Bonjour à tous. I haven't completed my Duolingo French lessons in well over a year, but that won't stop me from occasionally running into the latest scandal on the French side of social media. In light of the holiday season, this one is, of course, bûche de Noël related.
In case you're unaware, a bûche de Noël, or a Yule log, is a traditional cake served around Christmas all throughout Europe and the UK (and somewhat in the US). It first gets baked as a thin sheet cake and is then rolled and decorated to resemble a log. But, as is the case with so many classic desserts, people have been getting a little bit more creative over the years with their designs. One of those people is renowned French pastry chef Cédric Grolet.
If you've scrolled on any form of social media, you've probably run into one of Cédric's creations. From coconut pastries that are carved into actual life-sized coconuts to black forest cakes in the shape of hyper-realistic pinecones — his award-winning desserts are designed to impress. With the holiday season now in full swing, Cédric (along with many other French pastry chefs) has turned his attention to his famous annual bûches de Noël.
According to Cedric's Instagram and website, the bûche de Noël roundup this year includes a set of large hyper-realistic vanilla pods:
A large chocolate-orange candy:
A gingerbread house:
A matcha yuzu log (specifically for his Singapore location):
A bright red nutcracker (specifically for his London location):
And finally, the reason we're all here today, the snowman log, which is available at his Paris locations for €95 (just shy of $105 using current conversion rates):
Here's a closer look:
For the record, this is what Nora ended up writing as the alt text to describe the image of the snowman log:
In fact, a similar, if not the same, mold was used last year for his gingerbread man-esque log, "Mr. Spice."
TikTok users also jumped in to question the price and quality of the infamous snowman, with @edouardcuisine noting in a video that, "One: It looks like nothing. Two: 95 bucks, the snowman?!" He goes on, "This is the worst thing I've seen in a while." Many comments seemed to agree, making jokes about the pastry's so-called "melted" appearance. Some called it "the global warming model." (FYI, these have all been translated.)
And, of course, there were more Balenciaga comparisons.
But this isn't the first time Cédric has been called out for his pastries. In June, creator Clara Marz posted a taste test to TikTok of Cédric's €80 strawberry tart. In her video — that's been viewed 2 million times — Clara says she "understands why it's so expensive," then goes on to say, "But I'm disappointed. The shortbread is super salty, and the middle is too, too sweet." As is usually the case, the video found its way to Twitter, where people criticized Clara for originally justifying the price of the luxury pastries.
