Kormos Sokolatas – Greek Chocolate Yule Log Cake

A yule log cake is such a great symbol of Christmas! When I was little I remember eating the “bûche de Noel” as we called it in French, although I suspect the French recipe is much richer (and less healthy) than this Greek recipe. I wonder who even came up with the idea to make a cake that looks like a tree log….isn’t that a STRANGE idea when you really sit there and think about it?? A tree log doesn’t look very appetizing at all…! Actually, when I googled yule log cake I actually found some really surprising pictures pictures of yule log cake pans/molds complete with the shape of the wood and the leaves and other decorations on the outside, such as this one. And for the life of me I cannot figure out how pouring cake batter into this pan/mold is going to make you a yule long cake. How do you roll the cake into a cylinder if it’s got cake leaf pieces sticking out of the top? How do you stuff it with cream or frosting? Maybe I’m missing something here….

Anyway, I’m not taking any shortcuts with this cake this year! Actually, this is my first attempt at a yule log cake so I’m happy that it turned out well! To be honest, once the sheet of cake was cooked I couldn’t figure out which way to roll it into a log! Do you roll it from the long side or from the short side? I thought it best to roll it from the short side, but everyone else in the kitchen told me I shouldn’t do that because we would end up with a really really fat cake…. Part of me thinks that may have been the better way to go, but the other half of me thinks having a “thinner” cake is better since we got TWO WHOLE YULE LOGS out of this recipe. SO MUCH CAKE!!!

I can feel my waist already expanding as I write this and look at these pictures….although I’ve been trying to beat the holiday bulge by exercising (slightly – I’m honestly quite lazy) so I hopeeeeee this will ensure my pants still fit after the new year. But actually the good news is, as I said earlier, I think the Greek version of a yule log cake is probably lighter than other variations of the recipe. There actually isn’t that much sugar in this cake and you can put in as much or as little sugar as you want. I made the topping by mixing both dark chocolate and some milk chocolate but you could easily just use dark chocolate, which I think would probably taste really nice! And since the filling and topping are mostly made of homemade whipped cream the cake doesn’t feel dense or heavy, which is really nice. SO THROW YOUR HOLIDAY GUILT OUT THE WINDOW AND GO MAKE THIS CAKE! (You can always start exercising and “eating right” after New Year’s amiright???!!)

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas filled with friends, family, love, happiness, and health!

Natalia Alexander

Yields 1

Kormos Sokolatas: Greek Chocolate Log Cake

Kormos Sokolatas: Greek Chocolate Log Cake

30 minPrep Time

15 minCook Time

45 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 baking pan/jelly-roll pan (or a cookie sheet with raised edges), 15 x 10 inches or 38 x 25 cm
• Parchment paper
• Clean kitchen towel
• Mixer
• Sifted confectioner’s sugar/powdered sugar
• 
  
  For the sponge cake:
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cups all purpose or self-rising flour
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 
  
  For the filling and topping
• 2 cups or 500ml cream
• 1 cup or 250g of semi-sweet chocolate (or 1/2 cup dark choc and 1/2 cup milk choc), broken into pieces
• 1 cup or 200g butter
• 1 cup sifted confectioner’s/powdered sugar
• 3-4 ounces or 100g walnuts, chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F / 176 C
• Line the baking sheet with parchment paper
• Grease lightly with butter
• Separate the egg whites and egg yolks
• Using a mixer beat together the egg whites and 2 tbsp sugar until stiff with peaks like a meringue
• In another bowl beat together the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until it becomes light colored or almost white
• Gently fold in the egg whites
• Slowly add the flour and cocoa and combine everything until smooth
• Spread evenly on the parchment paper, using a spatula if needed
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes
• In the meantime, beat half the cream until it becomes whipped (about 5 minutes with a mixer on high speed) and add in 3 tbsp of sifted confectioner’s/powdered/caster sugar
• Heat up the other half of the cream in a small pot, add in the chocolate pieces until melted and mixed in, and remove from the heat
• Using a mixer beat the butter the rest of the sifted confectioner’s/powdered sugar until light and fluffy
• Pour in the chocolate mixture
• Whip the mixture with the butter and sugar for half the time of the previous whipped cream (about 2-3 minutes with a mixer on high speed or until it becomes a bit lighter and fluffier but not as much as the plain whipped cream) and refrigerate
• Lay a clean kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle evenly with sifted confectioner’s/powdered sugar
• Once the cake is cooked, turn the pan upside down over the towel for the cake to come out while it’s still warm
• Carefully peel off the parchment paper and replace with a new sheet of parchment
• Roll the cake up in a towel to form the log. You can roll up the short side of the cake to form a very thick log, or roll up the long side to form 2 thinner logs as I did
• Let the cake cool
• Once the cake is cooled, unroll it and remove the parchment paper
• Spread the whipped cream mixture evenly over the cake and roll it up again without the towel
• Cover the log with the chocolate cream. If the chocolate cream is too stiff let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes
• Drag a fork along the log to make it look like real wood
• Dust lightly with cocoa powder, sifted confectioner’s/powdered sugar and decorate as you wish
• Keep the cake refrigerated until ready to serve
• Enjoy!

Notes

Before cutting the cake, run your knife under some warm water for a few seconds. This ensures the slices will be straight and clean.

You can use the other half of the milk chocolate bar to make chocolate shavings with a regular vegetable peeler to decorate the cake.

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