How to make a modern yule log in a mold (with coconut, passion fruit and mango)

And here we are again, Christmas… the golden time of the year for pastry chefs! Each country has its own celebration desserts, and here in France the king is the bûche de Noël, aka the yule log.

Every year I make a yule log for my blog: I started with a light, chocolatey one, then there was the “Totally Hazelnuts” and last year I invented my own with a chocolate spongecake and a vanilla-clementine cream (my favorite!).

All those were “traditional” logs, which means they were “rolled” like in the old days; today, though, cool pastry chefs simply use modern molds that recall the log shape but allow saving a lot of time (no rolling, which I personally hate as much as frosting a cake) and the result is always clean and elegant.

Since I want to become a cool pastry chef too, this year I bought a mold and invented my own recipe of a “Totally white” Christmas log with a dacquoise base, coconut mousse, passion fruit gelée and mango compote.

The dacquoise and the gelée were excellent. The passion fruit perfectly balanced the sweetness of the coconut with acidity. The coconut mousse perhaps contained too much white chocolate, but it was very good anyway (just could have been lighter).

I must admit I was a bit disappointed with the mango compote because it was a bit dull, as if it was missing something. The overall result was anyway very good (I also served this log with chocolate ice cream on top, which seemed nonsense and simply-too-much at first, but it was a revelation!)

I invite you to try this recipe and let me know what you think, so that I can improve it next year!

In the meantime, happy holidays! 🙂

Totally white yule log

Print recipe

Ingredients

Passion fruit gelée

200	Passion fruit pulp
50	Granulated sugar
3	Gelatin
3	Pectin

Coconut dacquoise

55g	Almond flour
30g	Shredded coconut
55g	Powdered sugar
60g	Egg whites
20g	Granulated sugar

Mango compote

42401	Mango, diced
1 teaspoon	Unsalted butter
10g	Brown sugar

Coconut mousse

140g	Coconut milk
260g	Whipped cream (cold)
250	White chocolate
20g	Shredded coconut
6g	Gelatin

Decoration

As needed	Whipped cream
As needed	Shredded coconut

Directions

Passion fruit gelée

Place the passion fruit gelee and the pectin mixed with the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil

Soften the gelatin in cold water, then strain it and add it to the passion fruit when it reaches 60°C and stir quickly

Pour the passion fruit mixture in a container that is as long as the log mold, lined with plastic wrap to facilitate unmolding. Freeze overnight.

Coconut dacquoise

Mix (or sift twice) together the almond flour, the coconut and powdered sugar

Whip the egg whites with the granulated sugar to stiff peaks on medium speed

Gently incorporate the powders into the whipped whites taking care not to deflate the batter

Pipe (or spread) the batter so that it is at least as long and large as the base of log mold. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.