Christmas Recipes
Christmas Chocolate Log Recipe
Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Cook Time | 20 minutes |
Servings |
MetricUS Imperial
|
Ingredients
- 4 Large Eggs
- 100 g caster sugar
- 65 g self-raising flour
- 40 g cocoa powder
for the chocolate icing and topping
- 450 ml double cream
- 4 tbsp apricot jam
- Icing sugar for dusting
- 275 g dark chocolate broken into pieces
Ingredients
for the chocolate icing and topping
|
|
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC / gas mark 6. Lightly grease a 33 × 23 centimetre Swiss roll tin, and line with non-stick paper or baking parchment, pushing it into the corners.
- For the sponge, whisk the eggs and sugar using an electric hand whisk in a large bowl until the mixture is pale in colour, light and frothy. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and carefully cut and fold together, using a metal spoon, until all the cocoa and flour are incorporated into the egg mixture. (Be careful not to beat any of the air out of the mixture.)
- Pour into the lined tin and spread evenly out into the corners.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for eight to 10 minutes until pale golden and the sides are shrinking away from the edge of the tin.
- Place a piece of baking parchment bigger than the Swiss roll on the work surface. Invert the cake on to the paper and remove the bottom lining piece of paper.
- Trim the edges of the cake with a sharp knife and make a score mark 2.5 centimetre in along the longer edge. Roll up (from the longer edge) using the paper, rolling with the paper inside. Set aside to cool.
- While the cake is cooling, make the icing. Melt the chocolate and 300ml of the cream in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until completely melted (be careful not to overheat; the bowl must not touch the water). Put into the fridge to cool and firm up (this icing needs to be very thick for piping). Whip the remaining cream.
- Uncurl the cold Swiss roll and remove the paper. Spread a third of the icing over the surface, then spread the whipped cream on top, and re-roll tightly. Cut a quarter of the cake off from one end on the diagonal. Transfer the large piece of cake to a serving plate and angle the cut end to the side of the large cake to make a branch. Cover the surface of the cake with the melted apricot jam.
- Put the remaining chocolate icing into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe long thick lines along the cake, covering the cake completely so it looks like the bark of a tree. Cover each end with icing or, if you wish to see the cream, leave uniced.