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From Epicurious comes this wonderful recipe for Buche De Noel which we’ve edited a bit. In our house we have some tree nut allergies. Traditionally this cake uses almonds or other nuts but we can’t use those so they’ve been removed.

The result is still delicious and looks just gorgeous on your Christmas table.

Buttercream

* 6 large egg yolks
* 1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups half and half
* 8 ounces imported white chocolate (such as Lindt), chopped
* 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel

Cake
* 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
* 6 large eggs, separated
* 10 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* Powdered sugar
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

For buttercream:
Whisk egg yolks, sugar and flour in medium bowl. Bring half and half to simmer slightly and then very slowly whisk in the eggs.Cook until boiling and beginning to thicken   Add chocolate and orange peel and stir until the entire thing is smooth. Cover it to keep a skin from forming.

To make the cake

Preheat your oven to 300°F. Butter 11×17-inch jelly roll pan or a heavy duty thick cookie sheet. I line them with parchment or foil then butter and flour it.

Beat yolks with 5 tablespoons brown sugar in medium bowl until you begin to see ribbons form when you lift the beaters. Then stir in the orange peels and the vanilla. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and fold them into the rest of the brown sugar and fold it all into the yolk mix.

Bake until toothpick  comes out clean It will usually take bout half hour.

Slide cake on parchment onto work surface. Loosen cake from parchmentand then sprinkle or sift some powdered sugar over cake. Invert cake onto another surface and then sprinkle it  with powdered sugar

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in Grand Marnier. Add pastry cream 1/4 cup at a time, beating after each addition

Spread half of buttercream over cake, leaving 1/2-inch border. Starting at 1 long side, roll up cake jelly roll fashion. Arrange seam side down on parchment. Set aside 1/2 cup buttercream; spread remaining buttercream over cake. Cut 2 inches off each end of cake, cutting on diagonal.