our selection of Christmas logs from Provençal pastry chefs

Puzzle log, locomotive-shaped log, star chef log, Provence has selected 7 exceptional logs for a colorful New Year’s Eve.

In Marseille: jump on the Christmas train with Pâtisserie des Marseillais

For New Year’s Eve, Pascal Guglielmi remembered his first job: train controller, a position he held for fourteen years before turning to pastry in 2018 and opening his shop in Marseille in 2021. This Bordelais, son of a pastry chef and a railway worker, therefore designed a bright red log in the shape of a steam locomotive. Place her in the middle of the table, we will only see her! “It’s a log with raspberry mousse and candied rosé champagne, placed on an almond sponge cakesays Pascal Guglielmi. This is one of the cakes that we offer at the shop and which works very well. There, I reworked it for Christmas.“So the cake no longer works, it runs full steam ahead towards Christmas.”For December 24, we are taking orders until the 19th, but we can also order it after, we will continue to offer it until December 31“, continues the Marseille pastry chef.

52€ for 8 shares. La Pâtisserie des Marseillais, 28, Grand-Rue, Marseille 2nd, 04 91 89 20 17,

In Marseille: coconut heart and exotic fruits at the Marseille Glaciers

The frozen log is an exercise in its own right in the world of Christmas baking, with its enthusiastic fans and its absolute detractors. We wouldn’t be far from betting that the T’as le look Coco log from Marseille ice cream maker Jérôme Cellier could well get the world in agreement. On a bed of banana biscuit, this frozen log contains at its heart a coconut insert (hence its name, Jérôme Cellier is a logical boy) surrounded by a mango and passion fruit sorbet, the all decorated just a few banana chips. “We only work with full-fruit sorbet, that is to say containing at least 45% fruit, specifies the Marseille ice cream parlor. But with us, it’s more between 50 and 70% depending on the variety.” This generosity is evident from the first bite: you feel like you’re biting into a mango! “Our big season is summercontinues Jérôme Cellier. The frozen log is a little extra that we do because our customers ask us for it.“

30€ for 4 to 6 shares, 40€ for 6 to 8 shares, 50€ for 8 to 10 shares. Les Glaciers marseillais, 138 avenue Pierre-Mendès-France, Marseille 8th, 04 91 71 67 97 or 06 79 65 27 41

Talented pastry chef of Angevin origin, Paul Charreau created his Paéma boutique in 2022 in Marseille, after a career in catering pastry. With his associate and companion Méryl Oliveri, this year they are playing the “Miss” card: Granny, lively and driven by the green apple, Choco for gourmands, Exotique on the balance between the sweet and the acid of the fruit. And there is also Miss Praliné, a hazelnut praline heart, covered with a vanilla ganache delicately placed in a piping bag. “We wanted something that was both delicious and comforting.“, explains Paul Charreau. The objective is perfectly achieved but with the good idea of ​​not having loaded the boat with sugar, which makes this Miss Praliné more elegant and leaves room for the other raw materials to express themselves.

44€ for 6 shares. Pâtisserie Paéma, 31 av. Pasteur (7th), 04 91 01 72 79 and www.paema-patisserie.fr

In Marseille and Aubagne: the exotic fruit log from Les Bricoleurs

Now at the head of five boutiques, four in Marseille and one in Aubagne, Clément Higgins and Aurélie Poletto play on words for this Christmas: Bûche trou (citrus fruits and orange blossom water from a small cooperative of Tunisian women) , Log log (coffee and praline), Excalibûche (100% hazelnut) and, therefore, our little favorite of the bunch, the Log log, which will revive the end of the new year’s eve. On a base of crispy and coconut financier, the Bûche à log combines milk chocolate and exotic fruits, worked into mousse and candied. A light coconut cream tops this beautiful ensemble which strikes the perfect balance between a real indulgence and a welcome touch of acidity when you arrive at dessert time after an otherwise rich meal…”We gave up our usual 100% chocolate log, a raw material whose price completely exploded last year“, confides Clément Higgins.

44€ for 6 shares. Les Bricoleurs de Douceurs are present in Marseille at Cabot (9th), Endoume (7th), Cinq-Avenues (4th) and on the Prado (6th). Also in Aubagne.

In Cassis: 5-star desserts, imagined by Valentin Fabry at the Nomade patisserie

The Absolue Vanille log from pastry chef Valentin Fabry, of the 5-star hotel Les Roches Blanches, in Cassis, plays a score close to perfection. The log composes between “aesthetic originality” et “finesse“intense vanilla almond praline,”a rare delicate effect“, according to the pastry chef. We also appreciate the Avélano log. It is made up of chocolate, a crunchy hazelnut and a cocoa biscuit. Special mention for the Blondie log, made up of a creamy blond chocolate, a coffee cappuccino and a soft vergeoise, finally, the Cléo log is a real eye-catcher, adorned with a pistachio biscuit, raspberry whipped cream and confit. raspberry. These logs can be found in Cassis, at the Nomade pastry shop.

Between €40 and €4 for 6 to 8 people at the Nomade patisserie, 12 avenue Victor-Hugo, in Cassis. 04 42 08 39 64 and on the website www.nomade-cassis.com.

In Avignon: chocolate, vanilla, raspberry… At Yuzu, creation serving pastry

For the first Christmas of the Le Yuzu pastry shop (it opened in March), the rising star of Avignon pastry making Yamine Bouaissa, former pastry chef at La Vallergue caterer in Avignon and finalist of the last French caterers’ cup, imagined four logs including the seductive Royale chocolate for cocoa addicts. It consists of a milk chocolate mousse, a soft chocolate hazelnut biscuit, a white chocolate cream with toasted hazelnuts and a crunchy chocolate. The other three, similar to works of art, are available around a subtle raspberry/pistachio blend, a tasty caramel/salted butter caramel duo and a vanilla mandarin. The talented pastry chef redoubles his originality with “astonishing visuals without completely breaking the traditional codes of Christmas logs“, explains the trompe-l’oeil specialist. Absolutely worth discovering.

Between 38 and 40€ for 8 people. Le Yuzu, 25, avenue Fontcouverte. 06 25 11 65 76.

Aux Baux-de-Provence: The “puzzle” log in a very limited edition at Oustau de Baumanière

The Yule log. The one who looks exactly like a log of wood has something to worry about. To finish the meal, the pastry chef of the restaurant l’Oustau de Baumanière, in Baux-de-Provence, three stars in the Michelin guide, Brandon Dehan, delights with this log in the shape of a “puzzle” containing the sweetness of chocolate and the crunchiness peanut. “I like the idea of ​​a wooden puzzle reminiscent of childhood. This log is full of poetry“, explains the pastry chef. The menu of audacity with this dessert which combines peanut crisp, chocolate biscuit, creamy chocolate, peanut praline and tonka bean vanilla caramel mousse. An ode to creation for the original young man Picardy who started pastry making at the age of 14 and learned his skills at the Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu and at the Auberge des Glazicks in Plomodiern. Today, he competes. in Paris for “the most beautiful log of the year“. Just that.

100€ per “puzzle” log for 8, limited edition. To order at the Baumanière chocolate factory or on the website www.baumaniereboutique.fr before December 20. Open days at the chocolate factory on the weekend of December 20 and 21.