Bailey's Yule Log

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

Back in 2023, I decided to have a go at making a yule log for my sisters for Christmas day, I looked at a few recipes until I decided on trying Prue Leith's Bailey's yule log.

There's no better time to share this recipe than now, with us being in December.

Let's get baking!

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sponge:

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar

60g plain flour

40g cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt

Chocolate Icing:

100g 70% dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar, sifted plus extra for dusting

40g cocoa powder, sifted

Cream Filling:

200ml double cream

2 tbsp Irish cream liqueur

Heat your oven 20 190C/170C Fan/Gas Mark 5.

Next Line a swiss roll tin with baking parchment.

To make the sponge, crack the eggs into a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk.

Add the sugar and whisk the mixture on high speed for 2-3 minutes until it's pale in colour, thick and leaves a ribbon trail when lifting the whisk.

Next sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, and using a large metal spoon, fold it all together. Fold everything together until incorporated in into the egg mixture. Be careful doing this so you don't beat any of the air out of it.

Pour the mixture into the lined swiss roll tin and spread it out evenly an into the corners.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the sponge is well risen an firm to the touch and the sides are shrinking away from the edge of the tin.

Once baked. place a piece of baking parchment larger than the swiss roll tin on the work surface.

Dust it generously with cocoa powder, then carefully invert the sponge onto the paper and remove the lining paper.

Next, using a sharp knife, score a line 2cm in along one of the short edges, take care not to cut all the way through the sponge.

Starting with this edge, tightly roll up the sponge using the paper to help you an with the paper inside. Then transfer to a wire rack and leave it to cool completely.

While the sponge is cooling, make the icing. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir until smooth, then remove from the heat an leave to cool.

Next, place the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl and either using an electric mixer or standing mixer. Mix on low for 1 minute, until the icing sugar and cocoa powder are incorporated into the butter. Then increase the speed to medium and mix until icing is light, soft and smooth.

Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix on a low speed until incorporated.

Spoon he mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and set aside until needed.

Now it's time to make the filling. Pour the cream and Irish cream liqueur into a bowl. Whisk on medium speed until firm peaks form.

Unroll the cooled sponge and remove the paper.

Spread the whipped cream on top in an even layer, all the way to the edges, and then re-roll the sponge tightly with the cream inside.

Carefully transfer to a serving plate.

Pipe long, thing lines of chocolate icing along the length of the swiss roll, covering the top and sides fo the sponge completely so the icing looks like the bark of a tree.

Trim each end of the roll to reveal a neat swirl of cream inside the log.

I've baked this twice and both times it's gone down a treat by everyone that had a slice. Even for someone like me that's not a big Bailey's drinker. I always thought a bake like this would be really hard and time consuming but it was actually pretty easy and straight-forward to make.

I'm baked another 3 last Christmas, 2 of which were for friends at work as they asked if I could make them one to have at Christmas and the third was for at my sisters.

If you would like to follow Prue Leith's recipe and feel like you're part of The Great British Bake Off, then head over to Prue Leith's Chocolate Yule Log recipe page on The Great British Bake Off website.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye