Abby Dahan, pastry chef extraordinaire at Parc in Rittenhouse, was born and trained in France, where you'll find a Buche de Noel in every store window during the holidays. With Parc being a traditional French brasserie, Dahan aims to keep the tradition alive, offering them for dessert at the restaurant, and to take home for any at-home festivities.
How it's made:
- A half inch-thick chocolate genoise, or chocolate sponge cake, gets laid out on a pan lined with parchment paper, and then soaked with chocolate syrup.
- A layer of Valrhona crunchy praline gets spread across the cake, and then another layer of salted caramel butter cream on top.
- The cake is rolled, soaked again in chocolate syrup, and then covered in salted caramel buttercream.
- Colorful mushrooms, leaves, and holly berries made of merengue and fondant are poked into the log, with gold leaf scattered on top.
A small log (serves four), it's $35, and a large one (serves eight) is $70. Order between now and the December 15, and pick-up is on the 23rd anytime after noon. Call into Parc for a pre-order.
