Making A Traditional Yule Log
24th December 2022- New Experience Number 30.
A frequent favourite on the festive table, I thought I’d try making a traditional yule log as I’d never made one before. Adding another food and drink experience to my 52 new things in 2022
If you want to create a Christmassy chocolatey treat to impress your guests, ‘Yule’ love making this! (Sorry!)
Yule Log Tradition
I’ve consumed many slices of delicious chocolate Yule log over the years, but I’d never tried to make one myself, and I’d never considered the origins of the traditional treat.
Yule logs seem to have originated in Scandinavia, and there are some indications it stems from the Vikings!
Living in York where we have a rich Viking history, it’s perhaps surprising we don’t have more going on in December relating to the Yule log.
Rather than the edible version that’s popular now, the Yule log was a winter tradition across many different parts of Europe. It was an actual wooden log. It was specifically selected, and then burnt in the fire. In some cases only a small part was burnt each evening up until twelfth night. The remains of the log were sometimes placed under a bed to keep the house protected. Some others kept the log and used it to light the Yule log the following year.
As with many traditions, there are lots of variations between regions and countries.
The cake version of a Yule log, is thought to have developed in France in the 19th century. It’s far more delicious and less likely to last until 6th January!
Recipe For Festive Success - Making A Traditional Yule Log
This centre piece show stopper looked like it was going to be a bit tricky to make. I don’t always have that much success with cakes! I had a look over a couple of recipes. Some seemed far more advanced than I was prepared for, but I found one from Mary Berry which looked relatively simple. Just seven ingredients and nine steps.
Making A Traditional Yule Log
Making the sponge mixture was fairly straightforward. After around ten minutes in the oven, I carefully tipped the sponge out of the tray and onto the parchment paper on the side. I held my breath. This was a nerve wracking moment as I wonder whether it had completely cooked through. Thankfully, it held together. No soggy bottoms here!
I then very carefully, and very slowly wrapped the cake on itself, keeping everything crossed that the sponge wouldn’t crack. As I made the final turn, it was a relief to see the cake was intact and smooth.
Putting the rolled up cake to one side to cool, I whipped up the cream for the filling, and made the gorgeously gooey ganache topping.
Rolling Out The Sponge
With everything prepped and ready, and the cake cooled enough, I gently unfurled the sponge. Once opened flat again, I spread over a layer of the whipped cream, and then re-rolled the sponge. It was coming together! It definitely resembled the innards of a very large Swiss roll at this point.
I cut the long roll in half on a diagonal to make two parts of the log.
There was still time for this to all go wrong as I now had to add the ganache.
One Piper Piping - Making a traditional yule log
I spooned the thick ganache into my piping bag. I’ve barely done any piping, and when I have it’s not been particularly pretty.
The ganache was thick enough to stick nicely to the cake. If you’re not particularly confident at piping, then this is a great bake to have a go at. Logs aren’t perfect in the natural world, they don’t follow a rigid pattern and there are often knots and bumps in them. So your yule log should looks imperfect – or at least that’s what I told myself! And once you scatter over some icing sugar, it’ll look even more authentic!
Fab-Yule-Ous
I was really pleased with how it turned out for a first try! I thought it looked pretty good for an amateur!
Of course looks are only one part of it. It needed to taste good too. I enjoyed a couple of slices of the soft sponge and the deliciously rich gooey chocolatey covering. I’m pleased to say it got devoured pretty quickly by family. I trust their judgement and know they would give me their honest opinion. All reviews were positive, and I think I may be making another one next year!
Want To Try It Yourself?
I followed the Yule log recipe from Mary Berry on the BBC Food website. There were only nine steps to follow and only seven ingredients – and I had most of them in the cupboard already!
- Preparation time was less than half an hour, and cooking time was no more than 30 minutes.
- There are lots of different recipes for Yule logs online. Whether you’re making your first one like me, or looking for a more advanced recipe, there’s bound to be something that matches your needs.
Cost Of Experience
This impressive pudding only needed seven ingredients. Many of them are store cupboard regulars that you might already have in.
If you needed to buy all of the ingredients, it should cost no more than £5, but it will depend on where you shop.
- If you need to buy the ingredients in, you’ll have plenty of some of them left over for future delicious makes!
Recommendations
- Be gentle when it comes to rolling up the sponge.
- Be bold when it comes to the piping.
- Don’t forget to take a picture of your creation before you tuck in!
- Enjoy your festive treat!