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As my blog title suggests, these pages contain a wild mix of recipes which sample a wide range of flavours and cultures. I won't even try to apply an over-arching theme to this project other than to say that every dish is about creating good food!

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Chocolate Hazelnut Yule Log

This recipe is very rich but not sickly sweet like the cheap sugary Yule log knock-offs sold in most grocery stores in my area.

It takes some time to make a real chocolate Yule log, but it's well worth the effort!
(This one is definitely another of my "invite lots of friends to share it with you" recipes!)

Chocolate Hazelnut Yule Log


Ingredients:
For the cocoa genoise:
  • 6 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup flour

For the chocolate hazelnut cream:
  • 2 oz. fine dark chocolate
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup half & half cream
  • 1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 100 grams ground hazelnuts

For the Frangelico Syrup:
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Frangelico liqueur

For the ganache:
  • 8 oz fine dark chocolate
  • 2/3 cup whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur

Directions:

Prepare cocoa genoise:

Line 10 x 15 inch baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper.
(Butter and flour paper if non-stick variety is unavailable.)

Mix eggs and sugar together in a large bowl.
Place egg/sugar bowl into bath of very hot tap water.
cocoagenoise-warmingeggs

Boil water in small pot.
Mix in sifted cocoa to form a paste.
cocoagenoise-cocoapaste

Melt butter in a small bowl.
(Microwaving at 40% power works well for melting butter, or use a heavy sauce pan over low heat.)

Whip warmed eggs/sugar mixture until thickened.
cocoagenoise-whippedeggs

Add one cup of egg/sugar mixture to cocoa paste.
Mix until smooth.
cocoagenoise-cocoabatter

Add one cup of egg/sugar mixture to melted butter.
Mix until smooth.
cocoagenoise-butterbatter

Sift flour into remaining egg/sugar mixture.
Fold in cocoa and butter mixtures.
Cocoa Genoise Batter

Pour batter onto baking sheet and smooth out to fill sheet.
Bake approximately 20 minutes at 400°F.
Baked Cocoa Genoise
(When cake is done, it should be springy in the centre and come away from the sides of the pan easily. Be careful not to overcook the genoise and dry it out!)

Cover baked genoise with a fresh sheet of parchment paper and allow to cool.

Begin preparing chocolate hazelnut cream:

Chop chocolate into small pieces.
Chopped Chocolate

Whip yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar together until smooth and light.
eggs and sugar

Beat flour into eggs until smooth.

Mix remaining sugar with cream and bring to a boil.
heat cream

Temper eggs by slowly adding half of hot cream to egg mixture, one spoonful at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Pour tempered eggs into pan with remaining cream and heat to boiling.
Stir constantly and continue to heat until custard is thickened.
Thickened Custard

Remove from heat.
Stir in liqueur.

Add chopped chocolate and mix until smooth.
adding chocolate to custard

Set cream mixture aside to cool.

Prepare Frangelico syrup:

Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.
Remove from heat and stir in Frangelico.

Begin assembling cake:

Turn genoise out onto parchment paper on flat surface.
Trim any dried crusty edges off the cake.

Brush cooled Frangelico syrup over genoise.
Genoise brushed with Frangelico Syrup

Finish preparing chocolate hazelnut cream:

Cream butter until fluffy.
Add to cooled chocolate hazelnut cream and mix well.
Stir in ground hazelnuts until well blended.

Continue assembling cake:

Spread chocolate hazelnut cream over genoise, leaving a one inch strip along one short edge uncovered.
Genoise spread with Butter Cream

Starting at the uncovered edge, roll up the genoise.
Wrap rolled log tightly in parchment paper.
Place on flat tray and chill in refrigerator.

Prepare ganache:

Chop chocolate into small pieces.
Chopped Chocolate

Bring cream to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in Frangelico.

Pour heated cream/liqueur mixture over chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Chocolate Ganache

Allow ganache to cool, uncovered at room temperature, until a spreadable consistency is reached.

Finish assembling cake:

Remove rolled cake from parchment paper.
Place onto serving platter.
Spread ganache around circumference of cake, leaving ends exposed.
Draw fork tines across the ganache, lengthwise along cake, to create the bark effect.
Immediately prior to serving, dust icing sugar onto cake to represent snow, and decorate as desired.
Serve THIN slices. (This is a rich cake!)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey - there is a group of blogging bakers on the web (almost 500 strong now) called the Daring Bakers, and this month's challenge was a Buche de Noel. When I saw yours I thought you must be one too! I love the addition of frangelico here. I have liquor in my buttercream but not directly on my cake, and I think that would help with the sometimes dry texture of the genoise.

Happy holidays!!

Laura Rainbow Dragon said...

Hi Jenny!

Yes, I think the syrup certainly does help to keep the genoise moist and easier to roll. (Plus, Frangelico tastes so good!)

I saw that Daring Bakers group that you're a part of. It looks cool, but I haven't joined because the people whom I'm cooking for these days (including myself!) shouldn't be eating too much of the sorts of challenges the group bakes. Those brownies you made a couple of months back sure were tempting though!

Happy holidays to you!