Sweets and drinksBaked GoodsEurope and North America10 minutes baking the sponge, 4 to 8 hours freezing, about half a day in total
A Christmas yule log with dark chocolate ganache is a thin sponge rolled around a chocolate mousse, covered in ganache and dragged into the grain of wood. It works because the cool light mousse sits inside a deep ganache. The hardest part is the rolling, since a sponge left to cool completely cracks straight across the middle.
Roll the sponge while it is still warm and roll along the edge of the baking paper. That is the trick that keeps the log evenly round with no cracks across the surface.
This batch weighs about 3.3kg, at roughly 306 calories per 100g.
Method
Mix 40g of cocoa powder with 200g of cake flour and sift them together once. Mix 200ml of milk with 100ml of cooking oil in a separate bowl. Soak 15g of gelatin in cold water.
Separate 13 chicken eggs. Whip 10 egg whites with 165g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, adding the blend gradually as you go. In another bowl, beat 10 egg yolks with 165g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend until the mixture falls from the beater in a smooth ribbon.
Fold the whites and yolks together until smooth. Add 2g of salt and 2g of baking soda to the dry mix, stir it through, then fold it gently into the egg mixture. Add the oil and milk mixture a little at a time and keep folding.
Line the tin with baking paper, pour the batter in, smooth the top, and bake at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes. Take the sponge out to cool, rub off the skin, turn it over and peel away the paper.
Make the base for the mousse: melt 225g of unsweetened dark chocolate chips in a bowl set over a pot of hot water, add 75g of finely ground kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and stir until smooth and glossy.
Melt the gelatin over hot water until fully dissolved. Beat the remaining 3 egg yolks with 30g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend into a sabayon, whisk the melted gelatin through with a balloon whisk, then tip it into the chocolate bowl with 20ml of orange liqueur and stir.
Set a bowl of ice water, sit another bowl on top, and whip 500ml of whipping cream until it holds on the beater. Fold the sabayon mixture into the whipped cream with a spatula.
Lay the sponge on baking paper, spread the mousse over it, level it, roll it up, wrap it tightly in the paper and freeze for 4 to 8 hours.
Make the base for the ganache: melt 300g of unsweetened dark chocolate chips in a bowl set over a pot of hot water, add 100g of finely ground kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and stir until smooth and glossy.
Warm 300g of butter with the remaining 400ml of whipping cream over hot water, stir, then tip it into the chocolate bowl and stir into an even mixture.
Take the rolled sponge out, cover the whole log in ganache, drag a fork along it for the grain of wood, and decorate as you like.
Tips
Heating the oven for 10 minutes first means the sponge bakes through in exactly 10 minutes without drying on top.
Roll the sponge while it is still warm and follow the edge of the baking paper, so the body comes out evenly round without cracking.
The sponge needs a full 4 to 8 hours in the freezer to hold its log shape once the ganache goes on.
This batch melts the chocolate base twice in two different amounts, so weigh them both out at the start to keep them apart.
Dip the fork in hot water and wipe it dry before dragging the grain, so the lines stay sharp and the ganache does not cling to it.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.