As the beautiful snowflakes adorn on the coat of the inky hours of the mystifying darkness, the icy gales of the winter sweep the skies frigidly and whilst the cloaking blizzard veiled our little home on the prairie, I often learn the art of baking from my great grandmother, who has been one of the finest bakers of Le Cordon Bleu, during the sprightly days of her youth. As the draping blankets of snow buried the frosty windowsill, we decided to try the famous yule log cake recipe. The Yule cake recipe, is one of the best foods when it comes to prepare some delicious foods for the holiday season.
Also known as the bûche de Noël, this secret recipe is one of the best romantic foods of the holiday break, especially at this time of the year, due to its rich, velvety texture. It is one of the best comfort foods of the wintertime and being a sweet tooth, I’ve always found it to be the perfect sugary indulgence.
My great Gran wrote it in her cookery diary of German food recipes, as she published it on her baking and cooking blog.
I’ve often read similar cake recipes published in German food recipes too, as the Germans have the knack of the baking ever since the stork delivers them into this big, bustling world!
Think of it, it sounds quite genetically synonymous to be German as well as being a baker!
This chocolate roll cake, resembles a yule log, and to make an excellent impromptu holiday dessert, it can be a great recipe.
The List of Ingredients
Six whole eggs
One big box of Super Moist Devil's Food Cake Mix
½ cup of water
¼ cup of Kisan oil
One tablespoon of powdered sugar
Rich Chocolate Frosting
½ cup of finely whipped cream
One cup of semisweet chocolate chips
One tablespoon of corn syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla
The Filling:
One container of finely whipped vanilla cake coating
The Baking Method:
Heat your oven up to 375°F using a thick bottomed nonstick pot. Now, take some foiled or waxy baking paper and line the bottom, up to 15x10x1-inch and spray the pot with the baking spray with flour. Put the paper baking cup in each of eight normal sized muffin cups.
Take a large baking bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer on a rapid speed, of almost five minutes or a little more until it is quite thick and lemon colored.
Add the cake mix, water and Kisan oil; beat the mixture on low speed such as half a minute and then use medium speed of up to a minute, grating bowl from time to time, a bit intermittently.
Add 3 1/2 cups of the batter into the thick bottomed pan.
Divide the remaining batter among the gaily colored muffin cups, as that’s what I often do, as my children really love it!
Bake the mixture for almost sixteen minutes until the cake is baked well, and this can be determined if it rises well, especially when the central part is gently touched and a general test to check the fluffiness of the cake is performed, when toothpick inserted in center comes out all clean! If it is thought to be necessary, run a baking knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake fully.
Toss the cake upside down onto a fresh kitchen towel and sprinkle just one tablespoon of ground white sugar and then carefully discard the foil.
While the cake is quite hot and steaming, carefully roll up the towel from its fine end.
Cool completely on a cooling cake rack for almost sixty minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool up to almost ten minutes.
Remove them from the pan and cool them completely, for almost half an hour.
For the meantime, take a medium microwavable bowl, and put the uncovered whipping cream uncovered for almost a minute till it starts to boil. Blend in the chocolate chips and corn syrup; let them stand for almost three minutes.
Beat gently with wire whisk until it is smooth. Add the beaten vanilla essence.
Refrigerate the cakes for almost one hour, stirring time to time, after every fifteen minutes, until its consistency is quite even and spreads well.
Unroll the yule log cake carefully, and remove the baking towel. Spread the petals of the filling onto the surface of the cake and roll it up. Place a cooling cake rack on a thick sheet of waxy paper. Now, finally, put the cake roll on cooling rack; frost cake. Use a good fork, and drag it multiple times through the frosting to look like a wooden log. Let the yule cake stand for almost quarter of an hour and shift the cake to an elegant serving platter. Store the loosely covered cake in refrigerator. Let it stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving it; I always create a woodland background of my dining room, and as I serve it, the children almost let out a shriek of joy while it is put onto the wreathed dining table.
The Recipe Tips
It’s important to prepare the pan so it will be easy work to remove the warmly baked cake. Take some baking parchment, which is slightly waxed, to rim the outer border of the pan. It will easily peel off the bottom of the cake once you dish it out on top of the kitchen towel.
Test the doneness of the cake by lightly touching its surface with your fingertips. If it springs back it’s done and should be removed from the oven immediately.
In case the cake overbakes beyond this point, it would no longer roll well without a bit of tediousness.
Use a clean tea towel to roll up the cake. It is supposed to have a smooth texture, coated with a fine sieving of processed sugar, making the rolling up of the warm cake quite easy and prevents any incidence of sticking or cracking after the cake cools completely.
To add some colorful garnishing, brush the cranberries with some water and roll in the coarse sugar, whether it is white or golden in color.
Add a cup of fresh mint leaves to make the decoration more believable, like a real yule log.
Try it tonight and delight your family on the New Year’s Eve!
Have a great year!