Chocolate Yule Log Cake
Chocolate Yule Log Cake, this Christmassy Bûche de Noël recipe – the classic Christmas Swiss roll, is like a walk in the winter forest, only on a cake board. Not only does it taste great, it also looks great as a “center piece,” as interior design enthusiasts call it.
Ingredients for Chocolate Yule Log Cake:
For the sponge roll:
100g flour
25g cornflour
2 tbsp dark baking cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of cinnamon
5 eggs, room tempered
150g diamond brown sugar
For the filling:
60g good chocolate (min. 60% cocoa content).
85g icing sugar, possibly sifted
75g soft butter
For the chocolate ganache:
225g good chocolate (min. 60% cocoa content)
225ml whipped cream
also (optional):
Icing sugar for decorating
Instructions:
Sponge cake roll:
Preheat the oven to 400°F top and bottom heat in good time. Line a deep baking tray with baking paper.
Mix the flour, starch, cocoa powder, baking powder and cinnamon.
Separate the eggs very cleanly, no egg yolks should get into the egg whites. Whisk the egg yolks briefly in a small bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the whisks of a hand mixer until stiff, slowly adding the sugar and continuing to beat until the whipped egg whites are stiff and pearly.
Now add the egg yolks and beat in very briefly with the mixer on the lowest speed. Really only briefly. Put the mixer away now, from now on you will no longer be using the electric mixer.
Now sift the flour mixture from step 2 over the egg yolks and fold in gently and carefully with a whisk or wooden spoon so that the airiness from the beaten egg does not disappear. Please do not mix or stir wildly. Only fold in until a homogeneous dough has formed.
Pour the batter onto the baking tray and smooth it down quickly with a palette knife or cake lifter, without pressing too hard.
Bake the cake on the middle shelf for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread a smooth tea towel on the table. Spread the icing sugar or more cocoa powder evenly on it.
Take the finished cake (don’t worry if it looks a little puffy) out of the oven, quickly separate the edges from the tray with a knife, if they stick a little, and quickly turn it upside down onto the spread out tea towel.
Now, while the Buche de Noël sponge roll is still elastic, roll it up tightly with the tea towel (yes, in such a way that the tea towel is also rolled up properly) so that it remembers the turns and does not break. Rolled up like this, it is allowed to cool down.
Filling:
Break the chocolate and melt slowly over a hot water bath in a water bath bowl, then pour into a small bowl and leave to cool to hand-warm at room temperature – not in the fridge.
Mix the soft butter and icing sugar with the (cleaned) whisks of a hand mixer until creamy. Add the melted chocolate, which must have cooled down, and mix once.
Our delicious filling now goes into the sponge roll. To do this, we need to carefully roll up the sponge roll again, but please do not flatten or press it flat, as it could break. Just spread the filling evenly over the base and roll it up again, but this time without the tea towel in between.
Park the naked Bûche de Noël log cake in the fridge for about 1 hour, with the sponge roll end down so that the cake does not unroll on its own.
Chocolate ganache for the Buche de Noel – bark / frosting:
First chop the chocolate very finely and pour into a bowl.
Now heat the cream in a small saucepan on the cooker until it is just before boiling, then immediately remove from the heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. However, please do not stir yet, the whole thing should now sit covered for 2-3 minutes.
Stir gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula (do not mix or beat) until everything is nicely blended. Then let it sit until the chocolate ganache sets, i.e. becomes firmer and spreadable. It should not slip off the Buche de Noël. Stir it from time to time.
To finish off this great Christmas cake, cut off the ends of the sponge cake roll (and eat them, we don’t need them, we just want the edges to be clear). Cut a quarter of the sponge roll diagonally at a 45° angle and place it as a branch on one of the two sides.
Spread the chocolate ganache all over the Bûche de Noël and draw a bark pattern with a small fork or similar.
Decorate with a little icing sugar before eating and if there is any left over, be sure to store in the fridge. Then, before the next round of cakes, be sure to take them out of the refrigerator about half an hour beforehand.
More Delicious Christmas Cake Recipes
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