I was asked by my mother to whip up something for a Christmas event with her friends at short notice. It’s not ordinarily how I like to do things – I prefer to pore over books and recipes and narrow down a selection and then judge each on their merits and suitability for the recipients. But as serendipity often occurs, I received an early Christmas present from my husband of the book Nigella Christmas and the Yule Log was one of the first things I saw that caught my eye.
I often dismiss Yule Logs thinking that they’ll be too hard to make and fiddly. They’re something of a craze around Christmas and indeed I saw a Japanese magazine featuring some being sold in Tokyo for Y5000+ ($70AUD or thereabouts) so I summarily dismissed it as a “hard to do” item. That was until I stopped and actually read the recipe. For all of its visual splendour, it’s just like a regular cake with a batter and icing and that is it. The key is in the decoration but even that can be faked, indeed a shaky or uncoordinated hand is best at making the tree-like squiggles and if I know anything about myself, it’s that I’m uncoordinated.
As I’m a slave to styling and wanted to give it a “just found in the forest” look, I sent my husband off in search of pine cones or similar pieces of nature. I would’ve just gone to a Department Store to buy some gold sprayed ones but no, the nature loving man looked out out kitchen window at the trees below and spotted a suitable tree and gathered up these little pieces of nature and another potential Christmas disaster was averted.
Mocha Yule Log
For Cake
- 6 eggs, separated making sure that there is no yolk in the whites
- 100g (3.5oz) + 50g (1.7oz) caster sugar
- 50g/1.7oz cocoa
- 2 heaped teaspoons instant coffee powder
- 3 tablespoons of icing sugar to sieve over the log to decorate
For icing
- 175g/6oz Dark Chocolate
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 250g/8.8 ozs Icing Sugar
- 225g Butter/8ozs, softened
1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced (350F/325F fan forced). Line a swiss roll tin with baking parchment with a little overhang (it rises a little in the oven but sinks down when cooling). In a clean, large bowl whisk the egg whites until starting to hold a peak and then whisk in the 50g of caster sugar by the spoonful until soft, firm peaks form (but not dry).
2. In another bowl, whip egg yolks and 100g of the caster sugar until pale and mousse-like.
3. Sift cocoa over the egg yolk mixture and fold to combine. Add coffee powder and stir.
Adding first few tablespoons of egg white
4. Add 2 tablespoons of the fluffy egg white mixture to the yolk and sugar mixture. Fold gently to combine. Then add the rest of the egg whites in 3 even lots.
5. Pour into swiss roll tin and bake at 180c for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and start to gently pry back paper on the sides.
6. Have another sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with some icing sugar ready. Turn cake onto this gently (don’t worry, if there are any rips or tears, the icing will cover these). Cover with a clean teatowel and cool.
For icing
Beating the icing sugar with softened butter
1. Melt chocolate in a microwave according to instructions (I do it on 30% or 50% power in 60 second bursts). Put icing sugar in food processor to get rid of any lumps or sieve in a bowl. If using a food processor beat with butter, coffee powder and then cooled chocolate. If doing it by hand, whisk with butter in with the sieved icing sugar, coffee powder and then add chocolate and beat by hand using a large whisk.
To assemble
As you can see not all of the cake went with it!
1. Spread the chocolate icing across the cake going up to the edges. Trim cake if necessary and roll up the cake from one end (one of the the shorter sides as opposed to the longer sides). Try and make a tight roll at the beginning – it’s easier if you press the parchment rather than the cake itself as it’s quite delicate. Don’t worry if the whole cake doesn’t come away from the parchment, as you can see mine didn’t, even when I used icing sugar.
2. Using a large sharp knife, cut one or both ends at a diagonal and reserve the pieces. Using the icing, stick the cut off piece at an angel to simulate a branch. Spread the rest of the icing over the rest of the Log and using a toothpick, make squiggly lines much like a tree. Sprinkle with sifted icing sugar.
Log with the lines drawn
Cake can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in a very cool area for up to 1 week (which doesn’t really exist in Australia around the time of Christmas except for a fridge).
You can also freeze the Yule Log and store it for up to 3 months in a rigid container (to preserve its shape). Thaw it overnight and store in an airtight container until serving.
Adapted from Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson
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18 Comments | Add your own
What a beautiful dessert for Christmas!
this log looks fantastic!
It looks great! I made one last year for Christmas, as part of the DB Challenge. It was fun to make, but I think most of my family found it a bit too rich to eat.
Merry Christmas, Lorraine!
I know what you mean about liking to take time to select, or tweak just the right recipe… but the Yule Log looks fantastic.
Have a wonderful day!
that is one dense and most amazing log o’ chocolate. it almost makes me want to run outside and gnaw on a real piece of wood…
happy holidays!
Very nice finishing touches on this Yule Log ^^! Hee hee I am sure you are not that uncoordinated if you can make the stuff you have
Dear Lorraine
The mocha yule log has been made very nicely by you and the details will certainly help me as well.thank you…
I would also like to wish you Merry Christmas and wonderful ushering into new year 2009.
every good stylist needs a willing and able assistant – glad to hear yours came through with the goods
the yule log looks festively fancy! hope you had a nice christmas
Hi Barbara-Thankyou so much!
Hi snookydoodle-Thanks! My favourite bit was how easy it was
Hi Y-I think the coffee helped to cut through the sweetness somehow. The cake itself was beautifully light too!
Hi Angela-Merry Christmas to you, Dave and Lucas!
I hope you’re feeling better? Haha yes it felt like I missed out on the foreplay of the food porn ritual 
Hi grace-haha no need to do that! It’s easy to make and I guarantee it will make all ungrateful colleagues beg for some
Merry Christmas to you! 
Hi FFichiban-Thankyou! I’d like to agree with you but all around me would vehemently deny that I am coordinated
Hi anamika-Thankyou, I’m so glad that it may help!
Thankyou for your Christmas wishes, I hope yours were filled with fun, food and festivities 
Hi Johanna-Haha yes he was tired but he went out to forage for foresty bits
Thankyou I did, I hope yours was a wonderful Christmas! 
Oooh that looks pretty.
Well done, and I hope you had a good Christmas! Sorry that it’s a day late, I’ve been running around packing as I’m heading back to London this Sunday…
Did you have a nice turkey dinner then? Hehe. x
Hi Lorraine! Hope you had a great day. Alas, we’re still a House of Disease. I am officially the fittest member of the household which I find hysterically funny considering what a state I’m in. As such, I’ve just done a run to the shops for tinned soup, bread and medicine.
What a fantastic Christmas, eh?
This is devine Lorraine!! Hope you had a wonderful Xmas, and best wishes for the New Year.
Hi Su-yin-Thankyou so much and no need to apologise, I appreciate you stopping by during such a busy time!
I hope you had a fantastic Christmas! 
Ah no Turkey dinner for me but one very delicious indeed 
Hi Angela-We had a fantastic 3 days, thankyou
Oh no, still! 
You poor things! So sorry to hear that.
Hi Cakelaw-Thankyou so much!
You too and I hope you had a glorious Christmas and a fantastic New Year coming up!
It came out so nice. Makes me think I can do it too!
I have a love /hate relationship with making anything to bring or to give anyone. Could be I always pick a “new” recipe to make instead of sticking with a tried and try one. That and I find grown ups are much more picky. Kids now they just eat it all up , no complaints!
Happy 2009!
~ingrid
Hi ingrid-Thankyou! It was surprisingly easy and I’ll probably make a different one next year I enjoyed it so much
That’s very true adults can be so fussy, kids just see sugar and pounce! Happy 2009 to you too and may it bring lots of happiness and surprises 
Beautiful and how delicious… chocolate and coffee together! I was just thinking of making triple layer cake with those flavours.
Margot
Hi Margot-Thanks so much! I love mocha flavoured things for when chocolate, divine as it is, might just be a bit too much!
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