Chocolate Chestnut Cream Yule Log - Bûche de Noël

yule log cake with Grand Marnier filled with chestnut cream and chocolate

Chocolate Chestnut Cream Yule Log - Bûche de Noël

5 from 8 votes

A moist and fluffy genoise soaked in Grand Marnier for a sweet orange flavor, rolled around a creamy filling made of mascarpone and chestnut cream then covered with some decadent chocolate frosting. No better way to end your Christmas dinner!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Yield:

Calories: 656kcal

Author: Emma Choi

Prep Time: 1 10

Active Time: 10

Total Time: 1 20

Equipment

Ingredients

Cake:

4 eggs
125 g caster sugar
125 g all-purpose flour
60 g melted butter
a pinch of salt

Grand Marnier syrup:

50 g caster sugar
60 ml water
2 tbsp Grand Marnier

Chestnut filling:

200 g chestnut cream (Note 3)
200 g mascarpone
30 g confectioners’ sugar
50 g dark chocolate

US - M

Instructions

Make the cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
Separate egg whites from yolks. Using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes light in color. Add flour and melted butter, and mix everything together using your hand mixer. Add the egg whites and gently fold them into the mixture using a spatula. Do not overmix, the egg whites could deflate.
Lay some baking paper on your baking tray. Using a spatula, spread the batter evenly into a rectangle shape (26x32 cm / 10x12”)
Bake for 10 minutes.
Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and place it on a clean and slightly damp tea towel. Make sure to place the bottom of the cake on the bottom edge of the tea towel. Then wrap the cake into the tea towel and let it rest until you are ready to spread the filling in. If placing the cake in the middle of the tea towel, it will be harder to wrap it correctly given the extra piece of fabric that will have to be rolled in.

Prepare the syrup

In a pan, heat up water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Transfer into a bowl and let it cool down. Add Grand Marnier and give it a mix.

Prepare the filling

In a bowl, combine chestnut cream, mascarpone and confectioners’ sugar. Combine all ingredients together using your hand mixer.

Assemble the log

Unwrap the cake from the tea towel and spread the Grand Marnier syrup over the cake using a pastry brush.
Spread half of the filling all over the cake up to the edges. Then roll it up again into a log. Do not press too much while rolling, the filling may slide away.
In a pot, melt the dark chocolate. Add the melted chocolate to the other half of the filling. Combine together.
Spread this other half of the filling evenly all over the log.
Using a fork, create some wave-like marks along the length of the log so that it resembles the wood texture.
Place the log in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Remove the log from the refrigerator and trim both edges. Doing so once the log is refrigerated will avoid the filling to slip away too much.
Decorate the log as you like.

Notes

1. Filling: I like to add some chopped canned mandarines or some chopped iced chestnuts into the filling part that goes inside the cake. Mandarines pair well with Grand Marnier.

2. Cake: I usually prefer to trim the log edges at the very end simply because spreading the chocolate cream over the log can get messy. This way it avoids you trimming the edges twice.

3. Chestnut cream: not to confuse with chestnut purée, they are two different things

Nutrition