My brother in law bought this bûche de Noël (Yule log) for our Christmas eve dinner. It’s a special cake designed for Lenôtre by the French cartoonist Sempé. The gorgeous box held a book-shaped caked with beautiful drawings on it. I especially loved the little Eiffel tower, pencil and sharpener, all made of chocolate. The inside of the cake was made of chocolate, dacquoise biscuit and strawberry, served with a strawberry coulis.

If I’m totally honest, I will say that this cake was good but not excessively so. However it made quite an effect on our Christmas table.