Recipe for Norwegian Christmas Yule Log

Biscuit: Preheat your oven to 170°C for baking your biscuit. In a saucepan, prepare your choux pastry by bringing 130 g of milk + 130 g of water to a boil with 110 g of butter. Once the butter has melted and you have reached a boil, reduce the heat to low and add your flour + cornstarch + salt and sugar all at once, mixing well. Your dough will come together and form a ball. Cooking this ball a bit helps to dry it out; about 2 minutes is sufficient. Break 4 eggs into a small bowl and lightly beat them. Pour your choux pastry into a mixing bowl and gradually incorporate the beaten eggs in 3 additions, mixing quickly and firmly. Set aside 400 g of this choux pastry (you can make other pastries with the rest) and add your neutral oil and 40 g of granulated sugar. Whip until stiff (be careful not to overwhip, so beat the egg whites firmly and stop your mixer or electric whisk) and fold them into your choux pastry above. Your biscuit is ready!

Prepare a large piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread your cookie dough on it, then bake for 12 minutes. Turn off your oven but leave the cookie inside for a few more minutes (about 2), then open the oven and leave it ajar for a little while longer! Let it cool while you prepare the next steps!

Let it cool while you prepare the next steps!

Soaking Syrup Make a good coffee, or if you don't like coffee, make hot chocolate, and pour it into a saucepan with water and sugar and bring to a boil. Using your brush, thoroughly soak the sponge cake and let it cool because the syrup has warmed your cake!

Italian meringue: BE CAREFUL TO ONLY WHIP WHEN YOUR CAKE IS WELL SET!! For my part, I left it in the refrigerator overnight and did my decoration the next day! Place the 3 egg whites in the bowl of your mixer and whip until frothy while bringing your cooked sugar to temperature. Put 150 g + 50 g of water in a saucepan and heat to 121°C, then pour over your frothy egg whites and whip at maximum speed until completely cooled.

To finish: Assembly + decoration: Spread your cream on the biscuit, then I made strips of 9 cm because my biscuit was 27 cm long, and I rolled them up on top of each other (careful with the disaster scenario!). Then I covered my cake again with mascarpone cream, which I quickly flattened and surrounded with a ring to maintain a log shape! I then placed a baking mold on top to help it keep its shape as well! The next day, my cake was firm and stood upright, so I was able to make my Italian meringue and cover my cake with it using an offset spatula! Then, with a torch, I caramelized my Italian meringue to give it a nice log appearance. With my decorating paste, I made little cubes wrapped in small aluminum papers that I bought for my chocolate rocks, then stuck them with toothpicks to place on my celebration cake! There you have it, I’ll share the rest in images!