Food, Uncategorized

Chocolate, Cream & Cranberry Yule Log

Dessert 2 out of 3 of Kimba’s “Berry Desserts” Theme Project
Christmas is just around the corner so once again my “Berry Desserts” Theme Project continues with yet another recipe taken from the Australian Good Food Mag Dec 2010 Issue. I cannot tell you how much I love this magazine.. best thing I’ve ever subscribed to! This cake was a lot of fun to make, and although the recipe below includes frozen cranberries, unfortunately Coles didn’t have any so I settled for frozen raspberries instead! Didn’t really matter though, berries are awesome no matter what they are! Cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries… yum!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup self raising flour, plus 2 tsp extra to dust
5 eggs, plus 1 eggwhite, lightly beaten
1/2 cup caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp extra 
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup almond meal
10 small fresh bay leaves
2/3 cup frozen cranberries
300ml thickened cream
1 tbsp pure icing sugar
Grated rind of 1 orange
275g jar cranberry sauce
Chocolate ganache:
1/2 cup thickened cream
300g dark chocolate, chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 190C or 170C fan. Grease and line a 37cm x 25cm Swiss roll pan. Lightly grease paper and dust with extra flour.

Using an electric mixer, beat whole eggs and caster sugar for 6-8 mins, until pale and thick. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in almond meal. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 mins, until sponge springs back when touched.

Dust a sheet of baking paper with half of extra caster sugar. Cool sponge in pan for 1 min, then turn out onto prepared paper. Peel baking paper from base of sponge and discard. Using sugared paper underneath as a guide, start from a short side and roll up sponge away from you, so sugared paper is rolled inside sponge. Cool completely.

Brush bay leaves and 2 tbsp of cranberries with eggwhite. Coat in remaining caster sugar.

Whip cream, icing sugar and orange rind until soft peaks form. Unroll sponge. Spread with cranberry sauce, leaving a 1cm border. Top with cream mixture. Scatter over remaining cranberries. Using paper as a guide, re-roll sponge as tightly as possible. Do not roll sponge with paper inside. Chill for 30 mins.

To make ganache, heat cream in a pan on medium-low, until starting to bubble. Remove from heat. Add chocolate. Stand for 2 mins. Stir until smooth. Cool for 1 hour 30 mins.

Spread chocolate ganache over sponge roll. Decorate with sugared cranberries and bay leaves. Cut into slices and serve.

Edit 17th November 2010: 

This blog post is participating in CSR’s “Bake A Difference” initiative hosted by Jeroxie.

For more information about this good cause, please click here or visit http://www.bakeadifference.com.au/Donate.aspx to give a donation this Christmas to Mission Australia.

46 thoughts on “Chocolate, Cream & Cranberry Yule Log”

  7. I am hosting Christmas Eve for – 40 people in our huge family and this would be a gorgeous centerpiece. Bookmarking it. And I agree – anything whith chocolate and raspebrries is a “go” in my book.

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  9. Thank you so much for this post. I made Julia Child's recipe for a yule log last year and I still have some work to do on my rolling technique. The filling seemed to smoosh out everywhere when I rolled it. Any advice?

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  12. Oh wow thank you so much all for your kind comments. I love that some of you agree with my raspberries substitution, hehe. @The Improbable Farmer – it's almost inevitable that some filling would smoosh out, but I suppose before you roll out the sponge cake you can make sure you leave a “border” around the cake when spreading the filling.. maybe about 2-3cm border so instead of smooshing out, the filling would just fill the border.So excited that some of you may try this yule log for Christmas – let me know how you go! xoxo Kim

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  18. What a beautiful treat, I'm thinking of adding to ?Thanksgiving. It will surely then become an annual classic. I have lost one of my annual recipes for a savory steamed carrot pudding. Wondering if anyone might have such a recipe they would share. You can reach me at tcmaryf@gmail.com

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  22. I'm partial to raspberries more than cranberries so I'm sure this was a hit! Can't wait to try this out, but I know my presentation won't be as lovely as yours!

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  32. What a stunningly beautiful cake & presentation. Fabulous recipe. Love the addition of almond meal. A real winner! And of course I buzzed you 🙂

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  35. Can I come to your house for Christmas? Or you come to ours and bring the Yule Log? My mom always make a buche de Noel, but it's so saturated in brandy you can't taste anything else. I'd much prefer the freshness of your berries!

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  36. Aaah I wish someone made me this fabulous dessert for Christmas… with a new baby in the family it's going to be difficult :-p But maybe next Christmas 🙂

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  38. My Mom makes a mean yule log, but that right there looks like a totally different ball game. I think that this one is going to haunt my dreams. The berries look gorgeous!

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  45. Your food photos are so beautiful! Do you submit them to food photography sites like foodgawker, photograzing, tastespotting? Because you should!This recipe sounds delicious, too. I've never made a yule log – or had one for that matter. Maybe this is the year!!!

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