Nothing store-bought beats a from-scatch Buche Noel or Yule Log. Essentially a  sponge roll, decorated with holiday accounterments, it is a show piece.

Cake
5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
pinch of cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Gananche Frosting
1 cup whipping cream
10 ounces or 1 1/2 cups finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons rum, optional

Preheat oven to 375°F. with rack in the center of the oven. Grease the bottom of a 15 x 10-inch jellyroll pan and line with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cornstarch together and set aside.

Put the eggs yolks into a large bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the sugar from the 3/4 cup measure and set aside. Beat the remaining sugar and eggs together until pale and add in the vanilla.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of the cream of tartar, gradually dusting in the sugar until whites hold soft peaks. Divide the flour mixture in half and gently fold it into the egg yolk mixture in 2 batches, drizzling in the butter as you do so. Add one-quarter of the egg whites into the batter to lighten the mixture. Fold in the remaining whites gently but …confidently.

Pour the batter into the pan and spread it evenly into the corners with a metal offset spatula. Bake 15 minutes.

While the cake is baking, spread a slightly damp, warm dishtowel out on the counter.

Take the cake out of the oven and let cool briefly. Place a piece of parchmetn paper on the cake and another slightly damp, warm tea towel over that. Then, using the bottom most parchment (the one you baked the cake on) gently roll up the jelly roll -very gently, so as not to break the cake. The warm tea towels help keep it a bit pliable. Let cake rest this way about 30-90 minutes. Then you can gently unroll it to fill and finish icing and decorating.

To make the filling & frosting, bring the cream to a gentle boil and stir in the chopped chocolate. Whisk, turning off the heat, and stir until it has melted.

In a mixing bowl, beat the chocolate until it is fluffy and has thickened to a spreading consistency. Spoon one-third of the chocolate into another bowl and stir in the rum. When the cake is cooled, unroll it. Spread the rum-flavored chocolate evenly over the surface. Roll the cake up again, using the paper to help move it forward.

Cut off about one-quarter of the cake at an angle. Place it against the side of the larger piece of cake, to resemble a branch from a tree trunk.

Spread the remaining chocolate mixture over the rest of the cake. Using a fork, press the back side of the tines against the chocolate and lightly drag through to resemble bark.

The cake may be made up to two days ahead and stored covered in the refrigerator. Before serving, add some decorations, such as sprigs of holly, or other figurines, or meringue mushrooms, gnomes and marzipan axes. Dust with confectioner's sugar to resemble snow.  You can also fill the cake with ice-cream or use a plain butter icing for the interior and the whipped filling/frosting (which is actually ganache) for the exterior. I also fill it with whipped ganache and simply pour chocolate glaze (unwhipped ganache) on the exterior. There are tons of ways to approach this!

Serves 6-8