December 22, 2012

Mocha Yule Log


It's almost Christmas! This means it's almost time for friends and/or family, food and lots of presents! So maybe take a break from putting up the tree (if you haven't already) or hanging up tinsel, baubles, or pretty lights, and make something for the Christmas party! I made a few yule logs (or bouche de noel's); the mocha one is that huge one in the middle (recipe from taste of home). My blog post on the other logs is here.

The recipe I've typed below is for TWO yule logs, so if you're only making one, halve the values, obviously. All the ingredients are...
Cake:
10 eggs (separated)
2 cups granulated sugar (divided)
1 cup cake flour (if you can't find cake flour, just make it! Use this.)
½ cup baking cocoa
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
Mocha Cream Filling:
2 cups thickened cream
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tsp instant coffee granules
Mocha Buttercream Frosting
cups butter (softened)
⅔ cups baking cocoa
4 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract (I just used vanillin sugar)
2 tbsp brewed coffee
4 to 6 tbsp milk

Prepare all your cake ingredients first!
 1. Line your 2 swiss roll baking pans with baking paper. Separate the egg whites into a small bowl and let them stand at room temp for 30 minutes (yes, my whites are happily chilling with a watch). Put the yolks in a big bowl.
 2. Beat the egg yolks on high until light and fluffy. Then gradually add half of the sugar you've measured out (i.e. 1 cup). Beat until the mixture is thick and lemon colored.
 3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and salt.
 4. Gradually add the flour mix to the egg mixture until it is blended. (Don't waste food, make sure to get all the mix off the beaters before washing them.)
 5. Beat the egg whites on medium until they are foamy.
 6. Now add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.
 7. Gradually add the remaining sugar, beating on high until stiff peaks form.
 8. Stir a fourth of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Then fold in the remaining whites until no streaks remain.
 9. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pans. Bake at 177°C for 12-15 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Do not overcook.
 10. Once they're cooked, take them out of the oven and cool for 5 minutes.
 11. Invert them (one at a time) onto clean, WET kitchen towels. Peel off the baking paper and just roll them up the same way you would roll a swiss roll! Start with the shorter side and just roll inwards, taking the towel with it.
 12. Cool them on a wire rack.
Whilst they're cooling, prepare the ingredients for your mocha filling.
 13. In a large bowl, beat the cream until it begins to thicken.
 14. Add the sugar and coffee granules, then beat until stiff peaks form. Chill the filling.
 15. Unroll the cake and spread the filling on to within 1cm of the edges. I left a little extra room at the end for the filling to squish out. Roll it up again and place on your serving platter and chill it. You could slice part of it diagonally so you can add some stumps to the sides; get creative!
 While the cake is chilling, prepare your frosting ingredients.
 16. In a large bowl, beat all the frosting ingredients until smooth.
17. Now frost the cake! Remember, trees aren't usually perfectly smooth so it's okay to have dings and roughness with your frosting. Using a fork or skewer, make lines resembling bark. Then you may or may not want to chill it again.

And there you have it! A mocha yule log! Now onto the next one...

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