Busy Christmas Eve Evening Baking
Merry Christmas everyone! Oh, what a day I had yesterday. It was one busy Christmas eve. When I came back home after lunch meeting with friends, I really didn’t have much time to make a Christmas yule log cake, meringue mushrooms, Christmas meringue trees, and cookies all at once. So, I had to choose a short cut! 😉
* It’s a Christmas cake but you can make it as a birthday cake, too! Use candles instead of Santa decoration.
Coffee Yule Log Cake – Bûche de Noël
This roll cake is frequently made of buttercream for both filling and frosting but yesterday I used only whipped cream. If you are on a diet, it’s definitely a better choice. Also, it saved me much of prep time and gave the cake very light texture along with airy sponge cake. This way it’s more Japanese/Korean style, not heavy French. So it was only natural that my whole family loved it so much!
* The base cake is genoise, which is also known as jelly roll. It’s French sponge cake.
Ingredients
For genoise (biscuit):
4 eggs, medium size, at room temperture
2/3 cup granulated sugar (130 g)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (63 g)
For whipped cream filling:
1.5 cups whipping cream (360 ml)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (45 g)
2 tablespoons of instant coffee, melted in 3 tablespoons of hot water
Directions
Make Swiss roll.
Preheat the oven at 400 degrees F (200 C).
Add eggs in the mixing bowl. Then whisk to break the eggs.
Whisk in the sugar until pale and fluffy over simmering water. (bain-marie)
Add in sifted flour all at once. Fold delicately until combined.
Pour the batter on a parchment paper lined rectangular jelly roll pan. Then bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until light and springy to the touch.
Invert on a parchment paper dusted with confectioners’ sugar and remove the parchment paper. And roll with the parchment papper on the bottom and let cool.
Make whipped cream. Add in the whipping cream and whip until thickens. Add in sugar and wisk until slightly overbeaten.
Spread cream evenly over the sponge cake and carefully roll up. (I skipped brushing with syrup.)
Make coffee frosting. Add the instant coffee mixed in hot water into the left-over whipped cream (about 1/4 of the whole amount of whipped cream) and whisk until buttery (overbeaten). Remember that you don’t need a lot of coffee frosting to make a yule log shape.
Spread the coffee-flavored whipped cream and make wood patterns with a fork on the surface of the Swiss roll.
Cross sections. Spread plain whipped cream evenly on cross sections. Then make annual rings with melted chocolate.
Meringue Mushrooms & Christmas Trees
Ingredients
3 egg whites, at room-temperture
1/2 cup caster sugar (113 g)
1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice (or vinegar as you want)
A few drops of gel-based green food color (or if you don’t have green, use blue and yellow in the ratio of 3:4)
Directions
Preheat the oven at 210 degrees F (100 C).
Whisk egg whites and lemon juice until peaky. *Lemon acid will stabilize the meringue.
Add in sugar gradually beating until stiff peaks.
With a round pastry tip, pipe half of the meringue on a parchment paper lined baking pan in the shape of a mushroom.
Whisk green food color into the other half of meringue until homogeneous.
Then with a star-shaped pastry tip, pipe in the form of a Christmas tree.
Bake for one hour. Let cool in the oven for another one hour with the door opened.
Dust the mushrooms with cocoa powder.
Decorate the trees with sugar flakes.
- 4 eggs, medium size, at room temperture
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 g)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (63 g)
- 1.5 cups whipping cream (360 ml)
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (45 g)
- 2 tablespoons of instant coffee, melted in 3 tablespoons of hot water
- 3 egg whites, at room-temperture
- ½ cup caster sugar (113 g)
- ½ teaspoons of lemon juice (or vinegar as you want)
- A few drops of gel-based green food color (or if you don’t have green, use blue and yellow in the ratio of 3:4)
- 1. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees F (200 C).
- 2. Add eggs in the mixing bowl. Then whisk to break the eggs.
- 3. Whisk in the sugar until pale and fluffy over simmering water. (bain-marie)
- 4. Add in sifted flour all at once. Fold delicately until combined.
- 5. Pour the batter on a parchment paper lined rectangular jelly roll pan. Then bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until light and springy to the touch.
- 6. Invert on a parchment paper dusted with confectioners‘ sugar and remove the parchment paper. And roll with the parchment paper on the bottom and let cool.
- 7. Add in the whipping cream and whip until thickens. Add in sugar and whisk until slightly overbeaten.
- 8. Spread cream evenly over the sponge cake and carefully roll up. (I skipped brushing with syrup.)
- 9. Make coffee frosting. Add the instant coffee mixed in hot water into the left-over whipped cream (about ¼ of the whole amount of whipped cream) and whisk until a bit buttery (overbeaten). Remember that you don’t need a lot of coffee frosting to make a yule log shape.
- 10. Spread the coffee-flavored whipped cream and make wood patterns with a fork on the surface of the Swiss roll.
- 11. Spread plain whipped cream evenly on cross sections. Then make annual rings with melted chocolate.
- 12. Preheat the oven at 210 degrees F (100 C).
- 13. Whisk egg whites and lemon juice until peaky. *Lemon acid will stabilize the meringue.
- 14. Add in sugar gradually beating until stiff peaks.
- 15. With a round pastry tip, pipe half of the meringue on a parchment paper lined baking pan in the shape of a mushroom.
- 16. Whisk green food color into the other half of meringue until homogeneous. Then with a star-shaped pastry tip, pipe in the form of a Christmas tree.
- 17. Bake for 1 to 1½ hours. Let cool in the oven for another one hour with the door opened.
- 18. Dust the mushrooms with cocoa powder. Decorate the trees with sugar flakes.
Voila!
Bon appetit!
I had to make some cookies, too!
And here goes Santa of the year.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Lots of love,
Eugenie
P.S. Also check out my chocolate swiss roll, rolled sponge cake.
merry says
Hi Eugenie, you mentioned in the recipe you skipped brushing with the syrup, why you skipped it for this one? and what kind of syrup? and also for what kind of cake do you use this syrup?