One of the best chocolate yule log cakes for Christmas. Easy rolled chocolate sponge cake with cream filling and chocolate decoration. Looks beautiful and tastes delicious!
Sieve cocoa powder, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Add sugar and mix with a spoon.
1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp baking powder
In another bowl whip egg whites until soft peaks.
4 eggs
In the other bowl whip egg yolks until pale yellow.
1 egg yolk
Add dry ingredients to the whipped egg yolks. Add almond extract and combine with a spatula.
1 egg yolk, 1/8 tsp almond extract
Fold egg whites into chocolate batter.
Prepare a tray with baking paper and brush it with melted butter.
1 tbsp butter
Add sponge mixture to the tray. Flatten with a spatula. Bake for 12 minutes.
Let the sponge cool until you can touch it (5-10 min), then dust with cocoa powder.
Put the sponge cake on the clean kitchen towel, dusted with cocoa. Remove the baking paper. Wrap it, rolling in the kitchen towel.
Mascarpone cream
Whip Mascarpone cheese for few minutes and whip heavy cream in separate bowl, using hand mixer.
6⅓ oz Mascarpone cheese, 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Add 6 drops of stevia and vanilla extract to Mascarpone cheese.
6 drops stevia extract with vanilla flavoring
Fold whipped cream in Mascarpone, then whip for 1 minutes, using hand mixer until combined.
Unroll the sponge cake and distribute the cream with offset spatula or spoon.
Roll the cake with cream tightly.
Decoration
Put about 80 % of dark chocolate in heat-proof bowl. Melt it in the pot with boiling water (Bain Marie) until almost melted or until thermometer shows 46 C / 115 F.
6⅓ oz dark chocolate
Then transfer the bowl to the cool table. Start adding remaining chocolate and mixing with a spatula until it cools to 31 C / 88 F. The process may take up to 20 minutes, depending on the temperature of your room. You can see it becomes glossy and thick.
Pour the chocolate on parchment paper.
Flatten the chocolate with spatula.
Roll the parchment paper. Put it between the glasses or bowls, so it will have slightly rounded edges like bark. Leave it to set completely (you can do it the night before).
Carefully unroll the paper, letting the bark crack in smaller pieces.
Cut the ends of the Buche de Noel Cake.
'Glue' the bark to the sponge using extra melted chocolate.
Dust the cake with powdered sugar and decorate with rosemary and cranberries right before serving.
Store the cake with cream up to 3 days in the fridge.You can use 2 tbsp of sugar syrup instead of stevia drops.*It will be easier to whip heavy cream in a cold bowl. Place the glass bowl in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.**Keep in mind, the thinner the bark, the easier it will stick to the cake.See the post for make ahead instructions.