Yule Log Cake |Bûche de Noël | Chocolate log cake

This yule log was December month’s baking partner challenge but I never got around to doing it then. So true to my style, here’s the Christmas special Yule log Cake in the new year. The yule log was originally a huge hard log that was burned in the hearth as part of Christmas celebrations. Later when burning such a huge log became difficult and inconvenient, people started making a cake in the form of the traditional yule log and that’s how the yule log cake came into being. The yule log cake is a stunning log shaped cake with lovely alternating swirls of cake and chocolate frosting. I had to make do with my small rectangular pan so I ended up with a much shorter shorter-sided rectangular cake that was a lot taller than necessary (did you get any if what I said just now?). Because of my really short, shorter-sided rectangle, I could just about roll it once. So the swirls aren’t really as dramatic in my yule log but it tastes delicious.

My first attempt at the yule log ended in the dustbin. It was a disaster. I woke up early to make this cake and my kids woke up early too right after me. First sign that things are not going well. I was doing it the morning we were supposed to travel somewhere and as things always happen, I couldn’t open the silly vanilla essence bottle. Second sign. It was stuck and it just kept turning around (you know how it happens with little cough syrup bottles) and I didn’t have time to pry it open with a knife. The original recipe called for 1 teaspoon or so of vanilla essence. “It’s just one teaspoon of vanilla” I thought. I decided to go ahead and bake the cake without the vanilla.  What would you know, the cake was nice, soft and springy but it smelt like a frittata. Third sign, more of a slap in the face than a sign. The frosting also turned against me. It was smooth when I pulled it out of the refrigerator, but when I beat it, it suddenly turned grainy and runny. Fourth sign. Must have been the cream I think. Jagan was screaming for me to move my butt and get ready. Enough, it wasn’t going to happen and I knew it was time to give up. So I threw it all out and decided to try another day. I made it again on new year’s eve and it turned out well.

Wish everyone a happy, healthy new year filled with great food and good cheer. Happy Cooking!

Prep time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins (frosting & syrup)
Baking: 15 mins
Makes: 12 slices

Ingredients - Cake

Flour – 1 cup
Baking powder – ¾ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Eggs – 4
Vanilla Essence – 2 tsp
Sugar – 2/3 cup

Ingredients – Syrup

Instant Coffee Granules – 2 tbsp dissolved in 4 tbsp hot water.
Sugar – ¼ cup
Water – ½ cup

Ingredients – Chocolate Frosting

Dark Chocolate – 300 gm
Cream – 200 ml

Method

1.      Start with the frosting as it needs time to chill. Chop up chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler, combine chocolate and cream and heat till the chocolate melts. When most of the chocolate has melted with just a few chunks here and there, remove bowl from heat and stir till the frosting is smooth with no chocolate chunks. Refrigerate till use.

2.      Next, prepare the syrup. Heat water and sugar just until the sugar dissolves. Add the coffee granules dissolved in hot water to the sugar syrup. Stir well and chill.

3.      For the cake, preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 10*15 inch rectangular sheet pan (I didn’t have this sized pan, so I used the rectangular pan that I had) with parchment paper. Set aside.

4.      Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

5.      In a bowl break open the 4 eggs. Beat until pale and thick. Add sugar and vanilla essence and beat until it has tripled in volume – about 5 minutes.

6.      Fold in the flour mixture thoroughly so that no trace of flour exists. Fold right from the bottom of the bowl and also the sides.

7.      Turn the batter into the prepared pan, level and bake for 15 minutes. Insert a skewer and check if it comes out clean. Remove cake from oven.

8.      Lay a damp kitchen towel a little larger than the cake on the counter. Place a layer of parchment paper/butter paper over this kitchen towel.  Invert the hot cake over this parchment paper. Peel off the parchment paper on top of the cake (the inverted base is on top now) and gently roll the cake along with the parchment paper to form a log. Roll Cover the damp kitchen towel and let rest for 2 minutes.

9.      Unroll the cake and brush the top of the cake with the coffee syrup. Then spread 1/3^rd of the chocolate frosting on the top of the cake. Roll the cake again and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Use a fork to make lines on the frosting so that the roll looks like a log. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours. Slice and serve.

Notes:

1.      The cake is on the drier side because it uses no fat at all. So do not overbake this cake or it’ll get drier. Pull it out as soon as it’s done. Also brush generously with coffee sugar syrup to moisten the cake. Keep the syrup runny so that it soaks through well.

2.      The cake uses 4 eggs, so it can get very eggy-smelling. Don’t skimp on the vanilla. Use 2 teaspoons of vanilla.