Buche De Neol/Yule Log

Buche de Neol/yule Log is a French christmas cake shaped like a log.

The spongiest chocolate cake roll filled with light chocolate whipped cream and traditionally it is decorated with confectionary sugar on the top of cake resemble snow on a Yule log.

Here we have some more attractive decorations on the top of the Yule log

• Mushroom meringues
• Almond pine cones

Also, we have few major steps before we assemble the Yule log

1. Chocolate sponge cake
2. Chocolate-mascarpone whipped cream filling
3. Ultimate dark chocolate ganache for frosting
4. Mushroom meringues
5. Almond pine cones
6. Frozen cranberries
7. Assemble the cake

1.CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour – ¼ cup
• Cocoa powder – ¼ cup
• Corn flour – 2 tblsp
• Granulated sugar – ½ cup +2 tblsp
• Cream of tartar – ½ tsp
• Salt – ½ tsp
• Eggs – 4 nos (Large- room temperature)
• Egg yolk – 1 no (Large- room temperature)
• Canola oil – 2 tblsp
• Freshly brewed coffee – 1 tblsp(Or) instant coffee powder – ½ tsp
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Confectionery sugar – ¼ cup ( for cake coating)

Procedure:

• Pre heat the oven to 350˚F
• Line the parchment paper into the cookie sheet and keep aside
• In a stand mixer or hand mixer, add the room temperature eggs along with one egg yolk beat it on high speed until it turn light and pale yellow in color, in between add the sugar in equal intervals.
• Sieve the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, corn flour, salt and cream of tartar in a separate bowl and keep aside
• Now add the sieved dry ingredients slowly into the egg mixture, fold it gently using spatula/ wire whisk (do not beat the mixture)
• Finally add the vanilla essence, freshly brewed room temperature coffee and canola oil into the batter and fold it gently
• Pour the batter into the prepared cookie sheet and spread it evenly, tap it twice to remove the air bubbles.
• Bake it for about 12-15 mins or insert a toothpick into the center of the cake comes out clean
• Place a parchment paper over a clean and dry kitchen towel, sprinkle some confectionery sugar on the parchment paper
• Remove the sponge cake from the cookie sheet; when it is still hot, flip the sponge cake onto the prepared parchment paper and remove the parchment paper from the baked sponge cake and sprinkle some more confectionery sugar (ref pic)

• Now roll it gently with the help of kitchen towel and cool it on a wire rack (ref Pic); it will take approx 15 mins

• Meanwhile prepare the filling

2.FILLING

CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE WHIPPING CREAM

Ingredients:

• Cold whipping cream – 1 cup
• Confectionery sugar – ¼ cup (depends on your taste)
• Semi sweet chocolate chip – ½ cup
• Mascarpone cheese – ½ cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Instant coffee – 1 tsp ( optional)

Procedure:

• Melt the chocolate chip in microwave for about 30- 40 secs or use bain -marie method to melt the chocolate chip
• In a mixing bowl, add the cold whipping cream along with vanilla essence and confectionery and beat it using hand/stand mixer for about 5 mins or until it forms a soft peak.
• Now add a small amount of whipped cream into the mascarpone cheese and mix well and add the cream and cheese into the whipping cream mixture
• Fold it gently and refrigerate it until cake assemble

3.CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

Ingredients:

• Dark chocolate – 12 0z (or) 2 cups
• Whipping cream – 1 cup

 Procedure:

• Melt the dark chocolate and whipping cream using microwave or bain-marie method
• Mix well until the chocolate melt down completely
• Cool completely before use

4.MUSHROOM MERINGUES:

Ingredients:

• Egg whites – 2 nos (room temperature)
• Granulated sugar – ½ cup
• Cream of tartar – ½ tsp
• Cocoa powder – 1 tblsp ( to sprinkle on the top)
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

 Procedure:

• Pre heat the oven to 200˚F
• Line the parchment paper into the cookie sheet and keep aside
• Add the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl and beat it on high speed using hand/stand mixture until it reaches stiff peak, in between add the sugar in equal intervals.
• Fill the meringue batter into the piping bag with round nozzle tip
• Pipe the meringues gently on the parchment lined baking tray 1 inch apart(ref pic) for the mushroom stems, for mushroom top flat the top using your finger tip
• Sprinkle some cocoa powder over the piped meringues
• Bake it for about 1 ½ hrs to 2 hr.
• Cool completely and store it in an air tight container for more days.

 MUSHROOM MERINGUE

• Now poke a little in the middle of the round shape meringue back and dip the mushroom top into the room temperature ganache and insert the mushroom meringue stem towards the poked center of the mushroom meringue top
• Keep aside, it will take 15-20 mins to setup
• Repeat the same process for the rest of the mushroom meringue top and stem

5.ALMOND PINE CONES:

Ingredients:

• Brown/ white fondant – ¼ cup
• Cocoa powder – 1 tsp (if white fondant)
• Almond slices – 1 cup

Procedure:

• Make the fondant into small cone shapes , if you are using white color fondant then , add a tsp of cocoa powder into the fondant and mix well until the color incorporated well
• Now take one almond slice at a time and starts inserting into the fondant cone (from large to small)
• Depends on your cone size, the layers of the almond slice increase.
• You can leave these almond cones for few hours at room temperature

6.FROZEN CRANBEERY:

Ingredients:

• Frozen cranberries – 10 nos

NOTE/TIP:

• If you have fresh cranberries, then freeze it for at least 1 day before the decoration process

7.CAKE ASSEMBLY:

• Now place the cake over the plastic wrapped cake stand for easy cleaning.
• Unroll the cake and spread the filling generously from center to the edges and roll it gently.
• Cut 1/4^th of the cake diagonally, use some of the ganache to attach the small log (ref pic)
• Using big star tip, fill the room temperature ganache and start frosting horizontally which looks like a natural bark line and same way to the small log
• Now decorate more with mushroom meringues, frozen cranberries and almond pine cones
• Towards the end, sprinkle some confectionery sugar on the top the cake for the classic, winter, CHRISTMAS dessert
• The super delicious, classy, winter dessert “BUCHE DE NEOL/YULE LOG” is ready for the party.