Holiday Dessert Recipes So Gorgeous You'll Make Them Twice (2024)

FAQs

What kind of desserts are you going to make if there is a celebration at home? ›

We favor desserts made in individual portions, such as cookies and cupcakes, or ones that can be easily portioned out—think bar cookies, sheet cakes, and Bundts—so there is less to fuss over at the last minute. We have included a few easy treats, like fruit crisps, that you could scoop and serve at the party.

Bûche de Noël, or Yule log

The most traditional Christmas cake in France is the Yule log, or bûche de Noël. A rolled sponge cake filled with buttercream, it is shaped and decorated with chocolate frosting or ganache to resemble a log of wood.

Yule Log (Bûche de Noël): A Sweet Symbol of Tradition

The Bûche de Noël, shaped like a log, is a Christmas dessert tradition. Crafted from sponge cake and filled with delectable flavors, it is a festive centerpiece enjoyed at the end of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

It is in fact a reference a religious reference, as religion is a core value in Provence: Christ having taken his 'last supper' with his 12 apostles before being crucified, 12 desserts for the latter and one for Christ.

Following midnight mass, it is time for the 13 desserts. The amount has nothing to do with a baker's dozen but rather is equal to the number of participants around the table at the Last Supper; Jesus and his 12 apostles. The exact make-up of les treize desserts is not prescriptive.

This tradition goes back centuries, in Provence, where locals have long enjoyed a laundry list of fruits, nuts, and cakes on Christmas Eve; the number thirteen, it seems, was only imposed in the 1920s, an amalgam, perhaps, of a tradtiton of baking thirteen small loaves of bread (representing Jesus and the twelve ...