Yule Log (Made Easily, Delicious and Gluten Free!)
A delicious (gluten free) yule log everyone will enjoy!
Equipment
- 1 15"x10"x1" jelly (Swiss) roll pan
Ingredients
Yule Log Sponge Cake:
- 6 egg whites at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar divided according to directions
- 6 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa good quality
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ¼ cup confectioner's sugar as needed for work space
Filling:
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream chilled
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder
Mocha Buttercream Icing (optional):
- ¼ cup butter room temperature
- 2 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
- ¼ cup strong coffee cold
Instructions
For the Sponge Cake:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
- Prepare 15"x10"x1" jelly (Swiss) roll pan by buttering the pan, lining with parchment paper and then lightly butter the paper.
- In large bowl (see notes), beat egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form when beaters are slowly lifted. Add ¼ cup (60 g) sugar, two tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Using the same beaters in another large bowl, beat yolks at high speed, adding remaining ½ cup (115 g) sugar, two tablespoons at a time, until very thick (about 4 minutes.
- At low speed, beat in cocoa, vanilla and salt until smooth.
- With a spatula or large spoon, gently fold cocoa mixture into egg whites just until blended (until there are no egg whites visible.) Spread evenly into pan.
- Bake 15 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed.
- Place a clean linen kitchen towel on workspace and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, in a 15"x10" area. Turn cake out onto sugared towel and carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake, starting with the short end.
- Continue rolling until the end, and then place seam side down onto cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.
Filling:
- Place all ingredients in a bowl.
- Whip until stiff, cover and refrigerate until needed.
To Assemble:
- Unroll the cake and cover with filling to 1" from one short edge. Re-roll without the cloth, and place seam side down onto serving plate.
- Cover loosely with foil and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. This can also be frozen for up to a week, wrapped in foil.
- Let stand at room temperature for one hour before serving.
To Serve as in the Original Recipe:
- Place on a serving platter.
- Dust with confectioner's sugar and decorate with red candied cherries and green angelica leaves.
Christina's Method of Decorating a Yule Log:
- Prepare buttercream frosting: mix all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy, adding enough coffee until a smooth, spreadable consistency is reached.
- Before placing the filled yule log on a serving plate, cut a small piece off each end of the log, at a slight angle. Cut smaller than you think you should or you'll end up with a yule stump instead of a yule log (haha!)
- Spread a little frosting on an end of each piece (outside ends) and attach it to the log to make it look like a log with two cut branches on it.
- Frost the entire log, using a butter knife and make the frosting look like bark, by making rough streaks with the knife.
- Alternately, you can run a fork along the entire dessert, to make it look like the bark on a log. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar just before serving (to make it look like snow.)
- Decorate with meringue mushrooms, pine needles, sugared cranberries, rosemary, and/or other decorations.
Notes
- When choosing the large bowls to beat the egg whites and yolks, use the larger bowl to beat the egg whites in.
- You can skip the frosting and cutting off the ends for a super simple yule log cake.
- This cake can be made in about 45 minutes if not decorating with the frosting. Made with frosting it takes about 1.5 hours.
- SEE PHOTOS IN THE BODY OF THIS POST FOR BEST RESULTS.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 412kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 163mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 182mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 55g | Vitamin A: 814IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 1mg
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