before and it's part of the tradition here, I thought I'd give it a try. It's one of those things like foie gras, pâté, or ris de veau (sweetbread); we're here, so we like to share in the spirit of things. Unfortunately it wasn't really my cup of tea (since I'm not a fan of cream and sweet decorative things), but I'll say that it was still worth trying, and who knows, I might decide to make it one of these Christmases if we end up staying in Quebec long enough! 

Photos on different varieties of Bûche de Noël were hung on the front window to attract customers

咖啡店櫥窗上掛滿各種可愛又吸引人的聖誕樹幹蛋糕照片 

 

這是我今年的最後一篇，所以想向大家介紹這個魁北克聖誕節常見的一道甜點 - 樹幹年輪蛋糕。朋友告訴我, 他與家人每年聖誕節都一定做這個蛋糕來慶祝, 因為這是長久以來傳統的法國習俗。每年的這個時候, 這裡大大小小的麵包店和超市都可以看得到這個傳統的蛋糕！

傳統樹幹年輪蛋糕通常呈現圓形長條狀,意味著從前法國在聖誕節燃燒木材之習俗。材料包括鮮奶油、咖啡或巧克力奶油, 有時候甚至以冰淇淋製做的也有。裝飾老班底通常是迷你聖誕樹、雪人、 聖誕老人及撒一點糖粉來製造雪花ˇFU。

  

之前住在美國的時候雖然也看過這個蛋糕, 但在美國以樹幹年輪蛋糕來慶祝的並不像在這裡這麼普遍, 所以也從來沒特別買來吃。但我們既然搬到這裡, 這又是魁北克的傳統, 不給它嘗試一下啊捏甘丟!? 就像那些有名的法式食品, 如鵝肝醬啦、小牛胸腺…等等，必吃名單啊！可惜的是, 嘗試之後，並沒有真的愛上它 (可能是因為我個人沒有很喜歡吃奶油和甜點裝飾的一些東西)，但不管如何, 誰曉得哪一年我失心瘋的心血來潮, 自己來做一個也說不定喔！

 

Admiring and gazing through the display case

欣賞玻璃窗裡展示的樹幹年輪蛋糕

They have quite a lot of varieties that come in large, medium and small sizes

 

他們供應的種類及口味還不少，而且尺寸還有分大、中、小

 

We picked the only one that was left on the left

我們挑左邊剩下的最後一個

It was our first bûche de Noël (with chocolate and almond)! 
 

這是我們的第一個樹幹年輪蛋糕 (巧克力與杏仁口味)!

Well, I hope you had fun scrolling through these pictures. If you have a chance to come to Quebec around this time of the year, you must indulge yourself with a bûche de Noël! I wish everyone Happy New Year! See you next year~

如果你在這個季節來到魁北克, 你必須讓自己入境隨俗的沉浸於傳統的法國文化裡, 嚐嚐這個蛋糕！在此祝大家新年快樂！≧▽≦

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