A traditional dessert served during the Christmas holidays in France, Belgium, Quebec, Lebanon and several other Christian-populated francophone countries as well as in the UK. As the name indicates, the cake is generally prepared, presented, and garnished so as to look like a log ready for the fire. The traditional bûche is made from a Génoise or other sponge cake, generally baked in a large, shallow Swiss roll pan, frosted, rolled to form a cylinder, and frosted again on the outside. The most common combination is a basic yellow sponge cake, frosted and filled with chocolate buttercream; however, many variations on the traditional recipe exist, possibly including chocolate cakes, ganache and espresso or otherwise-flavored frostings and fillings. Bûches are often served with a portion of one end of the cake cut off and set on top of the cake or protruding from its side to resemble a chopped off branch, and bark-like texture is often produced in the buttercream for further realism. These cakes are often decorated with powdered sugar to resemble snow, tree branches, fresh berries, and mushrooms made of meringue.
This recipe is for the traditional dutch apple pie, found on a Belgian website. It can be served both warm or cold, usually with whipped cream (but ice cream tastes great as well 😀 ). You will need a *springform* cake pan, or a lot of patience, or you will not be able to get the pie out! Because Dutch recipes generally use grams instead of cups for dry ingredients, I have included the measurements in grams as well. The dough is shortbread-like and may take a lot of time to get right. It took me ages to get it to form a ball, but it worked out fine in the end. If you’re getting tired of it, add a little milk, but don’t despair for with or without the milk, it *will* from a ball in the end. If you want, you can prepare the apple mixture the previous day and keep it in the fridge, the flavors will blend wonderfully. If you want to prepare the dough in advance, take it out of the fridge in time, because it’s really hard to work with when it’s just been in the fridge for a whole night. The preparation time is a rough estimate and assumes that you peel the apples while the dough is in the fridge. I’m quite slow at preparing so it could be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours for you. Last but not least, *do* make sure you have a bit of dough left over for the third to last step – you deserve a little something for all that hard work! 😀
This is Vienna’s “Pride and Glory.” This recipe is adapted from Rick Rodgers’ “Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.”
An earthy, hearty and warming Italian-Austrian medley of fantastic aroma, a bit of work and effort, but absolutely worth it! Serve as a starter or main dish.
I have a friend in Duxbury, MA, who used to describe herself as the “hamburger queen.” This recipe was concocted for her to show her that ground meat can not only be truly tasty, but also elegant, exotic and fit for company… This recipe is Bohemian in origin. You may substitute commercial puff pastry, if desired, although it will change the texture and make the results much heavier. Fussing with the phyllo is worth the time and effort.
