This festive Christmas Yule Log, also known as a Bûche de Noël is one of my favourite Christmas Cakes to make.

This one is a chocolate sponge with a marscapone and hazelnut chocolate filling covered in a delicious chocolate ganache. The perfect treat for kids (and adults) this Christmas.

If you want to give it an alcoholic twist you can add your favourite spirit to the chocolate filling. Brandy, baileys or Tia Maria work really well here, a few tablespoons will be enough!

You can also switch out the dark chocolate ganache for a white or milk chocolate, depending on what your prefer!

The main thing to remember is to be careful and take your time when rolling and filling. It is worth it for the end result and will leave you with a much neater Yule Log.

For the cake:

▪️4 eggs

▪️100g caster sugar

▪️65g plain flour

▪️40g cocoa powder

For the filling:

▪️200g Nutella

▪️170g Mascarpone cheese

For the ganache to cover:

▪️300ml double cream

▪️300g dark chocolate

👩‍🍳 Method 👩‍🍳

1. Start with the ganache so that it has time to cool in the fridge. Put a saucepan filled with water over a medium heat to warm up.

2. In a heatproof bowl add your double cream and place the bowl over the simmering water. Once the cream has heated up add the chocolate and continue to stir until melted. As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and leave to cool for 20 minutes. Place in the fridge until needed.

3. Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. The one I used was 33x23cm and around 3cm deep.

4. Using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, whisk together the eggs and sugar. To get them to the correct consistency you will need to whisk them for around 5-8 minutes. When they are done you should be able to do the ribbon test. When lifting the whisk create a figure of 8 on the surface with the batter and this should stay visible.

5. Once your eggs and sugar are whisked, sift in the flour and cocoa powder and slowly fold through. Make sure you take your time with this stage, you don’t want to knock out all of the volume you have just created.

6. Pour the mixture into your prepared tray and use a spatula to spread out.

7. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

8. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, tip it onto a sheet of new greaseproof paper dusted with either icing sugar or caster sugar. Peel off the greaseproof used to bake.

9. Roll your cake from the short end down, leaving the greaseproof in place so that it stops it sticking when you unroll and fill. Leave to cool completely.

10. While the cake is cooling, it’s time to make the filling. Simply add the mascarpone and Nutella to a bowl and whisk until light, airy and fully combined.

11. Slowly and carefully unroll the cake so that it’s flat and ready to fill. Spread the filling over evenly and all the way to the corners.

12. It’s time to roll. Don’t over think it, as we have cooked the cake rolled up it naturally wants to go back to that shape. Use the greaseproof to help you roll it and keep the swirl as tight as you can. Once rolled back up leave to cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

13. To make the traditional Yule log shape, cut a thick slice off of one end at a diagonal. Take the cut off piece and place it on the side of your log, with the diagonal side sitting flush to the log. You can play around and make it whatever shape you like.

14. Using the cooled ganache, spread it over the whole surface of the Yule log. Use a fork to create lines in the surface giving it a rustic look.

15. Dust with icing sugar and serve.