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Copyright, 2015
December 12, 2017
Rob
Featured, Yule logs
1

Milk chocolate, caramel and apple yule log

Christmas time is the best time of the year to bake. Seems like everybody wants to do it, and everybody is willing to eat more, so that’s the perfect combination!

Here in France, the bûche de Noël, aka the yule log, is a must: this year I tried to invent my own recipe of a modern log and it was awesome!

Ok, it took me basically a whole weekend (almost), but I’m glad it came out so tasty and balanced.

The cake features:

  • A buttery and crunchy shortbread at the base
  • A spread of salted caramel sauce
  • A layer of caramelized apples with cinnamon
  • Almond spongecake
  • Milk chocolate mousse
  • Milk chocolate mirror glaze

I was afraid that the milk chocolate + caramel + everything else would be too sweet, but the log turned out fine, and oooh… the pleasure of covering a cake with mirror glaze…!!!

This is definitely something that you can proudly offer your family or friends for Christmas, my friends really enjoyed it!

(But if you make it, make sure you start the day before! Actually everything, apart from the chocolate mousse, can be prepared in advance)

And you, what cake will you make this Christmas? 🙂

 

Milk chocolate, caramel and apple yule log

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Ingredients

Shortbread

85gSalted butter
105gPastry flour
40gIcing sugar
1Egg yolk

Milk chocolate mirror glaze

150Granulated sugar
150Glucose syrup
80Water
100Sweetened concentrated milk
150Milk chocolate
8Sheet gelatin

Salted caramel

50gGranulated sugar
120gHeavy cream
1 tablespoonUnsalted butter
1 pinchFleur-de-sel

Almond spongecake

60gEgg whites
60gGranulated sugar
50gEggs
20gEgg yolks
65gAlmond flour
20gPastry flour
1 pinchFleur-de-sel
70gUnsalted butter

Apples with cinnamon

2Granny Smith apples
15gUnsalted butter
20gBrown sugar
1 teaspoonCinnamon

Milk chocolate mousse

40gWater
80gGranulated sugar
80gEgg yolks
4gSheet gelatin
250gMilk chocolate
360gHeavy cream

Decoration

As neededDecorations made with tempered chocolate

Directions

Shortbread

1
Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
2
Mix at medium speed for a few minutes until a thick dough forms. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3
Roll the dough out to 5mm between two sheets of parchment paper
4
Bake at 160°C for 18 minutes, then cut a stripe of shortbread slightly smaller than the base of the log

Milk chocolate mirror glaze

5
Let the gelatin soak in cold water. In the meantime, bring the water, sugar and glucose syrup to a boil on medium heat.
6
Remove from the heat and add the concentrated milk and the squeezed gelatin
7
Finally add the chocolate and stir without incorporating air. Mix with an immersion blender and refrigerate overnight

Caramel

8
Heat the sugar in a saucepan on medium heat
9
When it starts caramelizing, you can stir and then add the boiling cream.
10
Keep stirring for a few seconds. Make sure everything is melted then place in a clean bowl, add the butter and salt and refrigerate.

Almond spongecake

11
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks with 60g of sugar at medium speed
12
In a bowl, mix the eggs, yolks and sugar
13
Add the almond flour, flour and fleur-de-sel
14
Melt the butter, let it come down to room temperature then pour it over the batter and stir gently
15
Lighten the butter with one third of the whipped egg whites
16
Incorporate the rest of the egg whites with an upward movement using a spatula, taking care not to deflate the batter
17
Spread the batter on a parchment-lined baking tray. Bake at 160°C for 14 minutes, then cut a stripe so that it fits inside your log mold.

Apples with cinnamon

18
In a saucepan on low heat, melt the butter and add the finely diced apples
19
Add the sugar and the cinnamon and cook for around 10 minutes

Milk chocolate mousse

20
Prepare a sugar syrup with the water and sugar and bring to a boil
21
Start whipping the egg yolks at high speed and in the meantime let the gelatin soften in cold water. When the syrup reaches 118°C, pour it slowly but steadily over the foamy yolks, along the side of the bowl, after reducing the speed to medium.
22
Add the gelatin to the warm yolk mixture and keep on mixing until the pâte à bombe reaches room temperature
23
Whisk in the hot, melted chocolate in the pâte à bombe
24
Add one third of the cream and whisk
25
With a spatula, fold in gently the remaining cream
26
Pipe some chocolate mousse on the bottom of a 25cm-wide log mold and make sure all the side are well covered

Assembling

27
Add a stripe of almond spongecake
28
Pipe some more chocolate mousse
29
Place the diced apples
30
Cover the shortbread with salted caramel
31
Place the shortbread in the mold
32
Finally cover with the remaining chocolate mousse and freeze for at least 6 hours
33
Place the frozen cake on a wire-rack over a tray to collect the excess glaze. Heat the mirror glaze at 37°C and pour it over the frozen cake.
34
Optionally add decorations made with tempered chocolate. Remember to remove the cake from the fridge 10 minutes before serving.

More Posts Like This One

Recipe: Chocolate and hazelnut Christmas yule log

December 8, 2013

Double chocolate and vanilla yule log

December 17, 2015

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

December 18, 2016

Recipe: “Totally hazelnuts” Christmas yule log with praline mousseline cream

December 14, 2014
Almond spongecakeApplesBûche de NoëlCaramelChristmasMilk chocolateMirror glazeMousseSalted caramelShortbreadVideoXmasYule Log
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1 Comment General

1 Comment

  • DH
    December 13, 2017 3:03 pm

    I haven’t made one of these “modern” logs before but I just bought a mould to give it a go. Do you freeze the log for the purposes of initial setting and for the mirror glaze? After the mirror glaze is applied, do you return the log to the fridge or the freezer? How long will it keep in the fridge? Thank you !!

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Rob, I work in IT but I love baking and I also got a pastry diploma. I created this blog to keep track of my journey from complete beginner to world pastry champion (I'm not there yet).

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