Yule Log!!

This is a bit of a trickier one for those of you who like making food look pretty and fancy a bit more of a challenge. It's a basic cake mixture with some cocoa powder, and a simple butter cream. Some people like to spread their roll with jam as well as butter cream to add extra sweetness and a bit of zing, so like always, do what you want with this recipe!

Ingredients:

For the roll:

150g Self raising flour
150g Butter
150g Caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cocoa powder

For the buttercream:

100g Butter
150g Icing sugar
2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1. Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 9x13' baking tin.

2. Put all of the ingredients for the roll into a bowl and mix with an electric whisk or by hand until it's lump free and creamy looking. Beat it for as long as possible to get maximum air in there!

3. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for 9-10 minutes, making sure a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

4. Tip the cake out onto a piece of greaseproof paper/foil/cling film and remove the other greaseproof paper from the top. Cut a strip of cake about 2 inches thick off the cake and place on top of the other piece of cake. Now roll the cake up starting from this small piece of cake, using your chosen lining paper to help you. Leave to cool completely.

5. Meanwhile you can get started on the butter cream. Put all ingredients in a bowl and whip up until combined and creamy looking. If it seems a little too thick, add a splash of milk.

6. Once your roll has cooled completely, very gently unroll it and begin decorating! Spread a little butter cream on the inside of the roll, then cover the rest of the roll. Remember, butter cream covers a multitude of sins, so don't panic or give up if your roll splits a little when you're unrolling it. Believe me, it happens to me every time! Cover the roll with the remaining butter cream, and use a knife or fork to draw some line patterns on the butter cream to make the whole thing look like a log. To finish, you can sprinkle some extra icing sugar or preferably caster sugar over the log to make it look like it's frosted. If you have any holly nearby stick a sprig on the log to make it look super Christmassy!


This'll probably be my last post before Christmas, so I hope you guys have a fantastic festive season and Santa brings everything you've wished for!

xx