Since my DH does not like cinnamon I did not use cinnamon but did put extra vanilla.
This was not difficult but allot of work. It took over most of my afternoon. I did this Buche de Noel in one go. I think that I took the cake too quickly out of the oven it looked raw when I rolled it up as you can see in this photo:
If you know of another reason why it turned out like this then please let me know so I will do a better job next time.
The filling was butter and cream cheese, The cheese was not the best of quality since when I mixed these two ingredients together the filling curdled all up.
I did the whole frosting and had a lot left over half the recipe would have been just fine.
I put all the pecans as decoration since my mom does not like nuts so she could just take them off.
I did not have any problems rolling the cake and the frosting is very forgiving.
Over all a very good cake not difficult but time consuming. Would like to make it again but more traditional.
MJ in the kitchen 
Do you recall for how long did you bake the cake? Did your batter deflate a lot? My pan was slightly smaller than the one suggested in the recipe but I baked it for about 14 minutes.
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I baked the cake for about 12min. I find that Dorie has the oven a bit too high and bakes for a bit too long for my taste so I thought 12 min would do. My cake was way lighter in color than hers on the video. I should have watched it before I baked the cake right! The video was always stopping so I just did not have the patience, and also the cake was in the oven as I was trying to watch. My oven is too small for an 17inc baking pan, it takes about 15inc. Thank you for responding to my problem and have a happy holiday.
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Sounds like something I would do. But it looks just fine to me.
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If your eggs weren’t whipped enough or if the batter was deflated, the texture of the cake wouldn’t rise much and would be a little rubbery. Was it like that?. Regardless, it looks very nice and I’m sure it tasted delicious!
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I’m sure this tasted great-your batter probably just deflated a bit. Sometimes the curdling issue can come from the butter and cream cheese not being soft/warmed up enough. Luckily this is a very forgiving cake and your end result still looked great.
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Making this all in one go had to be daunting! I made the pralines, filling, and cake one day and did the assembly and frosting the next. I’m sure yours tasted great!
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It was a big job, wasn’t it? I think it looks great.
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Thank you Teresa, you are right it was a big job took a big part of the day
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I know, so time-consuming, right? It took me half a day to make from start to finish and then I was tired! But your buche looks delicious! I hope your mom and the DH enjoyed it!
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I thought I left a comment…Sorry if this is a duplicate.
It looks great; I hope you enjoyed.
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