KC news anchor and her grandma find a way to let holiday baking tradition continue

Lindsay Shively and her grandmother bake a Buche de Noel every Christmas, but this year, due to the pandemic, they had to be creative about how to safely bake together. Lindsay — who lives in Brookside with her husband, Sebastian De Geer, and their young daughter — is a morning anchor on KSHB.

Her grandmother, Karlene Shively, lives in Independence with her husband, Butch. Karlene and Butch raised four children and have 10 grandchildren and one great granddaughter.

Q: When did you start baking a Buche de Noel together?

A: “We both love to cook and have always enjoyed cooking together,” Lindsay said. “When I was in junior high, my French teacher told me about the Buche de Noel, a rolled cake that is served at Christmas in France. I asked my grandma if she wanted to bake it with me. I had a recipe from class, but my grandma looked in her cookbooks and found a recipe. That recipe became the basis for the cake, but we changed the filling and the frosting. Now every year we make the frosting and filling a little differently.”

Q: How did you learn to cook?

A: “My mother and grandma both loved to cook,” Karlene said. “I learned from them and started cooking when I was young.”

When she was a teen, she cooked dinner for a boy from school.

“The dinner was one of our first dates. He seemed to like it and I think it seemed to seal the deal. We have been married for 62 years.”

Q: Tell us about your holiday dinners.

A: “We typically have a big family dinner and include my children and grandchildren,” Karlene said. “We always have the Buche de Noel for dessert. Since it is frozen, we often almost forget to get it out and serve it. Once we remember, we laugh, slice it and enjoy every bite.”

Q: How did you adapt to this year’s pandemic?

A: “Our tradition of baking together is important to us both,” Lindsay said. “We have baked the Buche de Noel together for 23 years. I hated to cancel, yet I did not want to risk my grandma or papa getting sick. So, to stay safe, we each baked a cake in our own homes, following along with each other on Zoom.

“Right after baking, you roll the cake in a kitchen towel to cool, and that is when I drove over to her house with my cake. It was a cold day, but we each filled and frosted our cakes while outside on her deck, wearing masks and staying at a safe social distance. We were able to keep our tradition alive and it was fun to see her, yet we were able to stay safe.”

Q: How do you decorate the cake?

A: “The best part of this dessert is that when you frost it, a log can look messy,” Lindsay said. “Many years ago, a baker gave me small figurines and I arrange them on our log as decorations.”

“This year, we frosted the cake with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, but you can use your favorite chocolate frosting recipe,” Karlene said. “You could even use a can of prepared chocolate frosting.”

Q: What is your advice for others who are learning to bake or who want to establish a tradition of baking together?

A: “Don’t be afraid to try,” Karlene said. “You never know when you have to adapt. One year, someone put an elbow into our Buche de Noel, so we broke it up and layered it into a deep bowl to make a trifle. It still tasted delicious.”

“We never worried about it looking like a cake decorating contest,” Lindsay added. “We just love to cook and especially enjoy baking together.”

Frozen Buche de Noel

Makes 1 cake

Cake:

5 eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, optional

Dash salt

Additional cocoa or confectioners’ sugar, for dusting the towel

Filling:

1 (3.9-ounce) package chocolate instant pudding mix

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 3/4 cups milk

1 (8-ounce) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed

Cream Cheese Chocolate Icing:

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups powdered sugar, and additional, if needed for the desired consistency and for dusting over the frosted cake

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15-by-10-by-1-inch jelly roll pan and line it with parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper.

Beat the eggs until thick and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Mix in the cocoa, the flour if you are using it and the salt at low speed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the cake is baking, place a kitchen towel on the clean counter and sprinkle it generously with cocoa or powdered sugar. When the cake is done, immediately loosen the edges from the sides of the pan; invert the cake onto the towel. Gently peel the parchment paper from the cake. Roll the cake and the towel together, beginning at the narrow end, jelly-roll fashion. Allow the cake to cool.

To make the filling: Pour the pudding mix into a deep bowl and stir in the instant coffee powder. Prepare the pudding mix using 1 3/4 cups milk according to the package directions. Gently fold in the whipped topping. Blend well.

Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the filling evenly over the cake, almost to the edges. Gently reroll the cake, without the towel. Place seam-side down on a chilled platter. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. This part can be done up to 1 month ahead.

To make the icing: In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer at medium high speed, beat together the cream cheese and butter, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa. Beat in 2 cups powered sugar and beat until creamy. Beat in the vanilla and milk. Beat in additional powdered sugar if needed for the desired consistency.

To make a decorative limb on the log, cut off one end of the cake roll, at an angle. Place the piece on the cake roll to resemble a cut limb or knob on a log. Frost the cake roll. (Frost over the cut limb or leave the rings exposed, as you wish.) Use the tines of a fork to make lines in the frosting to resemble the bark. Dust the frosted log with powdered sugar to resemble snow. Serve still partially frozen.

Note: Recipe adapted from “Christmas Memories Cookbook, 350 Favorite Christmas Recipes from Mystic Seaport Members,” published by the Mystic Seaport Museum, 1970.

Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore are cookbook authors and food consultants that make up The Electrified Cooks. They have published more than 14 cookbooks and thousands of recipes. They are members of Les Dames d’Escoffier and blog at pluggedintocooking.com.

This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.