Recipe: Chocolate and hazelnut Christmas yule log

Christmas is around the corner!

Everybody is starting to go shopping for presents, but I don’t care: I prefer to make Christmas cakes! 🙂

A few days ago I found a recipe by Benoît Couvrand, pastry chef at the Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac in Paris on a French magazine: it was an awesome-looking bûche de Noël (Christmas yule log) with a chocolate filling and caramelized hazelnuts.

What I loved the most about this recipe is that:

1) It is made with a flourless chocolate cake: this makes it a bit hard to roll, but in the end the yule log is very moist and light (so light that I didn’t feel guilty to get a double portion, although I should have)

2) It doesn’t look like the old-fashioned rolled cakes that were decorated in a kitsch way to resemble a real log: it’s covered with a stunning mirror glaze that has the power to make any cake look amazingly professional and modern! 😛

This chocolate and hazelnut Christmas yule log is a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness, given by cocoa powder, while the crunchiness of caramelized hazelnuts adds an interesting texture to the creamy ganache and moist cake.

Here is the full step-by-step recipe of this French bûche de Noël: although the magazine said “preparation time: 1h30min” I doubt you can finish it in 90 minutes unless you’re a pro. 🙂

Anyway, there is nothing really difficult in the recipe, it just involves many steps, but just take your time! It is really worth it!!! 😛

Chocolate and hazelnut Christmas Yule Log

Print recipe

Chocolate and hazelnut Christmas Yule Log

Ingredients

Flourless chocolate cake

160g	Egg whites (~ 4/5 egg whites)
180g	Granulated sugar
110g	Egg yolks (~ 4/5 egg yolks)
1	Orange zest
50g	Unsweetened cocoa powder

Cocoa syrup

20g	Unsweetened cocoa powder
130g	Water
50g	Granulated sugar

Chocolate ganache filling

450g	Bittersweet chocolate (66%)
150g	Unsalted butter
390g	Milk

Caramelized hazelnuts

250g	Hazelnuts
75g	Granulated sugar
35g	Water

Chocolate mirror glaze

50g	Water
140g	Granulated sugar
45g	Cocoa powder
95g	Heavy cream
6g	Sheet gelatin (= 3 sheets of 2g)

Directions

Chocolate mirror glaze

Prepare the chocolate mirror glaze the day before: soften the gelatin in cold water and in the meantime prepare a syrup by bringing the water and sugar to a boil on medium heat

Add the sifted cocoa powder and whisk

Brink the heavy cream to a boil

Incorporate the cream in the cocoa sugar syrup

Add the softened gelatin and whisk until it is dissolved. Store refrigerated in an airtight container.

Flourless chocolate cake

Start whipping the egg whites on medium speed. When they become foamy, add the sugar little by little. Continue whipping until the egg whites form stiff peaks then set aside.

Whip the egg yolks with sugar and orange zest on medium speed until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is foamy

Whisk the sifted cocoa powder in the egg yolk mixture

Blend 1/3 of the egg whites to the egg yolk and cocoa mixture with a spatula

Carefully incorporate the rest of the egg whites using a spatula and performing an upward movement from the side of the bowl to the centre

Cover a 30x40cm pan with parchment paper (even on the sides) and pour half of the batter. Start spreading it with an offset spatula.

Pour the remaining part of the batter and keep on spreading it so to have a flat 8mm layer (in the corners as well!)

Bake at 180° for 13-15 minutes then let the cake cool down in the pan on a wire rack

Chocolate ganache

Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan

Pour the boiling milk on the chopped chocolate

Stir gently with a spatula. Do not incorporate air.

Add the diced butter and mix with an immersion blender until the ganache is shiny and smooth

Pour it a large container, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate

Caramelized hazelnuts

Toast the hazelnuts in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 140°. When they come out of the oven it will be easier to remove their skin. At this stage you could also toast a handful of pine nuts and pistachios for the final decoration.

Prepare a syrup by bringing to a boil the water and sugar on medium heat

When the syrup reaches 118°C, toss in the toasted hazelnuts and stir with a wooden spatula

At a certain point, the hazelnut and syrup mixture will become sandy: don't worry, it's normal, just keep on stirring

When the sugar becomes caramel and the hazelnuts are fully coated, remove the saucepan from the heat. Pour the content on a silicon mat or on parchment paper so that the hazelnuts are on a single layer.

When the hazelnuts are cold, place them in a food processor, keeping a few of them aside for decoration on the top of the yule log

Mix for 10-20 seconds and keep aside some coarsely chopped hazelnuts for the decoration of the sides of the yule log

Keep mixing for a few more seconds until the hazelnuts are finely chopped (but not too much: they should be crunchy)

Sugar syrup

Mix sugar, cocoa powder and water and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Let cool down at room temperature.

Assembling the cake

Invert the cake on another sheet of parchment paper (you might want to sprinkle the latter with sugar before to prevent sticking)

Moisten the cake with the cocoa syrup

Spread the chocolate ganache (it should be around ~20-30°C) evenly on the cake. The ganache layer should be as tall as the cake. Leave a 3cm border which will become the center of the roll.

Sprinkle with the caramelized hazelnuts

Hold one end of the parchment paper (on the small side) and use it as a help to roll the cake (I was not very lucky since the cake stuck to the paper). Freeze the cake for around 10 minutes.

Decoration

Heat the chocolate mirror glaze on a bain marie to 28°-30°C

Remove the yule log from the freezer and adjust its shape with your hands if needed. Place it on a wire rack on a pan covered with parchment paper.

Pour the mirror glaze on the yule log: it's better to pour a significant quantity of glaze in one single movement from one end to the other rather than pouring multiple times on the same spot. The excess glaze drips away and can be reused.