Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll #CakeSliceBakers

What a fun year it's been baking through The European Cake Cookbook! As is tradition, the last cake of the year is "baker's choice." Since we are with family for Christmas, I asked them which cake from the book they'd like to eat. Their choice was this Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll.

Because it's Christmas and we've been making European Cakes, I decided to decorate this Swiss Roll as an "oh so European" Yule Log. Yule Logs are a Christmas tradition across the Continent as cakes and as actual logs. You can find the tradition in Belgium, Switzerland, France, the UK, and my personal favorite iteration: Spain.

Years ago, I was able to visit Barcelona at Christmastime and learned of their tradition of Caga Tio--or the "pooping log." It's a happy little log wearing a Catalan cap--I'm not making this up--that children cover with a blanket, "feed" bread and water, and beat with sticks so that it "poops out" candies if they're good.

I'd actually kind of like to start this tradition with my kids, but they'd need to be old enough to 1) appreciate the silliness, and 2) understand that most people here...don't have this tradition.

I can just imagine the phone calls from confused teachers.

This is not that kind of Yule Log, though.

It's a chocolate genoise sponge cleverly soaked with a liquid-y milk chocolate ganache, and filled and frosted with a white chocolate whipped cream.

I added sugared cranberries and meringue mushrooms to fancy it up a bit. The cranberries were a great addition, providing a nice contrasting tang and crunch. And the mushrooms also gave the cake a fun textural element. A dusting of cocoa powder and some sugar that I tossed with a drop of green food coloring ("moss" on the log) finished off the look.

I had extra meringue, so I piped some trees, snowflakes, and this little guy:

I had intended to have a second gnome, but this one sort of leaned over and cracked. He looks like he needs to lay off the eggnog and make better life choices.

The recipe for the white chocolate whipped cream called for my old nemesis: mascarpone cheese. I have had a lot of difficulty with it in several other cakes from this book, and I fully expected it to flip me the bird one final time--but Christmas came early this year! I scrapped the written directions and melted the white chocolate, softened the mascarpone in the microwave, and stirred them together. I then whipped the cream, sugar and vanilla, and gently folded in the warm mascarpone mixture.  No curdling! Woo hoo!

I didn't have any dark cocoa powder, so I used regular. Next time, I'll either use the dark chocolate powder the author called for, or dark chocolate in the ganache to make it a little chocolatey-er. But it worked out this time because my bunch here are not big dark chocolate eaters anyway, and I was making it for them.




















I asked my kids what their favorite part of the cake was, and they said the green sugar "moss." (?)

Mmmm....sugar.

They said it was all good, though ;)

If you are looking for something special for your Christmas dessert, give this Triple Chocolate Swiss Yule Log a try!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! Here's to another year of fun in baking!

Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll (Yule Log Edition)

(adapted slightly from The European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk)

Chocolate Sponge:

6 eggs

1 c granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 c flour

1/4 c dark cocoa powder

1/2 c powdered sugar (for sprinkling on the tea towel to roll)

Milk Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 c milk chocolate chips

1/2 c heavy cream

White Chocolate Whipped Cream:

2 c cold heavy cream

8 ounces mascarpone cheese

1/2 c granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 c melted white chocolate chips

Cake:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper, making sure to grease the sides as well.
2. Whisk the granulated sugar and eggs together in a stand mixer until very fluffy and pale--7 or 8 minutes. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder.
3. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture gently and a bit at a time. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, making sure that it evenly reaches all the edges.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top of the cake bounces back slightly when touched.
4. Immediately after taking out of the oven, turn the cake out on to a clean tea towel sprinkled with the powdered sugar. Use the towel to roll the cake into a log, and allow to cool completely (about 1 hour).

Ganache Cake Soak:
5. Heat the heavy cream until it is steaming. Place the milk chocolate chips in a bowl, and pour the hot cream over. Let it sit for a couple of minutes without stirring in order to melt the chips. Stir until smooth and the cream is incorporated. The ganache will be very runny--and it's supposed to be.
6. Unroll the cooled cake, and pour the ganache over the top--giving the ganache time to soak in and making sure it reaches to the edges.

White Chocolate Whipped Cream (my modified directions, to prevent getting on Santa's Naughty List by saying bad words when it curdles)
7. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth--stirring after each burst of heating.
8. Heat the mascarpone in the microwave until very soft (parts may be liquefied). Stir in to the melted chocolate chips.
9. In a stand mixer, whisk the cold cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the melted chocolate/mascarponed mixture. **Mine was fine without any more re-whisking. Depending on how hot your chocolate is, you might need to whisk it again BRIEFLY. But be warned. This stuff curdles with literally one too many stirs).**

Assembly:
10. Spread 2/3 of the white chocolate whipped cream on to the ganache-soaked sponge in an even layer.
11. Roll the cake back up the way it cooled, and set it on a tray. (If you'd like your Yule Log to have a branch, cut about 2 inches off of one end at an angle. Position the cut piece on the side of the main cake and attach with cream.) Spread the remainder of the cream over the outside, and run a fork gently over the surface to form a bark pattern. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
12. Dust the cake with cocoa powder and garnish as desired.

Enjoy!

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes! Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 

December 2019 is the final month we will be baking from The European Cake Cookbook and our tradition is that we have free choice of any of the cakes in the book ~

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake

• Camille Cooks
• Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oven Delights
• A Little Bit of All Right

Sirnek (Ukrainian Cheesecake)

• A Day in the Life on the Farm

Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake

• Making Miracles

Apple Sharlotka

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Triple-Chocolate Swiss Roll

• Amandie Bakes

Mozart Torte

• Sweet Sensations

Toscaka Torte

• My Recipe Reviews