I’ve long been a fan of the roll cake: its tubular shape, hypnotically coiled cross-section, and puffy round slice. Yet, decoration rarely ventures beyond a smattering of berries and cream, or in the Yule log’s case, a fork-carved grain. The bûche de Noël first originated in 19th-century Parisian pâtisseries, inspired by a timeworn European tradition in which a village or household member scoured the wintry woods for a log massive enough to burn for 12 consecutive days. The festive dessert evokes Christmas hearths of yore with an unmistakable chocolate “bark” exterior and marzipan-and-meringue-sculpted fairytale forest embellishments.
Though the Yule log had once sprouted from a place of whimsical evolution (not many of us are reliably lugging colossal hunks of wood home), its flavors and construction have yet to experience the breadth of remix its flat-sheet and round-tiered kin have undergone. Nearly two centuries later, we find today’s eater expecting surprise as much as they crave nostalgia—priming the bûche de Noël for play. That’s why this holiday season we invited five artist-bakers to reimagine the cake beyond its brown buttercream bounds and into a new tablescape-worthy terrain.
Mina Park (known by her bakery moniker 99), paints her airy whipped cream with vibrant green to honeyed ombré in a bamboo-inspired design. Lauren Schofield’s signature mosaics appear against a snowy Alpine canvas, paved with candied fruit that sparkle like frosted gems. Riffing on celebratory holiday spreads from her childhood, Michelle Ashurov (Reverie Deli) trusses a savory caterpillar with swirling blini, herbed butter, and trout roe. Ayako Kurokawa (Burrow) references the baumkuchen with her elegant stump cake built in tree-ring-like layers. And Jen Monroe (Bad Taste) encases the original Yule log formula—a familiar forest ecosystem—in a sugary shell as iridescent and improbable as blown glass. Each is a spiraling rendition paying homage to the log’s playful roots.
