AuthorviagelatohawaiiCategoryBaking, GelatoDifficultyIntermediateThis yule log, or buche de noel is the genius combination of ice cream and light and airy sponge cake. You can flavor the sponge cake and pick the ice cream flavor that you like the best. One of my favorite holiday flavors is cinnamon ice cream so, I've chosen a cinnamon spiced Biscoff Cookie gelato that we serve. The bark on the top are delicate thin sheets of white and dark chocolate that look like a modern interpretation of a tree trunk.
Preheat oven to 350°F
Put a small pot on the stove with an inch of water (this will be your bain marie to indirectly heat the egg white).
Separate the 3 eggs and put the whites into the mixing bowl
Add the 4 Tbsp of sugar
Whisk it together and get a thermometer
Put the mixing bowl on top of the pot with the water
Turn the stove on at medium heat
whisk the egg white sugar mixture periodically as it heats and more frequently once the temperature in 100 degrees and climbing.
STOP and remove the mixing bowl from the indirect steam heat when it reaches 165 degrees F
The purpose of heating the egg whites is you are creating a meringue to create this airy sponge cake. As the egg whites warm and heat, the protein coils will loosen. You will literally feel them loosen as the mixture gets warmer. It will start as a stiff gloopy egg white and transform to very liquid like whisking water. This loosening of the egg white proteins is absolutely necessary to making airy stiff and stable meringues which is exactly what you want for your sponge cake (it will be guaranteed to be light and fluffy).
Put the mixing bowl into the stand mixer and use the whisk attachment
Whisk it until it becomes fluffy like bubble bath (30 seconds)
Add in the 1/2 tsp cornstarch and the 1/2 tsp vinegar (this will encourage even more fluffy firmer foam (whisk another minute)
Once the mixture forms soft peaks, stop the mixer and scrape out the foamy meringue into a separate bowl.
Now that the mixing bowl is empty, you can proceed to whipping:
- 3 egg yolks (leftover from the separated eggs from the meringue)
- 3 whole eggs
- 14 Tbsp sugar
There is no need to clean the bowl to whip these eggs.
Whip this mixture until it becomes large and fluffy
Fold in 3/4 cup sifted all purpose flour or 3/4 heaping cup sifted cake flour.
Sifting is absolutely NECESSARY. And, it is not as difficult or time consuming as people assume.
Just put a sieve or colander over the mixing bowl, dump the flour in, and swirl it around with your hand. It's sifted in less than 5 seconds.
Doing this step will ensure that you don't overmix the batter and you aren't frustrated with unbreakable lumps in your batter and resort to beating or mashing (both of which would be bad for making sponge cake.
Fold in the egg whites.
Spray cooking spray on parchment
Put the parchment on a baking sheet (18"X13", 1" high called a "half sheet pan")
Pour the foamy batter out across the half sheet pan, trying for fairly even distribution
(You want to pour out the batter spread out across the pan - not deposited into one big mountain that you need to flatten or spread.
You do not want to scrape or pat or move the batter much after getting it on the sheet pan because you will end up bursting all the foamy air bubbles you worked to achieve. This cake doesn't have to be terribly even anyway, you're going to roll it up - no one will see if one edge is wavy or one side is thicker than the other)
Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees in the middle of the oven
This sponge cake cooks quickly, it should not take longer than 15 minutes to cook at 350 degrees.
If you're worried, it's not done, touch it. If your finger is dry, it's done. It will seem really soft and you'll be worried it's not done...don't worry, it is done. It's soft because it is a highly aerated sponge cake. If you're still worried about it, poke it with a thermometer, if the thermometer reads 200 degrees, it's done.
Dust the cake with 1/4 cup powdered sugar
If the cake is stuck to the edges of the pan, run a knife along the edges so that the cake will release from the pan.
Put a piece of greased parchment on top of the cake
Flip the hot sheet pan and put it on your prepared parchment or tea towel.
The cake will fall out of the pan with the parchment attached and is now sandwiched also with greased parchment on the bottom.
Remove the parchment that the cake baked on.
Dust that side of the cake with 1/4 cup powdered sugar.
Put another piece of greased parchment or use a moist tea towel and put it on top the cake.
Simply start on one end and roll it up and let it rest with the seam side down.
Doing this will let the sponge get accustomed to the rolled up shape you want it in.
If this is confusing or you would like to see it done, watch the youtube video in this post.
Melt the 1/3 cup of white chocolate over a bain marie, or in the microwave at 50% power level 5 for 2 minutes.
If you are unfamiliar with melting chocolate in your microwave do it 1 minute at a time and check on it so the chocolate doesn't burn.
When it's done, the chocolate will still have it's shape, but when you stir it with a clean dry spatula, everything will melt gently into a liquid.
DO NOT EXPECT THE CHOCOLATE TO LOOK TOTALLY LIKE A LIQUID after the microwave stops. It will look like softened shapes. If you microwave the chocolate and you're waiting for it to look like a liquid, you've heated it too hot and too far. The chocolate and the bowl will have heat and when you stir it, your stirring will distribute the heat and gently melt all the chocolate with no burning.
Do not use dishes or tools with a little water or moisture on them. Your chocolate will "seize" and thicken to a scraggly goop. If this happens, it's best to start over. But do not throw the chocolate away. It will melt perfectly fine in hot chocolate or ganache. Chocolate hates water, unless you add A LOT of water, then it's totally fine. It has to do with chocolate's high fat content. Oil generally doesn't like a little bit of water.
Take out a piece of parchment paper
Using the spatula, fling the white chocolate across the paper.
This creates lines of white chocolate that will harden to look like the details of the bark.
Put this sheet of paper in the fridge or freezer to set the white chocolate lines.
It's not important that the lines are perfect or the paper is completely flat - you're going to break up the bark anyway later on.
Melt the 1 cup of chocolate either over a bain marie, or in the microwave at 50% power level 5, and for 4-5 minutes.
Stir it with a clean dry spatula
Take out the parchment with the now firmed up white chocolate
Pour the dark chocolate over it.
It will appear like there isn't enough dark chocolate, but don't worry, perfection is not needed - again, you're going to break this up into shards anyway.
Using a off set pastry spatula or a pastry scraper - spread the chocolate thinly across the paper covering the white chocolate.
If you don't have a pastry scraper or offset spatula, use a washed and thoroughly dried edge of a credit card.
It will not look perfect, there will be streaks and the chocolate will not look perfectly smooth. That's normal. This is after all the "back side" that no one will see.
After frozen hard to set, you will release it from the paper and the "front side" will look smooth and gloss
Return the parchment to the freezer so the bark can set.
Take out the ice cream.
Unroll the sponge cake.
Using a spoon or ball portion scooper, deposit ice cream dotting across the whole sponge cake
Wait until the ice cream is soft then flatten and spread it out.
Roll up the cake
The ice cream will make the cake heavy and slightly resistant to rolling.
The motion is pick up one end and fold it over then squeeze it together to tuck the end in.
This will start the roll and to make it look less like a fold
Repeat again, coax it to flip again and then squeeze it into a log - the motion is very similar to making sushi rolls.
If this is confusing, watch the video in the post (but put your cake and ice cream back in the freezer so it doesn't melt while you watch the video)
When done rolling, put the cake seam side down and put it into the freezer to set
In a clean mixing bowl:
1 pint of whipping cream
1/4 c sugar
Whip it until it forms soft peaks - stand and watch it do not walk away.
I prefer NOT to whip cream at the highest speed because I've found that whipping it for longer at a medium-high speed makes the whipped cream more stable.
Whipping it like this creates micro-aeration, as opposed to bigger bubbles that pop more easily. It also forms more slowly and so it's more forgiving - you're less likely to overwhip the whipped cream this way.
Do not walk away, because if you overwhip the whipped cream it will become grainy (it's on it's way to becoming butter).
If this happens, you can start over, but save that overwhipped cream. You can still use it to make ganache or anything else you would make with heated cream.
Use a serrated bread knife, and hold one end of the log like a loaf of bread and cut it.
Cut the log, at an angle, about 1/3 of the log
Set it to the side of the remaining log to create the "branch"
Slather your whipped cream all around your log.
It does not need to be neat.
Take out the chocolate bark from the freezer.
Fold the parchment paper up into thirds both length wise and across.
The folding will release the chocolate bark from the paper, minimizing you touching it and smearing the chocolate with your fingers.
The bark will snap into irregular pieces, perfect for constructing the organic tree look
Place the chocolate bark on top of the whipped cream (white chocolate stripes facing up)
It's your choice if you want the bark going around horizontally or vertically. Pick one direction and stick with it.
I like to stick the bark in at angles so that I can get layers of bark and see the whipped cream.
Don't worry about the parchment looking messy - you can remove the parchment later when the log is set.
When you're done, put it in the freezer to set.
Once set you can remove it easily from the parchment paper and put it on your serving plate or board.
When serving and cutting a slice, use the knife like a guillotine and sharply come down on the cake to crack the thin shards of chocolate bark, then press down to cut through the ice cream log.
This yule log has so many lovely pastry components, the whipped cream and airy sponge, the dense gelato and the thin shards of chocolate bark that do triple duty as decoration, crispy texture and of course deep dark chocolate flavor.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F
Put a small pot on the stove with an inch of water (this will be your bain marie to indirectly heat the egg white).
Separate the 3 eggs and put the whites into the mixing bowl
Add the 4 Tbsp of sugar
Whisk it together and get a thermometer
Put the mixing bowl on top of the pot with the water
Turn the stove on at medium heat
whisk the egg white sugar mixture periodically as it heats and more frequently once the temperature in 100 degrees and climbing.
STOP and remove the mixing bowl from the indirect steam heat when it reaches 165 degrees F
The purpose of heating the egg whites is you are creating a meringue to create this airy sponge cake. As the egg whites warm and heat, the protein coils will loosen. You will literally feel them loosen as the mixture gets warmer. It will start as a stiff gloopy egg white and transform to very liquid like whisking water. This loosening of the egg white proteins is absolutely necessary to making airy stiff and stable meringues which is exactly what you want for your sponge cake (it will be guaranteed to be light and fluffy).
Put the mixing bowl into the stand mixer and use the whisk attachment
Whisk it until it becomes fluffy like bubble bath (30 seconds)
Add in the 1/2 tsp cornstarch and the 1/2 tsp vinegar (this will encourage even more fluffy firmer foam (whisk another minute)
Once the mixture forms soft peaks, stop the mixer and scrape out the foamy meringue into a separate bowl.
Now that the mixing bowl is empty, you can proceed to whipping:
- 3 egg yolks (leftover from the separated eggs from the meringue)
- 3 whole eggs
- 14 Tbsp sugar
There is no need to clean the bowl to whip these eggs.
Whip this mixture until it becomes large and fluffy
Fold in 3/4 cup sifted all purpose flour or 3/4 heaping cup sifted cake flour.
Sifting is absolutely NECESSARY. And, it is not as difficult or time consuming as people assume.
Just put a sieve or colander over the mixing bowl, dump the flour in, and swirl it around with your hand. It's sifted in less than 5 seconds.
Doing this step will ensure that you don't overmix the batter and you aren't frustrated with unbreakable lumps in your batter and resort to beating or mashing (both of which would be bad for making sponge cake.
Fold in the egg whites.
Spray cooking spray on parchment
Put the parchment on a baking sheet (18"X13", 1" high called a "half sheet pan")
Pour the foamy batter out across the half sheet pan, trying for fairly even distribution
(You want to pour out the batter spread out across the pan - not deposited into one big mountain that you need to flatten or spread.
You do not want to scrape or pat or move the batter much after getting it on the sheet pan because you will end up bursting all the foamy air bubbles you worked to achieve. This cake doesn't have to be terribly even anyway, you're going to roll it up - no one will see if one edge is wavy or one side is thicker than the other)
Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees in the middle of the oven
This sponge cake cooks quickly, it should not take longer than 15 minutes to cook at 350 degrees.
If you're worried, it's not done, touch it. If your finger is dry, it's done. It will seem really soft and you'll be worried it's not done...don't worry, it is done. It's soft because it is a highly aerated sponge cake. If you're still worried about it, poke it with a thermometer, if the thermometer reads 200 degrees, it's done.
Dust the cake with 1/4 cup powdered sugar
If the cake is stuck to the edges of the pan, run a knife along the edges so that the cake will release from the pan.
Put a piece of greased parchment on top of the cake
Flip the hot sheet pan and put it on your prepared parchment or tea towel.
The cake will fall out of the pan with the parchment attached and is now sandwiched also with greased parchment on the bottom.
Remove the parchment that the cake baked on.
Dust that side of the cake with 1/4 cup powdered sugar.
Put another piece of greased parchment or use a moist tea towel and put it on top the cake.
Simply start on one end and roll it up and let it rest with the seam side down.
Doing this will let the sponge get accustomed to the rolled up shape you want it in.
If this is confusing or you would like to see it done, watch the youtube video in this post.
Melt the 1/3 cup of white chocolate over a bain marie, or in the microwave at 50% power level 5 for 2 minutes.
If you are unfamiliar with melting chocolate in your microwave do it 1 minute at a time and check on it so the chocolate doesn't burn.
When it's done, the chocolate will still have it's shape, but when you stir it with a clean dry spatula, everything will melt gently into a liquid.
DO NOT EXPECT THE CHOCOLATE TO LOOK TOTALLY LIKE A LIQUID after the microwave stops. It will look like softened shapes. If you microwave the chocolate and you're waiting for it to look like a liquid, you've heated it too hot and too far. The chocolate and the bowl will have heat and when you stir it, your stirring will distribute the heat and gently melt all the chocolate with no burning.
Do not use dishes or tools with a little water or moisture on them. Your chocolate will "seize" and thicken to a scraggly goop. If this happens, it's best to start over. But do not throw the chocolate away. It will melt perfectly fine in hot chocolate or ganache. Chocolate hates water, unless you add A LOT of water, then it's totally fine. It has to do with chocolate's high fat content. Oil generally doesn't like a little bit of water.
Take out a piece of parchment paper
Using the spatula, fling the white chocolate across the paper.
This creates lines of white chocolate that will harden to look like the details of the bark.
Put this sheet of paper in the fridge or freezer to set the white chocolate lines.
It's not important that the lines are perfect or the paper is completely flat - you're going to break up the bark anyway later on.
Melt the 1 cup of chocolate either over a bain marie, or in the microwave at 50% power level 5, and for 4-5 minutes.
Stir it with a clean dry spatula
Take out the parchment with the now firmed up white chocolate
Pour the dark chocolate over it.
It will appear like there isn't enough dark chocolate, but don't worry, perfection is not needed - again, you're going to break this up into shards anyway.
Using a off set pastry spatula or a pastry scraper - spread the chocolate thinly across the paper covering the white chocolate.
If you don't have a pastry scraper or offset spatula, use a washed and thoroughly dried edge of a credit card.
It will not look perfect, there will be streaks and the chocolate will not look perfectly smooth. That's normal. This is after all the "back side" that no one will see.
After frozen hard to set, you will release it from the paper and the "front side" will look smooth and gloss
Return the parchment to the freezer so the bark can set.
Take out the ice cream.
Unroll the sponge cake.
Using a spoon or ball portion scooper, deposit ice cream dotting across the whole sponge cake
Wait until the ice cream is soft then flatten and spread it out.
Roll up the cake
The ice cream will make the cake heavy and slightly resistant to rolling.
The motion is pick up one end and fold it over then squeeze it together to tuck the end in.
This will start the roll and to make it look less like a fold
Repeat again, coax it to flip again and then squeeze it into a log - the motion is very similar to making sushi rolls.
If this is confusing, watch the video in the post (but put your cake and ice cream back in the freezer so it doesn't melt while you watch the video)
When done rolling, put the cake seam side down and put it into the freezer to set
In a clean mixing bowl:
1 pint of whipping cream
1/4 c sugar
Whip it until it forms soft peaks - stand and watch it do not walk away.
I prefer NOT to whip cream at the highest speed because I've found that whipping it for longer at a medium-high speed makes the whipped cream more stable.
Whipping it like this creates micro-aeration, as opposed to bigger bubbles that pop more easily. It also forms more slowly and so it's more forgiving - you're less likely to overwhip the whipped cream this way.
Do not walk away, because if you overwhip the whipped cream it will become grainy (it's on it's way to becoming butter).
If this happens, you can start over, but save that overwhipped cream. You can still use it to make ganache or anything else you would make with heated cream.
Use a serrated bread knife, and hold one end of the log like a loaf of bread and cut it.
Cut the log, at an angle, about 1/3 of the log
Set it to the side of the remaining log to create the "branch"
Slather your whipped cream all around your log.
It does not need to be neat.
Take out the chocolate bark from the freezer.
Fold the parchment paper up into thirds both length wise and across.
The folding will release the chocolate bark from the paper, minimizing you touching it and smearing the chocolate with your fingers.
The bark will snap into irregular pieces, perfect for constructing the organic tree look
Place the chocolate bark on top of the whipped cream (white chocolate stripes facing up)
It's your choice if you want the bark going around horizontally or vertically. Pick one direction and stick with it.
I like to stick the bark in at angles so that I can get layers of bark and see the whipped cream.
Don't worry about the parchment looking messy - you can remove the parchment later when the log is set.
When you're done, put it in the freezer to set.
Once set you can remove it easily from the parchment paper and put it on your serving plate or board.
When serving and cutting a slice, use the knife like a guillotine and sharply come down on the cake to crack the thin shards of chocolate bark, then press down to cut through the ice cream log.
This yule log has so many lovely pastry components, the whipped cream and airy sponge, the dense gelato and the thin shards of chocolate bark that do triple duty as decoration, crispy texture and of course deep dark chocolate flavor.