After I made this I placed it in the fridge and didn’t tell anyone I made it. When each one went to get something out of the fridge; they each smiled and said “you made a yule log”
There are a few things I have wanted or at least thought about making and figured they were beyond my reach. Not that I couldn’t make them more of I thought they were harder than I wanted to work for them; if that makes any sense.
Some recipes have a lot of ingredients listed which can look like it will take FOREVER to make the recipe; compare it to receiving a long email. You tend to zone out after the first paragraph or so and put it aside to “read” when you have time a little more time wink wink.
While this recipe at first glance might look like it has a lot of ingredients it really is mostly hands off and didn’t take me very long at all, plus how forgiving is it since it is supposed to look like a log. I’ve tried to decorate cakes to perfection only to never get them quite right. This one turned out perfectly log like 🙂
I know it tastes great since I got to eat the ends that I cut off to clean it up!
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/4 cup baking cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
- Filling
- 1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
- Frosting
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/3 cup baking cocoa
- 1 tablespoon brewed coffee, cooled
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoon milk
- place egg whites in a small bowl and yolks in a large mixing bowl. Let stand at room temperature about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350'F. Line bottom of a greased 15"x10"x1" pan with parchment; grease parchment. sift flour, cocoa and salt together twice. Beat the egg yolks until slightly thickened. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating on high speed until thick and lemon-colored about 3-4 minutes. Fold in the flour mixture.
- Add cream of tarter to the egg whites and with clean beaters, beat on medium until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Beating on high after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Continue beating until soft glossy peaks form. Fold a fourth on the whites into the batter then fold in remaining whites. transfer to prepared pan, spreading evenly.
- Bake until the top springs back when lightly touched, about 12-15 minutes. be careful to not overbake. Cool for 5 minutes. invert onto a clean tea towel dusted with cocoa. Gently peel off the parchment paper. Roll up the cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with the short side. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Filling; in a bowl, dissolve coffee granules in the cream. beat until it begins to thicken. Add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Unroll cake and spread the filling over the cake to within 1/2 inch of all the edges. Roll up again, without the towel, trim the ends. Transfer to a platter, seam side down, refrigerate, covered until cold.
- Frosting: beat all the ingredients until smooth. spread over the cake. Using a fork, make lines in the frosting to resemble tree bark. Refrigerate until serving.
Slicing it at an angle and placing the flat part against the roll makes it look like a branch
using a fork you can make lines through the frosting to make it look rustic and more like a log
Once lit on Christmas Eve, the log had to burn for at least three days for good luck—ideally until the New Year. That was just the start: ash from the log provided protection against lightning strikes, and coals were used throughout the year in various medicinal potions. It is believed that it turned into a cake looking like a log around the 20th century.
There are so many variations out there, this recipe had me at mocha – I LOVE mocha!
