Bûche de Noël - Doodlewash
By Charlie

Bûche de Noël

Written by Charlie O'Shields

Since the partridge in a pear tree lost the vote again we have, instead, a delicious bûche de Noël. At least that’s what it’s called at our house, but many might refer to it as a Yule log. This one is chocolate, like Philippe made last year, but for this year we talked about rolling up my favorite “Christmas cake” into a birch tree so we can get the best of both worlds!

When it comes to Christmas, I used to just get excited about the gifts. But with these new traditions of foie gras, gravlax, and bûche de Noël from Philippe, I’m possibly even more excited for the food. We just buried our salmon in salt and sugar for the gravlax so we’ll say hello to it again in a few days. By hello, I mean we’ll devour it like we’ve not eaten at all during the wait.

As a kid, we never made a Yule log at Christmas, opting instead for the usual pies and occasional cobbler. So, the closest thing I had to one of these was a Hostess Ho Ho, which had a similar look, but the similarities ended there. What I love most about these is that after we have our first piece at Christmas, we get to keep sawing off slices for the next four days or so, which I like to think of as “Bonus Christmas” days.

I’ve been told that for the next few days, however, we’ll be eating more “sensibly” in preparation for the coming feast. I’ll be enjoying lightly steamed brussels sprouts and quinoa while shivering with the anticipation of all the goodies ahead. I know it’s for the best, as he doesn’t want me to look like Santa Claus come Christmas, but let’s just say this week can’t go by quickly enough!

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

See author's posts

Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in By Charlie

55 Comments

0 Shares

55 thoughts on “Bûche de Noël”

  1. C’est magnifique, mon frere! (Haha my French is v rusty lol) Beautiful work as always, and I am really wishing I could sit down and have a slice, Charlie! So much better than a ho-ho (and no genetically modified ingredients, I’d almost bet, lol, since P made it!) You lucky duckie!

    Reply

  7. I think the food and wine is part of celebration too, Charlie! 🍷 Lucky you to have Philippe who enjoys cooking and baking! Your doodlewash looks delicious and is a feast for the eyes! 💖💕🎁😊

    Reply

  10. LOL! Your food sounds so wonderful – even the brussells sprouts and quinoa now! And the Yule log looks good enough to eat! There is nothing you can’t doodlewash Charlie O!!! Love it!

    Reply

  11. Aahh, memories! When I was married for all those years, we never had a yule log, just the traditional bake Christmas pudding soaked in brandy, with hard brandy sauce and simply scrumptious whipped cream bolstered with added brandy…are you gettin’ the picture here?!! Oi vey! LOL. (How did we survive…) I used to prepare the sixpences (in today’s money the five Aussie cent piece, or your dime, size-wise) that went into the pudding which my husband made a few months prior. I enjoyed it, fully expecting to break a tooth each time I bit into a piece. The idea of the coin, if you got one or two, was to give you the sense that the coming new year would be prosperous for you.

    Your Yule log reminds me of the lab-made product called Chocolate Roly Poly found in the supermarkets, much favoured by me at odd moments. Delicious, but wicked for the hips! 🙂 My Mom made a delicious log, lookin’ like snow had landed, with bits of chocolate twigs scattered around, holly berries and a sprig of fresh pine leaves clipped from the Christmas tree, and smelling divine.

    Reply

    1. That’s so cool! What fun memories this inspired, Janina! Love it! ❤️😃And anything soaked in Brandy sounds sort of amazing actually. The coins sound super fun…I could use some of those for a prosperous year ahead. Hehe… and your description of your mom’s Yule log just doubled my already insane Christmas spirit!! Yum!! I’m so ready for the holidays!!! Hehe! 🎄😃

      Reply

          1. Thank you. My Christmas was lovely. Sharing is a good thing but I ate a whole slice of black forest cake and I didn’t share. Best Chrsitmas so far I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well. Happy New year in advance

  17. Beautiful, deliscious looking doodlewash! You´re really a lucky guy!!! Since my grandma is not able to bake (she forgets every five minutes that it´s gonna be Christmas soon) I don´t get stollen, vanilla biscuits, and butter cookies anymore. I should make some time and bake them myself… maybe some for my grandma too. 😉 Say HI to Philippe and Phineas and enjoy Christmas preparations!!! 🎄🌟❄️🎁

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much Ann!! 💕😃 Yeah…I’m really lucky!! 😊😊hehe… I wouldn’t have anything if it were left up to me. And poor grandma, you should definitely bake something! (This from the guy who can’t, of course😊hehe) And thanks, we’re enjoying the preparation, but I can’t wait until it’s finally here!! 🎄😃

      Reply

  19. Better late than never – I’ve missed my daily doodlewash fix! Tsk, Charlie… this is just absurd… far far too appetising a doodlewash! I don’t know how on earth you make stuff look so darn edible, but indeed it would probably be hard to make this not look ludicrously tempting. I would definitely be looking forward to that just as much as anything else!

    And I totally haven’t just spent twenty minutes playing with the little snow effect you’ve got going on here. Not at all.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Jacob!! I can only imagine your days have been rather empty without your daily doodlewash fix! 😉hehe… and the snow effect was just an on/off feature in WordPress. You can make snow until Jan. 4th! I figured that’s the only snow many of us will get this season! (And you were totally playing with it for 20 minutes…hehe)

      Reply

  20. I cook each year a Bûche de Noël all chocolate or with chestnut cream inside and chocolate outside. It is delicious ! I never paint it I just take a picture ! And I eat it of course !

    Reply

          1. Yes I am in France that’s why I well know “la Bûche de Noël” and “Le pain perdu” (bread, eggs with salt or sugar and some milk) : what you call “French toast”. I did not know that there was the French toast day !!! Le pain perdu (with sugar) is for me a simple dessert using some old bread to finish a meal. And like this the old bread is not wasted 😊

          2. That’s wonderful! Sounds delicious! My partner, Philippe, is from Paris! I had no idea that there was a French Toast Day here on the States. Hehe…but we tend to make up silly days for anything and that’s what inspired my project that month! Lol

Leave Me A Comment!

Discover more from Doodlewash®

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading