Ginger cake Bûche de Noël

Not gonna lie. This delicate sponge cake — a gingerbread variation of the traditional French chocolate Christmas cake — is a commitment of time, energy and nerves. But what a stunner for your holiday table! Thankfully, everything but the marshmallow icing can be made a day or so ahead. Never made a jelly-roll cake? Food writer Marlene Parrish offers this tip for rolling the cake after you plop it out of the pan and onto a sugar-dusted dishtowel: Roll the cake up with a paper towel tube inside. That way the cake has a better memory of the curve when its unrolled and filled. This being my first attempt at a yule log, my cake cracked and split as I rolled it. No worries — that’s what icing is for!