I’ve been wanting to introduce this French tradition to our Christmas Eve dinner for a while now. Well, this year was my opportunity to shine. I googled some Yule Log recipes, and after experimenting came to the crushing realization that I am definitely baking impaired. I was about to call it quit, but thanks to my wife’s tenacity and newly found recipe, we decided to make it a team effort and try again. The following resulting recipe turned out better than expected and was a huge hit.
We decided to use Marzipan to make the mushrooms. The traditional recipe calls for meringue mushrooms, but I found those difficult to make. Maybe next year. We used the Stramondo Organic Marzipan from Sicily. It’s the best one by far and if you are Marzipan lovers like us, you’ll find it hard to not eat the whole package. I think that it’s best to prepare the mushrooms a day in advance so the Marzipan can harden a little.
The chocolate cake is somewhat of a departure from the sponge cake, but I personally think it tastes better. Also, the cake develop a crust that crackles once rolled. It creates a more organic look to the log, which made us forgo the frosting and use it to decorate the serving plate instead of the log’s body.
Ingredients
Cake batter
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Did you know? Tartaric acid is a brownish-red acid powder (potassium bitartrate) that is precipitated onto the walls of casks used to age wine. When refined into a white acid powder, “Cream of tartar”, it is used in baking. It’s used to give a creamier texture to sugary things like candy and frosting and to stabilize and increase the volume of beaten egg whites. |
Mocha Filling
- 3/4 pint heavy whipping cream
- 2 t. Vanilla extract
- 3 T. sugar
- 2 t. cocoa
- 3 T. strong coffee
Frosting
-
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream - 3 T. unsalted butter
- 5 oz bittersweet chocolate (Lindt preferably)
- 4 oz milk chocolate
Decoration
-
Marzipan (Stramondo Organic from Sicily) - Cocoa powder
- Confectioner sugar
- Wooden little people and trees
Preparation
Cake
- Preheat the oven 375 F.
-
Prepare a large jelly roll pan (17″x12″). Grease with butter, fit with waxed paper and grease. - Melt 6 oz of chocolate in a double boiler.
- Mix 7 egg whites (save the yolks), salt, cream of tartar and sugar and beat until firm.
- Add 2 T of strong coffee and 1 t of vanilla extract.
- Add the melted chocolate to the 7 egg yolks.
- Stir 1/4 of the whites into the choco-yolk mix, then fold that back into the whites. Continue folding delicately using a rubber spatula.
- Spread the mix evenly into the pan.
- Bake at 375 F for 10 min, then lower to 350 F for 15 minutes. Top should be firm but make sure to not overbake.
- Let the cake cool in the pan.
-
Prepare filling. - Turn out the cake onto a clean dish towel.
- Spread the filling and roll long side.
Filling
- Whip cream until firm.
- Add vanilla extract, sugar, cocoa and coffee.
Frosting
-
Coarsely chop the chocolate. - Bring cream and butter to a boil over medium heat.
- Remove from heat and add both chocolates. Whisk until melted.
- Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool at room temperature for an hour.
Assemblage
- Place the log on a larger serving platter.
- Spread the frosting around the platter to create a soil/mud effect. Alternativetly, you can spread the frosting over the sides and top of log and using a fork draw a bark design.
- Roll Marzipan in small cylinders for the mushroom stem and into balls for the cap. Pinch the ball into cap shape and attach the stems by pressing gently. Dust with cocoa.
- Arrange the mushrooms and other things.
- Dust confectioner sugar to simulate fresh snow. Et voila!
One Comment
hey! this recipe worked really well! thanks for the tip!