Bûche de Noël with Tess Kelly | Sunday 12.06.26 @ 2pm

A little woodland whimsy for the holiday table. Join Tess Kelly at bluecashew for a workshop devoted to the bûche de Noël, France’s beloved Christmas cake.

Inspired by the tradition of burning a Yule log in the hearth during Christmas celebrations, the bûche moved from fireplace to dessert plate in nineteenth-century France. French pastry chefs transformed the humble log into an elaborate confection—a tradition that leaves plenty of room for imagination.

Tess’s version pairs orange-walnut cake with orange mascarpone filling, finished with chocolate bark, meringue mushrooms and candied rosemary. We’ll explore the rolling, filling and decorating techniques that bring this edible woodland creation to life, with special attention to those little details that make it worthy of the holiday table.

Tess will also bring along olives, cheese and a few savory nibbles to keep us going while we work our sweet magic.

We’ll enjoy a slice together, and anyone who’d like to save a little Christmas magic for later is welcome to take a piece home.

Tess Kelly is a chef and founder of Séraphine Workshops. She moved to France in 1986 where she developed her love of French cuisine. She apprenticed under the chef of the pâtisserie she lived above in Paris. Madame Bernard took her under her wing and generously shared the art and love of baking French pastries and French cuisine. 

After working for many years in the restaurant business in New York City, she opened Séraphine Bakery in 2014.  Since then Tess has developed fun, hands-on workshops for children and adults. Her desire to feed people and share the art of preparing food is the basis of all of her cooking and baking classes. She teaches a balanced, seasonal approach to eating. Her love of France and French cuisine runs deep, ever since her teenage years in Paris where it all began.

She currently teaches both private and public workshops in New York, and in France.