Do you need a beautiful Christmas dessert? Make this Baileys and Buttercream Buche de Noel!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Separate room temperature eggs. Beat egg yolks and add sugar and vanilla. Stir to combine. Add cooled chocolate.
In a separate bowl, combine gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt. Add egg yolk mixture. Stir to combine. Add 1/2 cup of boiling water until the batter is stiff.
Whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Scoop some stiff egg whites into chocolate mixture. Stir to lighten a bit. Lightly fold in the remaining egg whites to chocolate batter.
Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spray with non stick cooking spray. I used a 12x17 pan.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
Remove cake from the oven. Loosen the corners and let the cake rest for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Cover the cake with a clean kitchen towel - a lightweight bread towel if you have one - and carefully turn the pan upside down to release the cake onto a cutting board. Remove the parchment.
Starting with the short end - start rolling the cake! Roll the cake and towel together. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and put in the fridge.
Whip the cream until soft peaks start to form. Add Baileys, sugar, and espresso. Whip until thick.
Melt butter. Add cocoa and salt and stir until smooth. Add cream. Mix together. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until smooth. When the frosting is too thick to stir, add the espresso or coffee until it reaches a good BARK consistency.
Unroll the cake. Carefully. It might crack. Don't worry too much. Spread the Baileys whipped cream in the middle of the cake - not quite to the edge - leave about a 1 inch margin. Roll the cake back up - without the towel. I rolled the cake back up on a clean jelly roll pan because I was too nervous to transfer it to another serving dish. I simply served the buche de noel from this pan. Still beautiful!
Chill the cake layered with whipped cream. Make the buttercream frosting - make sure the frosting is cooled and spreadable. Frost the cake horizontally to make it look like bark on a tree. Use extra frosting to cover any cracks. Lightly sprinkle powdered sugar over the top to look like snow! Chill. Slice to serve. Enjoy!
Recipe from Erin Brighton