Home Made Chocolate Yule Log

There's no greater way to tell someone that you love them than through chocolate. Oh yes, something amazingly chocolatey and I've got a recipe for you that is gonna absolutely make your Christmas. My triple chocolate yule log is a scrumptious rolled chocolate sponge filled with hazelnut chocolate spread, whipped cream and topped with a luxurious chocolate buttercream. A delicious gift to bring a bit of festive joy. And it all starts in here making homemade chocolate sponge. We want four beautiful free range organic eggs, nice large ones okay. I want to get the egg whites into here. Let the whites go through and bounce very carefully the yolk backwards and forwards. Don't get any yolk in there at all and if you do you will have to start again. Next thing is a good pinch of salt. And now we're gonna whisk. That's gonna make this sponge really light. You're incorporating loads of air into the egg whites and that will go nice and stiff. Air is the most precious ingredient in this sponge. It's gonna give you the lift and the texture. So now 75 grams of icing sugar, sieve it in and then we start whisking again. Right look at that, beautiful. And then whip in the egg yolks one by one. Then two teaspoons of vanilla extract, 75 grams of self-raising flour through the sieve and two tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder, not hot chocolate, cocoa powder. So go from using a whisk to using a spatula. From whisking to folding. I'm gonna fold all the ingredients back into the middle, try and not lose as much air as possible and there we go. We got the sponge looking good. I've got a 35 centimetre by 25 centimetre tray, I've just oiled it and put some grease proof paper in and now I'll pour that lovely sponge into the tray like that, every last bit and then gently push the chocolate right to the edge and there you go, happy days. So this is now gonna go into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius which is 350 Fahrenheit for exactly 8 minutes. At the same time I'm gonna toast off 350 grams of lovely whole peeled hazelnuts and that is gonna be part of our filling for this sponge. So in that goes as well. Now we're gonna make the most incredible chocolate spread to go inside our beautiful yule log. I've got a heat proof bowl and a little inch of water on a very low heat and we're gonna melt 350 grams of good quality chocolate, about 70-80% cocoa solids, just break it up, a little pinch of salt, it kind of brings out the flavour and then 100 grams of unsalted butter and let that slowly melt and give it a stir every now and again. So get yourself some more grease proof paper, lay out a little sheet like that. My sponge is ready now and it smells amazing, beautiful and I've got the nuts here for the most incredible chocolate spread. First up, take our chocolate sponge and we literally flap it onto this grease proof paper very confidently and then while it's warm we're gonna gently peel off this grease proof paper and roll it up. Just gently like that, slowly, slowly and let it cool down in that shape and you'll be perfectly good to go. And then let's have a look at my nuts, look they're nice and toasted, got a nice little bit of colour there. So this goes straight in to a food processor and while it's nice and hot, we'll whazz it up. Look, have a look at that. In just a minute, it's turned those hazelnuts into an amazing flour, it smells incredible. Then just put this melted chocolate on top, whizz it up until really smooth, oh come on, that is proper chocolate and nut spread. So the great thing about this is you can think about it in a few ways right, I'm gonna use it as the most amazing, indulgent, delicious layer of our rolled yule log, right, that's the first thing. Secondly, put it in a jar, little label, that is the best gift ever, send that to someone you love. Chocolate and nut spread, my mum is gonna love that. And then thirdly, put this into a little dish and I'll put this in the fridge and when it kind of solidifies, hot spoon, teaspoon, boop, little truffles, dust it in nuts or cocoa powder, brilliant. In that goes. Next up, we're gonna make chocolate buttercream for the outside of the yule log. Use the same pan with the same water in it and another heatproof bowl and then 150 grams of 80% cocoa solids chocolate, so that will slowly melt and then in another bowl, I'm gonna beat the lovely butter and then eventually the sugar together. Now this buttercream is gonna go on the outside of the yule log, aka bark, chocolatey bark. This is 150 grams of butter, unsalted and I've got it to room temperature, so just use the back of a spatula just to give it a nice little push, it takes a little while and then we can start beating it, getting the air into it and once that's nice and light, go in with 150 grams of icing sugar, so equal quantities of the sugar, the chocolate and the butter and then we give it a nice little beat. So slowly, slowly now as it's just gone in, then we can pick our speed up and we'll start beating again, completely changes the texture. Then check the chocolate, it's almost there and a little pinch of salt again and while that cools down, I've got 350 mils of gorgeous double cream to go inside our beautiful yule log and a tablespoon of sugar and give it a little whisk up and this is gonna be one of the layers that becomes part of the swirl as we roll up our sponge. So that is done and then let's finish off this buttercream now because the chocolate has cooled down, but look at that, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and chocolate, yes! This is gonna make someone or many people very happy. Slowly beat that into the buttercream, so that's it, we've got the amazing chocolate buttercream here, we've got the whipped cream, we've got the homemade sponge and we've got our lovely beautiful chocolate and nut spread, right, this is gonna make the best yule log ever, honestly, flavours, texture, off the chart. Time to make our beautiful yule log, unwind it slowly, that beautiful, beautiful chocolate and nut spread is gonna go on top, right to the edges, then our beautiful cream, just lightly sweetened. Now I've got a curveball ingredient, amazing, maraschino cherries, I'm just gonna put a few here at the base, like a little surprise and some of these juices, oh yes, just take a little grater and a clementine, it'll make all the difference, hello, hey, here comes travel. What's this? We're gonna make a chocolate yule log, I'm gonna roll it up now, on to the board and I'm gonna cut off this end, I then put this here, like that, you see, so do you know what the good news is? What? This is for nanny and grandad to take home, no I'm gonna take it, my dad, my dad, so look guys this buttercream is gonna go on the outside of the yule log, oh my lord it's gonna taste good, all these little kind of nooks and crannies are supposed to look like, bark, yeah it's like bark, right who wants to decorate some bits, put some of these around the outside, some crushed hazelnuts and then it's been snowing just at the corner of the forest, so there you go, that is the yule log, little candle, that sponge is gonna be so soft and silky and chocolatey and gorgeous, I reckon nanny and grandad are gonna love that, right? Definitely.