Flourless Chocolate Log with Cocoa Cream
- Sweet
- No rush
- French
- Oven
A dense baked chocolate log, rolled while warm and filled with cocoa whipped cream, then chilled into a Christmas bûche. Rich, fondant and honest about having no leavening.
- Total
- 4 h 06
- Prep 35 · Cook 31 · Rest 180
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Hard
You'll practice: Whisking · Folding
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 180°C. Line the 30 x 40 cm baking tray with parchment paper, leaving a little overhang at the short ends.
~12 min
-
Break 180 g chocolate into pieces into the heatproof bowl with 60 g butter. Set the bowl over a bowl of hot water, off any heat source, and stir until melted and smooth. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
~5 min
Gentle residual heat melts the chocolate without scorching it, and cooling slightly stops it from cooking the yolks later.
-
Separate the 4 eggs. Whisk the 4 yolks with 60 g sugar and 0.25 tsp salt until pale and thick, about 3 minutes. Fold in the melted chocolate mixture, then sift in 40 g flour and 20 g cocoa powder and fold just until no dry streaks remain.
~3 min
Whisking the yolks with sugar traps air for volume, and folding gently keeps that air instead of knocking it out.
Whisking Whisk with a steady, sweeping motion until the mixture is pale and thick, or the whites hold glossy peaks. Stop before they turn dry and clumpy.
Folding Use a spatula to cut down and lift the batter over itself, turning the bowl as you go. Fold just until combined; stirring deflates the air you need.
-
Whip the 4 egg whites to soft peaks, then add the remaining 30 g sugar and whip to firm, glossy peaks. Fold one third into the batter to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two additions, keeping as much air as possible.
~6 min
The whipped whites are the only leavening here, so folding in stages preserves the air bubbles that make the cake rise.
Whisking Whisk with a steady, sweeping motion until the mixture is pale and thick, or the whites hold glossy peaks. Stop before they turn dry and clumpy.
Folding Use a spatula to cut down and lift the batter over itself, turning the bowl as you go. Fold just until combined; stirring deflates the air you need.
-
Spread the batter evenly in the lined tray. Bake until the top springs back when pressed and a skewer comes out with moist crumbs, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not overbake or it will crack when rolled.
~15 min
Overbaking sets the crumb too firmly, so the cake loses the flexibility it needs to roll without cracking.
-
Lay the clean tea towel on the worktop and dust it lightly with 10 g cocoa powder. Turn the hot cake out onto the towel, peel off the parchment, and roll the cake up inside the towel from a short end. Leave it rolled until just warm, about 20 minutes.
~20 min
Rolling while hot trains the cake into a spiral so it can be unrolled, filled and rerolled later without breaking.
Roll the cake in the towel while it is still hot: cooling flat makes it crack when you roll it later.
-
While step 6 rests
While the cake cools, whip 250 ml cream with the remaining 10 g cocoa powder until it holds soft peaks. Keep it cold.
~4 min
Cold cream whips faster and holds more air; stopping at soft peaks keeps it spreadable rather than grainy.
Chill the bowl and whisk for the cream and stop at soft peaks, so the filling stays spreadable instead of grainy.
Whisking Whisk with a steady, sweeping motion until the mixture is pale and thick, or the whites hold glossy peaks. Stop before they turn dry and clumpy.
-
Unroll the warm cake, spread the cocoa cream over it, leaving a 2 cm border, and roll it back up. Wrap in parchment and chill for at least 3 hours so the log firms and slices cleanly.
~180 min
Chilling sets the butter and cream so the spiral holds its shape and cuts into clean slices.
-
Unwrap the chilled log, set it on the serving platter and dust with the last of the cocoa powder. Slice with a warm knife to serve.
~5 min
