据说圣诞树根蛋糕是根据给圣婴取暖的枯木而发明，造型逼真，大人孩子们都喜欢。又据说，赠送树根蛋糕，可以给人带来幸运，所以记得在圣诞节制作这个蛋糕吧。

If I have learned anything from Chef Lin Zhong, it's that making pastry the traditional French way is NOT as easy as one-two-three.

Timing is critical. You can't say, oh, I mixed everything-Oh, I forgot to line my pan! Because your sponge batter will lose that air that you worked so hard to work into it.

But I've also learned that a little perseverance can make it all worthwhile.

It's totally do-able. It just takes patience and a desire to learn.

If it was that fast and easy, what's the fun?

So, we're not going to lie to you. You can't learn every detail of gourmet French cake making in the next 5 minutes. But there are a million ways to make a Yule log. Some are dead easy. So we'll teach you the basic steps. You can decide yourself what kind of recipe you want to use for each step.

And, Lin CAN teach you the nitty-gritty details of making the BEST gourmet ingredient of all: chocolate ganache.

Let's start with how to make a Yule log. It's actually pretty basic.

Step One. Make a rectangular cake, about one inch thick. Use whatever simple recipe you like.

Step Two. Make a filling. You could use prepared icing. Or Buttercream. Or Nutella. Whatever. Lin made whip cream from scratch and added coffee concentrate. Lin gets her muscular forearms from a lot of whisking.

Step Three. Spread your filling on the COOLED cake.

Step Four. Roll it up.

It's like rolling a sushi roll.

Now all you have to do is put on frosting, and decorate it. This part is great for kids.

"From here on in, it's all art."

You could ice your cake with pre-made frosting. Or any recipe you find online.

But Lin uses a French classic: chocolate ganache. Ganache is basically a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream. It's intoxicating. And it can be used in so many ways.

"We use ganache-one as a filling or frosting for cakes. Or we use it to make the inside of a handmade chocolate. You know, you bite into the middle and it's this soft gooey chocolately thing and that's often the ganache-with a lot of liquor in it. "

Well now, you can see why we need to teach you to do this right! All you need is equal parts real whipping cream and high-quality chocolate. Of course, you can always add Lin's favorite twist.

"I like to put alcohol in this. Did I tell you that I am big on alcohol? So this is one of the places where you can add alcohol liberally without punishment. First, you heat the cream to JUST boiling. You don't want to burn this cream. It can burn very easily. And you want to stir it very gently so it doesn't burst the heat packets in the cream that will cause it to really splatter everywhere. Now, put your chocolate in pieces in a bowl. The smaller the pieces, the better. This is chocolate couverture. This is stuff you can buy from a professional baking supply store."

Don't have access to a professional store like that? Fear not!

"We tell people to use at least 60 percent cocoa chocolate bars. So make sure you read the label."

Pour the just-boiling cream over your chocolate pieces.

"Pour all of your cream into the chocolate, and mix immediately with your spatula. Stir quickly."

And when Lin says quickly, she means it. If your stirring goes perfectly, the heat from the cream will be enough to melt the chocolate evenly. BUT it doesn't always work out right away.

"You see how there's still bits of solid chocolate? If you don't melt your chocolate completely, you have to use the help of your hot water bath."

A hot water bath is easy:

"It's simply a flat frying pan filled with water and heated with a disposable paper towel inside."

This is a method to melt a lot of things. ESPECIALLY chocolate.

"You never ever want to melt chocolate over direct heat. Chocolate burns at 60 degrees Celsius. We always melt chocolate over some steam. So-what's with the paper towel?

"You can put the chocolate bowl in the pan as long as you've got the paper towel, which insulates the metal from touching each other. Because metal conducts heat very quickly."

So you don't recommend melting chocolate in the microwave?

I would never do that myself.

Okay. So you put your bowl in the hot water bath for half a second, take it out, and keep stirring FAST - until your mixture is totally smooth.

Now it's time to add the liqueur. You could skip this step, but Lin sure wouldn't.

"I wouldn't do this without alcohol. To me, a chocolate cake without alcohol just isn't worth eating."

We used Amaretto, an almond liqueur. Whiskey, rum, Cointreau, Sambuca…really anything hard will do.

"You use your nose to determine whether it's enough alcohol."

"I think you could put another capful."

So let's recap there. Melt your cream, pour it on your chocolate pieces, stir stir stir til it's smooth. Reheat on a hot water bath if needed until all the chunks are gone. Add alcohol if desired. And then, you spread it on your Yule log. Decorate it however you like.

Again, this is where kids can join in the fun.

If you like, you can use a comb to make designs in the frosting that look like real wood. A lot of people shake on powered sugar to look like snow, or make little mushrooms out of marzipan.

Yule logs.

You may try the most complicated gourmet variety. You may use ingredients from a box. Either way, in China they're a Christmas trend that's picking up speed.

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