Welcome to Day 19 of Partners In A Pair Tree –
Kelly and Mo Celebrate December!
Christmas Buche de Noel
The Christmas Buche de Noel saga will never be forgotten.
In September of her grade 8 year, my daughter bounced in the door with festive news.
“We’re going to make Christmas Buche de Noel as a class fundraiser this December!”
“Excuse me? You’re making what?”
“You know! Christmas Buche de Noel! Cakes that are rolled up with whipped cream in the middle and then decorated on the outside with yummy swirly icing and candies!”
“Of course. Yule logs!” My mind flashed back to Christmases of old. Friends (not my family – we were more of a figgy pudding bent) often offered up a festive slice or two over the holidays.
I had to give full marks to Madame B who was my daughter’s main teacher in the French Immersion program. The fact that she was willing to take on the organisation of twenty-eight grade 8 students making god knows how many Christmas Buche de Noel cakes during exam week was truly quite remarkable.
December rolled around with order forms for Christmas Buche de Noel cakes. At $12.00 a cake they were bound to sell well.
They did. Parents, relatives and business pals ordered multiples. Even my skeptical sister (we once gave her a birthday cake won at the school carnival cakewalk that could have done with another 20 minutes in the oven) ordered three. Clearly people were thinking the Christmas Buche de Noel would make fine hostess gifts and festive desserts that year. The final tally was close to 200.
Of course, Christmas Buche de Noel day arrived faster than expected.
It was extraordinary. For some reason, perhaps mere blind faith, Madame chose to forego a run through demo of the creation of the Christmas Buche de Noel. Instead she presented her students with crisp copies of the recipe and simply told them to go to it. Unfortunately Madame B had seriously underestimated the culinary knowledge of her students. Many had never baked before; most certainly not from scratch. Their hand washing basics were nonexistent. The end result was interesting.
Instead of a Christmas Buche de Noel such as this delight:
The recipients were treated to Christmas Buche de Noel more along the likes of this:
Why the wealth of gaping holes in the clumpy icing and the absolute dearth of candy? Apparently some of the chefs were hungry.
Fortunately the students baked their own orders. Our family was blessed. Most of the ones we ordered turned out like this:
Lots of icing and lots of candy. As an added bonus my daughter and her friend thankfully confirmed they’d washed their hands throughout the entire process.
As for the other families and their “interesting” looking Christmas Buche de Noel delights? Apparently they were grateful that they tasted vastly different than they looked.
It is with great delight that I add my Day 19 ornament to our Partners In a Pair Tree. It is the photo of our precious Christmas Buche de Noel.
Now enough about our Christmas Buche de Noel. Does your family indulge in a Christmas Yule log or Christmas Buche de Noel? Or have you ever encountered such a horrific charming festive baking fundraiser? If you’d care to share, I’d love to hear.
18 Responses
That would NOT be a fundraiser I would want to sign up for! My baking skills leave quite a bit to be desired!! You were right, this one was a doozy!
Oh but for the gift of foresight Michelle. Had I known ahead of time …
Laughed out loud! Well remember those days including the Cake Walk prize of a green birthday cake! Thanks for the memories and Merry Christmas to all! Wend
Yikes – the look on your face when presented with yet another birthday cake from the Cake Walk days…
Hilarious!! I love your stories!!
Thank you Sandy. I cannot look at a yule log to this day without remembering the grade 8 version. The best part was the look on the parents’ faces when we all arrived at school to pick up our orders. Oh man – I wish I had a camera that day.
This is hilarious Kelly ! I cannot believe that the teacher actually thought this would be a great fundraiser. I am interested to know if she had kids herself and if she had ever tried it before !! Glad that Meredith actually made some lovely looking ones !
At the time she had no children. She does now! I am quite, quite certain she had never made them before as the students’ questions underwent major deflection. Yes, we were indeed blessed M’s turned out ok!
HI Kelly,
Well Shelby and I are in complete gut wrenching laughter over this post. Firstly, “madame B” could a name be anymore appropriate!! Secondly, the nightmare of the redecoration of those treats?? It is honestly the only fundraiser that cost me money to run to the local grocery store to purchase extra icing and items to at the very least make these yule tide treasures presentable.
Thank you again friend for a laugh filled trip down memory lane!!
I love it! You had to “redecorate” your versions? Oh man that is funny. Thank you for the update!
I’m laughing it up with Janice and Shelby. The way you write, like the straight comic delivering a “why sure” to a child who says, “Hey mom, our class is making 200 log roll cakes” cracks me up.
But Kelly. Kelly, Kelly, Kelly. Each time I read a post (it feels collective now), I shake my head in wonder about the glitterbomb of mom you are. Truly amazing. I’m getting you a Superwoman shirt for Christmas.
Hahaha!Thank you Susan. However I truly don’t deserve it in this case as I was lucky to avoid any part of the Buche de Noel. They did it all on their own!
Oh my GOSH!!! I can’t believe they had to do all that baking! I’m so impressed that the kids were game!! What a TASK!! I think my kids would have revolted!! (or maybe just I would have revolted because my baking skillz are revolting) Poor Madame B didn’t know what she was in for!! In the end, it’s the taste (and the fun time you had doing it) that matters!! And now I’m hungry for cake!! –Lisa
Madame B must still be having nightmares about the whole affair.
I have really enjoyed the back and forth of the Christmas blog. But your Yule log post was LOL hysterical. And I am having my Saturday morning ritual breakfast with my husband and we both made a little scene from laughing too hard. I too, find the teacher’s ambition impressive. Thanks for sharing.
Oh but I wish you could have seen the parents’ reaction as they encountered their Yule logs for the first time Nancy. Ouch. I’m sure there were long lineups at the local grocery store that night and a run on the icing and candy. Almost every Buche de Noel had to undergo massive reconstruction – especially those that were destined for colleagues.