This Christmas Yule log cake is made of a delicate sponge and rich chocolate buttercream, and it looks just as beautiful as it tastes! Add optional finishing touches like miniature evergreen trees, meringue mushrooms, and woodland berries.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 4 large eggs, separated, divided
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder for dusting, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease a jelly roll pan. Line it with parchment paper, and grease the paper.
- Beat 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Add 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons flour, butter, lukewarm water, and baking powder; beat until well combined.
- Beat egg whites and salt in a glass, metal, or ceramic bowl until stiff. Transfer 1/3 of the whites to the cake batter and gently fold in. Repeat with remaining whites. Spoon batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven until it springs back when pressed gently in the middle, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for 3 minutes, before carefully turning the cake out onto a large piece of parchment paper. Roll the parchment and cake from one short end to the other and let cool.
- While the cake is cooling, place chocolate for buttercream in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Beat softened butter in a bowl until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar in small increments, beating between each addition. Add melted chocolate and beat until well combined.
- Carefully unroll the cooled sponge cake. Spread a thin layer of buttercream across the top to the edges. Firmly roll back up, using parchment to help you, into a tight roll.
- At one end of the roll, cut off a diagonal slice to represent a branch, about 2 inches in length at the longest side. Frost the entire roll with buttercream. Use a palette knife to create uneven ridges to represent tree bark. Position the branch somewhere near the center of the log and cover with buttercream.
- Drag the tines of a fork lengthwise across the buttercream to create an extra bark effect. Dust the entire log with cocoa powder.
- The original recipe is in metric. If you have a scale, the metric measurements are: 125 g sugar, 60 g unsalted butter, and 100 g flour for the cake. For the chocolate buttercream you will need 100 g chopped chocolate, 150 g unsalted butter, and 200 g powdered sugar.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 484 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 57 g |
| Cholesterol | 149 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Sodium | 119 mg |
| Sugars | 45 g |
| Fat | 28 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |