Infusing fun and culture by creating Bûches de Noël

Paris during Christmas is one of my favorite places: the markets, the lights and decorations, the delicious desserts in the pâtisserie windows. I remember the little Christmas party we had at my University with foie gras, pain d’épice and a cutely decorated Bûche de Noël.

I thought, “How can I bring some of this experience into my classroom and allow my students to try things they wouldn’t normally have?”

I liked the tradition of the Bûche de Noël so I thought I could have my students create their own.

1 : The Lesson

I didn’t want my students to just make the cake without understanding why. I wanted them to understand the cultural traditions behind it so I did a little research on the history. I created a simple lesson in French to describe why the tradition exists and the steps to making a Bûche cake.

2 : The experience

I taught the lesson on the first day and had students plan out what their Bûche was going to look like, on the second day students decorated their Bûche. I only had about 45 minutes to do the entire activity so I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to bake, cool and decorate a cake. Instead I used Little Debbie Swiss Rolls so each student could decorate their own. I bought some chocolate and vanilla frosting, and powdered sugar for snow. I also made some marshmallow fondant for students to use to make mushrooms or snowman to add to their cakes. I colored some red and green for holly.

Students worked diligently on decorating while we listened to Christmas music in French. When they were finished we had some guest judges who gave out the awards for the Best Bûches.

The students had a lot of fun creating their Bûches de Noël. I hope that it was a memorable experience that helped them to connect a little bit with French culture. Someday I hope they will see a Bûche in a French pâtisserie and remember making them in middle school.