| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 40 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 1 (15-inch) yule log |
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur (recommended: Kahlua)
- Butter, for greasing pan
- 1/2 cup pastry flour or all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for pan and dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
- 1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
- 4 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 cup water, divided
- 3 tablespoons coffee grinds
- 1 cup fine granulated sugar
- 5 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 11 ounces dark chocolate (58 percent cacao)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- For Kahlua simple syrup:
- Add the granulated sugar and water to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and add the liqueur.
- Stir to combine and allow syrup to cool completely.
- For Biscuit Roulade:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 15 by 10 by 1-inch jelly roll pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and butter and flour the paper.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and cocoa in a small mixing bowl, set aside.
- Beat egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating on high speed until the sugar is dissolved. Thoroughly wash and dry the beaters. Beat egg whites in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, beating on medium speed until stiff peaks form.
- Carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites, using a rubber spatula. Once all of the egg yolk mixture has been incorporated, sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg mixture and fold in gently, just to combine.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared jelly roll pan. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly touched near the center, about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Lay out a clean, thin cotton kitchen towel on a work surface; dust the top with confectioners’ sugar and set aside.
- Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, loosen the edges of the cake from the pan using a knife.
- Turn cake out onto the sugared kitchen towel, parchment paper side up. Carefully pull off the parchment paper.
- Fold towel over the longest side of the cake and roll up the cake with the towel inside.
- Cool on a rack with the seam side down.
- For Coffee Buttercream:
- Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat and add the coffee grinds; allow to steep for 5 minutes. Strain through a coffee filter into a small bowl and set the coffee concentrate aside.
- Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of water and sugar in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and heat to 240 degrees F, soft-ball stage, 18 to 20 minutes. Keep the edge of the saucepan clean by brushing it with a pastry brush moistened with water, as needed.
- Once the temperature reaches 240 degrees F, remove the candy thermometer and remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Beat the egg whites in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Gradually pour the hot mixture, in a thin stream, over the whites while continuing to beat for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed and continue to beat until a meringue forms.
- Add the butter all at once, and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Increase speed to high and continue beating until smooth and shiny, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and coffee concentrate and mix for 1 minute until combined. Set aside.
- For Chocolate Ganache:
- Put the chocolate, butter, and honey in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Heat the whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to boil, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour the cream into the chocolate mixture. Whisk until smooth.
- Set aside and allow the ganache to come to room temperature.
- To Assemble:
- Unroll the cake and remove the towel. Using a pastry brush, “baste” the cake with the coffee-based liqueur simple syrup.
- Evenly spread the coffee buttercream over cake to within 1-inch of the edges. Reroll the cake to form the “log.” Arrange, seam side down, on a serving platter.
- Spread the chocolate ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Score the ganache with the tines of a fork to resemble the bark on a log. Decorate as desired and refrigerate for 1 hour to let the ganache set.
Reviews
Someone mentioned what to do with the kahlua liquor. That is part of the simple syrup used to brush the Yule Log with after unrolling it and before adding the filling. The simple syrup recipe could be cut in half with more than enough to brush on. The same goes for the ganache recipe. cut it in half if you really want to make this…. Yuk!
Loved your disney special but I sure would love the recipe for the eggnog creme brulee with biscuit cups any possibility of getting this recipe?
Hello! I enjoyed your holiday special at Disney. I really wish you would post the recipes the chefs used on the show. Especially the flexible yule log dough recipe with the fillings and the frosting. The eggnog creme brulee with the biscuit cups and the profiteroles with pictures of the way they were displayed on the show. The savory recipes would be great too. I would love the cioppino recipe. Please send to clifital@aol.com Buona Fortuna e Buone Feste! These are the kinds of recipes I would love to see more of with the secrets and photos of the presentation.
On TV it was mentioned to use half flour half cornstarch which I did -1/3cup 1/3cup of each. Why is this recipe not written the way it is done on tv? (I hate that Roulade turned out great! However I cannot say the for the frosting. I must have had an off day. Needed to drain off so much moisture and then tried to correct with confectioners so not to waste 1.5c butter. Lastly, I fell dumb in asking this, but what was I supposed to do with the Kahlua syrup? The recipe did not say.
This cake was delicious and time consuming. It is something I will make again, but not on Christmas Eve with a time schedule 🙂 My kids had fun helping with each step….
I reduced the flour to 1/4 corn starch, 3/4 flour and think next time I will take the suggestion of 1/2 and 1/2. Was just a bit leary of 1/2ing it right off the bat.
Despite having too much ganach and kaluha syrup…this thing was fun as ever to make. I did wish I had used half cornstarch instead of all flour. The roulade had some cracks in it that were easily repaired with the expresso buttercream!
My family decided to make this cake Christmas Eve day as a family project. Although there are a number of steps we had fun since none of the steps are very hard to do. The end result was fabulous looking and tasting. This will be a tradition for us from now on – next year we’re going to make the meringue mushrooms!
This cake was absolutely amazing!!! My family finished every last bite! A note to those who make it: the frosting, ganach, and kaluah syrup recipes each make double what is needed for one cake, so you should either make two cakes or half the recipes.
PS. People should stop rating recipes that they have not even tried because it messes with the acuracy of ratings. If you are looking for a different recipe, try to find a forum to post about it or try this recipe first so you can actually comment about it.
The recipe that is on the video sound much more like the one Disney used. I havn’t tried it yet but I’ll let you know how it goes!!
Is there anyone who has a recipe closer to the one the Disney baker uses in the special shown on Food Network recently? I know he says he uses half cornstarch and half flour to get the flexibility in the cake but I’d like to see if anyone else’s perfected it and gotten it down on paper