If you were making a Bûche de Noël to go with this meal...

[biondanonima]

So, my mother has decided on a roasted pork tenderloin with bacon vinaigrette for Christmas dinner. This meal is always rounded out with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts. I suggested a Bûche de Noël for dessert, and she thought that was a fabulous idea - so now the question is, what flavor bûche should I make! A friend suggested maple, which sounds amazing to me, but I'm not sure the rest of my family is as crazy about maple as I am. I was thinking tiramisu, maybe, or Chow has a Black Forest "Stump" de Noël recipe that looks quite good. Any other suggestions?

[rccola]

Cinnamon raisin with a warm rum sauce to put over the cake when the frosting's gone. For the adults.

[tim irvine]

I'd go with a non chocolate flavor that complements chocolate, like chestnut, and put a gravy boat of warm ganache on the table as a topping.

[olyolyy]

His whole family hates chestnut.

[tim irvine]

Well then any other flavor that pairs well with chocolate.

[iL Divo]

just my thought-why not do a half and half.
two flavors two logs (combined) connected.
I love chocolate but would love a vanilla coconut with
strawberry-vanilla glaze inside topped with coconut on the
outside over the bark.

[Ruthie789]

How about a white cake with mocha flavoured icing?

[ZoeLouise]

Black forest for me, but then I grew up there! And a brief look at the Chow recipe confirmed my suspicion that this is not the original... But it would be very easy to make a real Black Forest Buche: chocolate sponge as for swiss roll, cherries in thickened juice/syrup, lots of cream and some Kirsch (Schnaps / eau de vie) to soak the sponge.

[olyolyy]

One vote for chestnut.

[magiesmom]

yes, chestnut with chocolate is my favorite.

[maria lorraine]

Wow. That sounds good. Have a recipe you can share, or a link?

[magiesmom]

http://www.veggiebelly.com/2011/06/chocolate-sponge-cake-rolled-with-chestnut-cream-a-guest-post.html is one I have made

I would like to make this as a roll
http://www.food.com/recipe/nigella-la...
with the chestnut cream ; a friend says it can roll but have not done it myself.

She must have added some flour and/or cornstarch to make it rollable.

[maria lorraine]

Do you have a recommendation for a brand of chestnut puree?

[magiesmom]

I don't. I buy whatever is in the market.

You just have to pay attention to whether you want sweetened or unsweetened. I usually buy unsweetend and add sugar to taste as the canned sweetened ones are very sweet and you are paying chestnut prices for sugar.

[biondanonima]

That sounds amazing - unfortunately, my family hates chestnuts. I really don't know what is wrong with them!

[magiesmom]

Have you considered disowning them for this?

[ipsedixit]

Green tea sponge cake with ginger vanilla mousse.

[chowser]

Plain genoise with hazelnut/amaretto simple syrup and nutella mousse. I don't know if it would go well w/ your meal but I'm really craving that right now.

[gembellina]

well so am I now! do you have a recipe for the nutella mousse - made with nutella or just hazelnut flavoured choc mousse?

[maria lorraine]

Nutella frickin' mousse? Tell us how, chowser!

[chowser]

Here it is:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/2954...

The whole cake is good but the nutella mousse is the best part.

[maria lorraine]

Oh boy.

[biondanonima]

That Nutella mousse sounds IN-CRED-I-BLE. So far the family seems to like the tiramisu idea best, but I could push the Nutella and see what happens!

[DuchessNukem]

I vote chocolate. Would stand up to those assertive flavors from dinner and it's a people pleaser. Dinner sounds fabulous, BTW.

[AnnieWilliams]

I am making four flavors this year: vanilla bean rum, triple chocolate, praline, and Grand Marnier.

When in doubt, go with chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate (except for me, and I am serious about that, LOL).

[weezieduzzit]

No..... not everyone likes chocolate. Some of us really don't like it and are frequently left with nothing to eat for dessert. :(

[AnnieWilliams]

Well you can't please everyone. I don't like chocolate either but it is generally a crowd pleaser.

[Kontxesi]

The praline one sounds fantastic!

[AnnieWilliams]

Yep-just add some praline paste (I use homemade) to French buttercream and use that as the filling. I also use a Frangelico simple syrup for the cake and I also add some to the ganache icing.