crafting a gingerbread buche de noel

I want to make a buche de noel this weekend, but I'd love to make it using a modified version of this Bon Appetit recipe for gingerbread cake.
http://www.bonappetit.com...
Baking experts, can you tell me if I'd be able to play with the volume, bake it in a sheet pan, and then be able to roll it? Or is this a horrible idea?

Gibson2011
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4 Comments

drbabs
drbabs December 16, 2014
It's a fantastic idea. Melissa Clark and Dorie Greenspan just made one for the. New York Times. Here's the link:. http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017027-gingerbread-buche-de-noel
 
Gibson2011
Gibson2011 December 17, 2014
Thanks, drbabs. Do you think I'd be able to use the BA recipe though? I'm worried the Dorie Greenspan one isn't gingerbready enough.
 
foofaraw
foofaraw December 17, 2014
Gibson2011: rolled cake is more finnicky than normal cake. I would stick to the tried recipe. If you want the NYT recipe to be more gingerbready, changing the light brown sugar to be dark brown sugar, and use same the amount of spices from the recipe you first post is a safe change and making the NYT one closer to the one you want, without textural/structural changes.
 
drbabs
drbabs December 17, 2014
I think what I'd do in that case is use Dorie Greenspan's recipe, but add the fresh ginger from the BA recipe ((and adjust the other spices if you prefer them). I wouldn't add molasses because it's adding liquid and may change the cake itself. Dorie Greenspan's recipes are really exact. I think it's a lot safer to use her recipe than to hope a similar one will work. (But if you have a ton of time and are insane like me, it might be fun to experiment with them both).
 
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