Easy Chocolate Yule Log Recipe (Bûche de Noël)

To make a chocolate yule log, bake a thin chocolate Swiss-roll sponge for 10 minutes, then roll it up warm in sugared paper so it cools with the curl already in it. That single step is what stops it cracking. Once cool, unroll, fill with chocolate buttercream, re-roll, coat in ganache, and drag a fork through for the bark. It is far more forgiving than it looks.

A yule log, or bûche de Noël, is the same cake by two names: a rolled chocolate sponge dressed up to look like a log for the Christmas table. The French gave it the romance; the rest of us mostly want it not to split down the middle. It will not, if you roll it warm and keep the filling thin. What follows is the full recipe in proper UK quantities, the no-crack technique explained, a fix for every kind of crack, and how to make the whole thing days ahead.

Is a yule log the same as a bûche de Noël?

Yes — bûche de Noël means “Christmas log” in French, and it is the same cake as the British yule log. Both are a thin sponge, usually chocolate, rolled around a filling and coated to resemble a bark-covered log. The tradition borrows its name from the real yule log once burned on the hearth through the Christmas period; the edible version took over as open fires gave way to central heating. You will see “chocolate log”, “Swiss roll” and “roulade” used loosely for the same idea. A roulade is the slightly posher, often flourless cousin; everything below makes a reliable, flour-based log that holds its shape.

What you need

The good news for anyone eyeing the price of a shop-bought one: a yule log uses store-cupboard ingredients and one piece of kit you probably own. Nothing here is specialist.

Kit

• A 33×23cm Swiss-roll tin (a shallow rectangular baking tray) lined with baking paper. Any similar size will do; a slightly larger tin gives a thinner, easier-to-roll sponge.
• An electric whisk. You can do it by hand, but whisking eggs to the ribbon takes real effort.
• A clean sheet of baking paper and a little caster sugar or cocoa for turning out.

Ingredients (serves 8–10)

For the sponge: 4 large eggs, 100g caster sugar, 65g self-raising flour, 40g cocoa powder. For the chocolate buttercream filling: 150g softened butter, 250g icing sugar, 40g cocoa, 2 tbsp milk. For the ganache coat: 200g dark chocolate, 200ml double cream. To finish: icing sugar, for the snow.

How to make a chocolate yule log without it cracking

The whole method turns on one move: rolling the sponge while it is warm. A warm sponge is pliable and sets into whatever shape you leave it in, so you roll it up empty, let it cool curled, then unroll it only enough to fill and re-roll along the crease it already has. By then the cake has, in effect, agreed to be a log. The diagram below is the order of play from bowl to bark.

Why you whisk the eggs to the ribbon

The sponge has no added raising beyond the flour and the air you beat in, so the whisking is the recipe. Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale, tripled in volume and thick enough to leave a trail — a “ribbon” — that sits on the surface for a few seconds before sinking. Those whisked-in air bubbles do two jobs: they lift the sponge as it bakes, and they give it the fine, flexible crumb that lets it bend without snapping. Fold the flour and cocoa in gently with a metal spoon so you keep that air; beat it now and you knock the life out of the cake and invite a crack later.

Roll warm, not cold: settling the great yule-log argument

If you read three recipes you will find two camps, and it is worth knowing why. One rolls the warm sponge up in a tea towel or paper, cools it rolled, then unrolls to fill. The other cools the sponge flat between sheets of paper and rolls only once, at the end. Both can work, but they are solving different problems. Rolling warm trains the curl into the cake while the crumb is still soft, which is the surest defence against cracking and the method this recipe uses. Cooling flat avoids a faint “memory crease” and suits a very thin, well-made sponge in confident hands. For a first attempt, or a busy kitchen, roll it warm: it is the more forgiving of the two, and a hairline crease vanishes under the ganache anyway.

Why a yule log cracks — and how to fix it

Almost every cracked log comes down to one of four causes, and each has a simple fix. Use the grid as a diagnosis chart: find the symptom, apply the fix, and the next one behaves.

One reassurance worth holding on to: a crack is cosmetic, not fatal. The ganache coat and a dusting of icing sugar hide a great deal, and the log will taste exactly as good. The fork-dragged bark is, conveniently, the best camouflage in baking.

Ganache or buttercream: which to use

Use ganache if you want gloss and a grown-up, slightly bitter finish; use chocolate buttercream if you want a sturdier log that travels, sits out at room temperature and survives small hands. Many people, sensibly, use buttercream inside for stability and ganache outside for the look. The table sorts it out.

	Chocolate ganache	Chocolate buttercream
Made from	Dark chocolate + double cream, melted together	Butter + icing sugar + cocoa, beaten
Texture & taste	Glossy, dense, properly chocolatey, less sweet	Light, sweet, holds a fork-mark crisply
At room temperature	Softens in a warm room; happiest chilled	Stable; sits out on the table all afternoon
Make-ahead	Best within a day or two; can dull if frozen	Excellent; freezes and keeps well
Difficulty	Easy, but needs 20 minutes to thicken before use	Easy and instant; very forgiving
Best for	A showpiece finish, An elegant grown-up table	Making ahead, taking to someone’s house, baking with children

Roll it warm, fill it thin, and a yule log is one of the most forgiving cakes you will bake.

Decorating: bark, snow and the holly warning

The bark is the easy part and the best job to hand to children: spread the coating, then drag a fork along the length of the log in slightly wavy lines. Add the cut-off stump to one side for a branch, and run the fork over its end in concentric rings to suggest tree rings. A dusting of icing sugar just before serving is the snow — do it at the last minute, as it slowly dissolves into the ganache.

For the festive trimmings, a few classics never miss: a scatter of icing sugar, a robin or a tiny cake topper, fresh or sugared cranberries, rosemary sprigs dusted to look frosted, or meringue mushrooms if you are feeling ambitious. Edible gold or a white-chocolate drizzle reads as ice.

Gluten-free and other swaps

For a gluten-free yule log, swap the self-raising flour for the same weight of a gluten-free self-raising blend and add a quarter-teaspoon of xanthan gum (unless your blend already contains it). Xanthan gives the sponge the stretch that gluten would, which is exactly what a rolled cake needs; without it, a gluten-free sponge is more prone to cracking, so roll it while it is still warm and handle it gently. A few other useful swaps:

• No self-raising flour? Use plain flour plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
• Dairy-free: use a block dairy-free spread in the buttercream and a dairy-free cream alternative in the ganache with dark chocolate that has no milk solids.
• A lighter filling: fill with sweetened whipped cream or a chestnut-and-cream mixture instead of buttercream, but assemble it on the day, as cream does not keep as long.

Make ahead, storing and freezing

A yule log is a genuine make-ahead pudding, which is its great advantage on a crowded Christmas Eve. You can bake and roll the empty sponge a day ahead and keep it wrapped, or assemble the whole thing and chill it. The table below is the honest timeline.

Stage	How to store	How long
Sponge rolled, unfilled	Wrapped in its paper, airtight, cool	1 day
Assembled and coated	Loosely covered, in the fridge	3–4 days
Frozen, undecorated	Filled, wrapped well, no ganache yet	Up to 2 months
Frozen, fully decorated	Open-freeze, then wrap; coat may dull	Up to 1 month

To serve from frozen, defrost in the fridge overnight and dust with fresh icing sugar before it goes to the table. Bring it out of the fridge half an hour before serving so the sponge is not fridge-cold — a yule log eats best at cool room temperature.

Doing it on a budget, and with the children

This is a cheap cake to make and a dear one to buy, which is the whole argument for making it. Four eggs, some flour, sugar, cocoa, butter and a bar of dark chocolate come to a fraction of a bakery log, and the result is fresher. Own-brand cocoa and supermarket dark chocolate work perfectly well here; save the good stuff for eating. If you are short of time, a bought chocolate Swiss roll can be re-coated and barked at home — not quite the same, but no shame in it.

It is also a forgiving bake to do with children, precisely because the messy, cracky bits are the bits that hide. Let them spread the ganache, drag the fork for the bark and dust the snow; the crack down the side becomes a feature, and nobody minds.

Round out the Christmas table

If you are baking your way through December, our gingerbread house guide is the other showpiece bake, and a pair of Christmas cocktails rounds off the evening. For the main event, see our guides to the perfect turkey crown, Christmas ham and pigs in blankets, and let the December to-do list keep the whole day on schedule.

Chocolate yule log FAQ

Why does my yule log keep cracking?

Almost always one of four things: the sponge was over-baked and dried out, it was rolled after it had cooled flat, the filling was too thick, or it stuck to the paper. Bake for only 10 minutes, roll it warm with sugared paper inside, keep the filling thin, and turn it out onto sugar-dusted paper. A coat of ganache hides any hairline crack that does appear.

Is a bûche de Noël the same as a yule log?

Yes. Bûche de Noël is French for “Christmas log” and means the same cake: a rolled chocolate sponge decorated to look like a log. “Chocolate log” is the same thing again.

Should I use ganache or buttercream?

Ganache gives a glossy, less-sweet, grown-up finish but softens in a warm room; buttercream is sweeter, sturdier and better for making ahead or baking with children. A common approach is buttercream inside for stability and ganache outside for the look.

Can you freeze a yule log?

Yes. Freeze it filled but undecorated for up to two months, or fully decorated for up to a month, though the ganache may dull. Defrost in the fridge overnight and dust with fresh icing sugar before serving.

How far in advance can I make a yule log?

Assembled and coated, it keeps three to four days loosely covered in the fridge. You can also bake and roll the empty sponge a day ahead and fill it nearer the time.

How do I make a gluten-free yule log?

Swap the self-raising flour for a gluten-free self-raising blend of the same weight and add a quarter-teaspoon of xanthan gum if your blend does not already include it. Xanthan gives the sponge the flexibility it needs to roll; handle it gently and roll it warm.

Can I decorate a yule log with real holly?

No. Real holly leaves and berries are poisonous if eaten, and the berries are especially a risk to children. Use sugar-paste or edible holly, or keep a real sprig as a separate table decoration well away from the cake.

Do I have to roll it while it is hot?

Roll it while it is warm rather than hot — warm enough to be pliable, cool enough to handle. Rolling it warm and letting it cool in the rolled shape is the single most reliable way to stop it cracking.

What size tin do I need for a yule log?

A standard 33×23cm Swiss-roll tin. A slightly larger tin gives a thinner sponge that rolls more easily; a smaller one gives a thicker sponge that is more prone to cracking.

By Linda Garrould · Updated 14 June 2026 · christmascountdown.co.uk

Yule LogBûche de NoëlChristmas BakingChocolateMake-Ahead